# Randall Coal & Ice



## Dave NYC 1962 (Oct 17, 2020)

Happy Holidays folks!

I want to scratch build this decrepit Coal and Ice vendor on an abandoned spur (in its decrepit state). I've never scratch built anything is one problem, but also I'm not quite sure how it worked. 

My assumption is that this company got coal delivered by train and then sold it to homeowners to heat their homes, which they delivered by truck.

The silos held the coal of course. Do trucks back up in the cement openings at the base to get loaded? How did the silos get filled? There is a chute on the other side of the building where the track ran, but it seems too low to unload a train car that way and how did the silos get filled from the top? There a conveyer inside, but it seemed pretty small to unload a rail car. I couldn't find any on line reference that explained things.

Or do I have this backwards and this company provided coal for steam locos?

Any help/tips would be appreciated!

View attachment 551798

View attachment 551800


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## Homeless by Choice (Apr 15, 2016)

The photos don't load. I get the following message:
*Oops! We ran into some problems.*

The requested page could not be found.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

You're mostly right about the conveyor operation. Typically, the hoppers would discharge into a pit below the tracks (or be on a trestle and dumps to ground level), from which a conveyor would gradually load it into the silos. Keep in mind that an operation like this wouldn't be taking entire unit trains of coal, but maybe a hopper or two a week. Trucks can be loaded by dump chute, although often a bucket loader would have been used instead. Open a door at the base of the silo, coal tumbles out and is scooped up by a bucket loader and dumped in the bed of the truck. Unlike a powerplant or transhipping facility, this isn't really a high volume operation.


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## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

Try loading the photos again. Didnt appear.


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## Dave NYC 1962 (Oct 17, 2020)

Thanks CTValley, that helps. I’ll try and fix the pictures. I don’t hav3 them on my iPad now.


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