40 TON COALING TOWER

[T.C.]

Hi,
I have an old Kanamodel kit that I bought about 30-35 years ago #106c 40 ton coaling tower, I assembled the kit and then life happened (wife and kids) so it's been sitting all this time.
Now the kids are grown and I have time to resume the layout I started way back when, so I am looking at this coaling tower thinking how would they have gotten the coal up into the hopper ?
The directions don't mention it and there are no accommodations for the coal to get up to the hopper ?
I looked on there web site and they now make a larger coaling tower that has accommodations to get the coal into the hopper.
The new kit looks very much like the one I have except it's now a 60 ton instead of 40 ton and has some stairs and railings and and mentions the use of a hoist bucket .
Can anyone explain how that system worked and maybe provide a drawing of where things were in relation to the track or tracks ?
I have searched the web and cant find anything on this type of delivery system, everything is for the car to dump over the track then up into the hopper .
I contacted Kanamodels and was told the kit is out of production, but the coal would have been shoveled by hand from a hopper into a bucket then up into the tower ?
OK but from what side, and where did the bucket enter the tower and what kept it rom swinging all over the place ???
I would greatly appreciate any help
Thanks T.C.

 

[jdetray]

The bucket was not loaded by hand, except in the early days. Below are some diagrams showing how it was done on a more "modern" coaling tower. Click the images for larger versions.

In brief, hopper cars full of coal entered a shed near the coaling tower and dropped their load into a large pit under the shed. From the pit, the coal was fed by gravity into a large bucket. The bucket was hoisted to the top of the coaling tower on a conveyor, where it was dumped into the coal bunker. The bucket was never swinging freely; it traveled up and down on the conveyor.

- Jeff

https://flic.kr/p/bWBrTt

https://flic.kr/p/bWBrMx

 

[T.C.]

Thanks for the reply Jeff
This is similar to the coaling tower I'm talking about except mine has no stares or landings or hoist bucket.
The kit is put out by Kanamodel out of Canada, I have contacted them and received no help other than my kit has been discontinued.
The pictures are of the newer larger version that replaced the kit I have, It's hard to tell much from the pictures as they are so small I was hoping someone here had some information ?
From there web site
CPR WESTERN LINES COALING TOWER
This 60 Ton coaling plant was in use by the CPR on many of its branch lines and small terminals throughout Canada particularly in the west on lines such as the Kettle Valley etc. This is one of the coaling plants that did not use an underground dump, rather receiving coal via a gondola and having it unloaded by shovel onto the hoist bucket which will be included. Laser cut walls in several sizes are in the kits as well as the small outbuilding enclosing the hoist mechanism.

 

[bob]

This is one of the coaling plants that did not use an underground dump, rather receiving coal via a gondola and having it unloaded by shovel onto the hoist bucket which will be included.

Well, given that description, it's a pretty basic, if rather labor intensive, approach. The hoist bucket would be the grey thing in the center of the second photo, on the small "porch". They'd roll a hopper car up to that, pick a few (un)lucky laborers and have them shovel the coal from the gondola into that hoist bucket, which would then hoist it to the top and dump it into the bin. Slow, hard, dirty work to be sure. Only feasible for small branch lines that didn't use much coal.

 

[T.C.]

Thanks for the reply Bob
I guess this is one of those "use your imagination things" ?
T.C.