Engine Coal Question

[NW Mailing List]

Abram,

Regarding the Virginia and Tennessee's early use of coal, Prince's book, p. 27, states:

  In the report of 1868 mention is made of a scarcity in the stock of wood for engine fuel and the first reference to the use of coal as engine fuel on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad appears, as follows:
    As well as would it have been impossible to have maintained any regularity in the running of our trains--but for the employment of coal in conjunction with green wood, an expedient which the emergency suggested.  The employment of coal which was obtained from Tennessee, removed the difficulties attendant upon the use of green wood.  By mixing this with that description of fuel, a good fire was readily obtained, a full head of steam always preserved, and regularity in the movement of trains secured.
Several conclusions present themselves, i.e., (1) Coal snuck in through the V&T back door as an expedient to facilitate the burning of green wood. (2) Coal was probably more expensive than wood so it was used sparingly.  (3) Three years after the end of the Civil War the supply of seasoned wood for engine fuel was still limited. (4) Tennessee coal mines were probably the closest source of coal for the V&T in those days.

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: N&W Mailing List 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 4:28 PM
  Subject: Engine Coal Question


  Where did the N&W get its engine coal before the Pocohontas Mine was opened in 1883?  Was it fetched down the Shenandoah Valley RR from Pennsylvania?



  And... wouldn't it be fascinating to discover a first person account of the conversion from wood to coal as engine fuel, complete with a listing of "wood stations" along the line ? !!!



  -- abram burnett
   



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