Coal Stacking at MPD's

[Andy M]

Prompted by a brief conversation with Mike 'The Stationmaster' at Fawley Hill, I have been giving some thought to the practice of stacking loco coal on the stages at larger sheds. This appears to have been particularly prevalent on the Great Western, as the images below at Newton Abbot show.

 

This method of forming a robust outer wall, behind which the reserve coal would be stored and contained would put many artisan dry stone wallers to shame. It must have been incredibly labour intensive for the Coaling Gang, already regarded as one of the most back-breaking jobs.

 

It would be interesting to hear any anecdotes or observations about this unusual process, or to uncover detailed photographs of it in action.

 

Regards,

Andy.

[LMS2968]

I think most and possibly all pre-Grouping railways did it, but the retaining 'wall' was usually carefully stacked coal rather than masonry. It was also common practice to whitewash the outer walls, so any pilfering would show up. This was a time when all homes were heated by coal, so it wasn't uncommon for the odd lump to disappear.

[Andy M]

15 hours ago, LMS2968 said:

I think most and possibly all pre-Grouping railways did it, but the retaining 'wall' was usually carefully stacked coal rather than masonry.

 

That is most definitely large lumps of the finest Welsh steam coal used to build the wall. You can see the contrast with the stuff to be used behind, clearest in front of the Works chimney in the first photo above.

 

The practice appears to have continued well into British Railways days. Mike did also mention the use of compacted brickettes on the Western Region, which I think he said were produced in South Wales.

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Just to be somewhat different here and sort of off piste here is a link showing a picture of the stacking of Crown Patent Fuel briquettes (or brickettes) however they are obviously not intended for railway use.  Their use in locomotives was discussed in two separate papers produced during WWII

 

https://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/collection/photos-british-antarctic-expedition-1910-13-ponting-collection/p2005-5-207

 

 

[Nick Holliday]

Looking through Eddie Lyons' book on GWR sheds, I didn't get the impression that coal stacks were particularly prevalent on the line, as the fairly general deployment of the raised coaling road restricted the opportunities for stacking, although where it was done, as the photos show, the result was rather spectacular. (I found only about twelve possibles in around 200 locations.) The passed master of stacking seems to have been the Great Eastern, who seemed to stockpile vast quantities of mcoal during periods when it was available cheaply, filling almost every space near their sheds, big or small, with coal. Photos of Ipswich make you wonder how the locos managed to thread their way between the walls of coal or reach the water cranes.

I'd always believed that these piles were intended to be a bit ephemeral, as there was a potential for spontaneous combustion if left too long, and piled too high, and I think I've seen somewhere that some types of coal deteriorated in quality if left exposed to the air, either losing calorific value or becoming more friable, which might have been more of a problem with the soft Welsh coal favoured by the GWR and less so with Yorkshire hards that some other lines preferred.

[jukebox]

There's quite a few photos extant of stacking at LNER facilities, too.

 

I'd need to dig into my references to namecheck them...

[jim.snowdon]

4 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Looking through Eddie Lyons' book on GWR sheds, I didn't get the impression that coal stacks were particularly prevalent on the line, as the fairly general deployment of the raised coaling road restricted the opportunities for stacking, although where it was done, as the photos show, the result was rather spectacular. (I found only about twelve possibles in around 200 locations.)

According to Harold Gasson, the coal stack at Didcot was down by the turntable (where there was space for it), at the opposite end of the shed to the coaling stage (where there definitely wasn't space).

 

Jim

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

12 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

...I'd always believed that these piles were intended to be a bit ephemeral, as there was a potential for spontaneous combustion if left too long, and piled too high, and I think I've seen somewhere that some types of coal deteriorated in quality if left exposed to the air, either losing calorific value or becoming more friable...

According to notes in my ancient (circa 1920) coal science handbook, the typical safe limit for stacked UK bituminous coals was considered to be 11 feet high, to avoid risk of 'spontaneous' combustion.

 

The stacks should be used 'FIFO' - first in, first out, because of potential deterioration. The main deterioration was loss of combustible volatiles, the inherent 'starter' in 'steam coal' which initiated combustion almost immediately the coal was placed on a hot firebed. This of course was an inherently valuable characteristic in the economical management of the fire in the steam locomotive application, where demand for steam could vary very significantly during the course of the working turn.

[pH]

17 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

The stacks should be used 'FIFO' - first in, first out, because of potential deterioration. 

 

Serious question - how could you use coal in an 11 foot high stack FIFO?

[eastglosmog]

In theory, what you ought to do is work it full face from one end along the axis of the stack to the other, building a new stack behind you in the same direction.  Somehow, I doubt if practice always followed theory.  These days, you would have a reclaim tunnel beneath the stack withdrawing the coal from the base, but I have never seen such a thing at an engine shed!