Up until the early 70's, my folks heated their home with coal. Their
furnace had an "Iron Fireman" automatic stoker to feed it. It needed to
be filled once a day which was my job as a kid. Of course, you also had
to clean the fire as part of the job. Over most of the years from 1946
when the house was built, the coal came from the Lord Lumber and Coal
yard in downtown Downers Grove. Dad liked "Patsy" coal which, I
believe, also came from southern Illinois. It had little thin soft
metal disks in it to identify it. The Q delivered the coal to Lord in
hoppers on the west end way freight, I think. They switched it in from
the siding that started near the old turntable. As I recall, both the
east end and west end way freights turned at Downers. Our coal bin was
fairly large and we used to get coal by the ton, about 2 - 3 each time.
Eventually, Lord stopped handling coal as the demand dropped
dramatically. Then, for a while, dad ordered coal from a yard in
Lombard, IL. Finally, he "threw in the towel" and installed a new gas
furnace. Much cleaner, but in some ways, both he and I missed that old
coal furnace. It certainly was a great way to get rid of wood scraps
and paper waste and get some use out of it, too!
Bill Barber
On Saturday, March 1, 2003, at 01:42 PM, BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
wrote:
Message: 5
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 23:18:27 -0600
From: "Jon Bratt" <jkbratt@w...>
Subject: Re: Green Marked Coal
Was this "Green marked coal" sold as home heating fuel and in what
region of the country? Would there be competing coal brands in the
same area as gasoline is today? Or was it more like LP fuel is today
where the product and brand are the same? Is this a type of coal which
would be delivered in bags in boxcars or in bulk in hoppers? Thanks
for the interesting info on this subject, it will make the delivery of
coal on my 1955 era layout more accurate.
Jon Bratt
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