Jim Guthrie wrote: > > What would be the most numerous size produced? The size used for home >> heating? And that would be egg or stove? > > Sizes were produced in large measure by the mining techniques. When you > mined the coal and then ran it through the breaker, you got a whole > range of sizes and to a great extent, you could not control that, unless > you **wanted** small sizes such as the Buckwheats. From Wikipedia Classifications The common American classification is as follows:[citation needed] Lump, steamboat, egg and stove coals, the latter in two or three sizes, all three being above 1-1/2 in. size on round-hole screens. Classification Minimum Size (inches) Maximum Size (inches) Chestnut 7/8 1 1/2 Pea 9/16 7/8 Buckwheat 3/8 9/16 Rice 3/16 3/8 Barley 3/32 3/16 go to http://www.sizes.com/materls/anthracite.htm for more info on sizes > > But smaller sizes went for less money per ton, so the railroads did not > like producing any more than necessary. Domestic users might like the > price, but didn;t like the dust and bother. > > One of the issues that faced the industry was that the year round > industrial customers switched to bituminous because it was cheaper, but > could also use anthracite in the small sizes with bituminous if the > local authorities fined them for violating anti-nuisance and smoke > abatement laws (the anthracite railroads were the pioneers in imposing > what we now call environmental laws). > > An example of a major year-round customer for the NYS&W and to a lesser > extent the DL&W in the 1880s and 90s were the elevated railroads in > Brooklyn and Manhattan respectively. Obviously, those trains ran > 24/7/365. The business evaporated with electrification although central > steam and the Metropolitan Railway So. made up for some of it. > >> Would it be safe to say that the large storage yards that most RR had for >> stock piling coal during the summer months and then reloading it back >> into RR >> cars for shipment in the fall and winter was of Stove or Egg? It >> wouldn't >> make any sense to separate coal at a breaker and then remix it with a >> different >> size at a ground storage facility. I 'm sure there were many of these at >> various locations on all the Anthacite roads. East Dover and Hampton, >> PA on the >> Lackawanna come to mind. Hampton, NJ on the CNJ would be another. > > The biggest in the NY area was the LV's at South Plainfield; the > smallest Dodge plant was the NYS&W's at Pompton. > > You are correct that domestic sizes would be most of the storage yards > --- both because to get the larger steam sizes there was alot of extra > domestic in the off season. But for the LV, DL&W and Erie -- and a > lesser extent the Reading and the D&H, sending anthracite to Buffalo in > the Great Lakes Shipping season evened out the business quite a bit. > > The railroads also offered discounts for domestic sizes in the off > season, and many people who could afford to stock up did so. Unlike > bituminous, anthracite is generally not prone to spontaneous cumbustion > when stored for a long time. > > Until the advent of the storage yards, railroads used their cars for > storage -- but that meant that mines would have to shut down for lack of > car service. Anthracite railroads were also loath to interchange cars -- > which was another impetous to dump at tidewater (and why the > Poughkeepsie bridge played a rather small role in the trade, despite the > hype of its promoters). > > There were other reason for the storage yards -- not the least of which > was the railroads efforts to bust the UMW once and for all after the > strikes of 1900 and 1902. Hanging union leaders (as the P&R did) or > shooting strikes (as at Lattimer) did not go over vry well with the > public at large. The storage plants were far more benign. > > Cheers, > Jim > > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List > http://EL-List.railfan.net/ > To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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