Easy, Cheap Coal Loads

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B

bigB

Active Member
Hey guys,

I made some coal loads the other day that I found are cheap, easy, and relatively realistic. This is in HO scale, but would probably work in N and O as well.

I took some left over Woodland Scenics black foam trackbed (about 75 cents a 3' section or $8 for a 24ft roll)and cut it to size lengthwise. Just lay it over the hopper and cut it for an exact fit lengthwise with a hobby or boxcutter. At least in HO, and at least for walthers bethgons, the cut pieces fit perfectly width-wise without any cutting. Now turn the piece over, so that the preforated/pre-cut split in the roadbed does not show. Now just adjust the piece so that it fits well without the conners/ends showing. It'll end up looking pretty decent. A 3 foot section will yield about 4 loads

Now for some, this method may not look as realistic as they like. But for me, they look just as good as the $2-3 a piece ones and hey, the price is right.

Take care,

Brad
 
Brad that sounds pretty close to what I use, foam strips cut from a home humidifier roll.
Do you have any pics of your loads?
Mine were another of my famous "good 'nuff fer now" projects... seven years ago.:rolleyes:
 


Next time you change your undersink water filter cartridge, cut it open and save the charcoal. I glued this load in place with carpenters glue and wetwater.

The bumper at the end of track is one of the new styles :D
 
Brad those are good looking loads!
Jon, I like those loads too, but I need removable ones for my West bound trains.
(I have the same bumper in my staging yard.)
 
Jon NFL said:
Next time you change your undersink water filter cartridge, cut it open and save the charcoal. I glued this load in place with carpenters glue and wetwater.

The bumper at the end of track is one of the new styles :D
Click to expand...

I did that with the Brita filter but there is some small plastic ball material in the filter that messes it all up. I ended up using this stuff called "Black Beauty" that’s used for sand blasting. I got a 50# bag for something like $20. It's not bad at all except it has something in it as well that's not shaped anything like coal so it needs to be filtered out to look good. I also found a coat of paint really makes it look like a coal load. I'll upload photos later.

Dave
 
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