Steam coal

[AJG3]

A few questions about this solid fuel:

The dry steam coals from South Wales can be quite friable; is this why the GWR didn't use coaling towers?

Barnsley (Grimethorpe?) was a source of steam coal for other Big Four; how does it compare in its handling and burning characteristics with the South Wales steam coal?

An anthracite (semi-anthracite?) occurs in the North Pennines around Alston; has this ever been used as a steam coal?

Many Thanks,

Andrew

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I suspect that any detailed knowledge on this area is not now living. Academic research material.

South Wales "steam coal" of excellent burning ability (well - it ran the British Empire , the Navy and much more) , was known to be dusty and a bit friable. South Wales anthracite is of excellent carbon and low arsenic quality , but as slow burning not what you would burn in a steam loco unless carefully controlled (though the New York Elevated pre 1904 found it better than local native coal from Pennsylvania) - almost 100% smokeless which helped.

My father was a colliery shift manager , quite a profession in his time and a skilled occupation. While he was "production and safety based" , were he still around I doubt he could debate this subject much apart they were always entreated ae to "get the coal out" , - "safely" .

 

[webbfan]

I suspect that any detailed knowledge on this area is not now living. Academic research material.

South Wales "steam coal" of excellent burning ability (well - it ran the British Empire , the Navy and much more) , was known to be dusty and a bit friable. South Wales anthracite is of excellent carbon and low arsenic quality , but as slow burning not what you would burn in a steam loco unless carefully controlled (though the New York Elevated pre 1904 found it better than local native coal from Pennsylvania) - almost 100% smokeless which helped.

My father was a colliery shift manager , quite a profession in his time and a skilled occupation. While he was "production and safety based" , were he still around I doubt he could debate this subject much apart they were always entreated ae to "get the coal out" , - "safely" .

Must admit am suprised by your comments, always thought South Wales best steam coal was anthracite. Not sure about less arsenic more than had lower sulphide content and hence cleaner burning leaving less clinker. Also reasonable fast burning and perhaps more importantly higher temperature. Friable nature dependent on components that make up a sample - fusain, durain, vitrain and clarain, but think will end explanation there

 

[Gloster]

I read somewhere that the whisky industry preferred coal from the Amman Valley (Ammanford/Brynamman) as it had less arsenic in it than other coals.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I read somewhere that the whisky industry preferred coal from the Amman Valley (Ammanford/Brynamman) as it had less arsenic in it than other coals.

Very much so - very clean burning coal and in great demand for malting , food production in terms of steam raising in factories , and also for central heating for the likes of the London County Council for school heating. Marketed as "Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen luxery coal" in the 1920's. This coal was (opencast) mined as recently as earlier this year. Plenty of literature around on the various mines and private owner wagons.

Strong family connections to this part of the world.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I don't think that all the other Regions apart from the Western had the same source of coal.
Living on the LMR I was used to the smell of the smoke from locos off their sheds, but on visits to the ER and SR each had different smells. Obviously impossible to record and very difficult to describe in words, but the SR had a smell I could describe as 'soft' and clammy, whereas the ER (particularly around Leeds - 55 and 56 districts) it was 'harsh' or 'acidic'. The Western in South Wales had another distinctive smell.
In those days it was easy to work out where you were just from the smell of the smoke, a sensation lost for ever. The steam railways of the present day don't seem to produce anything similar. As an aside, they also seem to use small and dusty coal, similar to house coal of the past, as a result a lot of it goes up the chimney unburnt - which is something I don't recollect happening on B.R..

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Must admit am suprised by your comments, always thought South Wales best steam coal was anthracite. Not sure about less arsenic more than had lower sulphide content and hence cleaner burning leaving less clinker. Also reasonable fast burning and perhaps more importantly higher temperature. Friable nature dependent on components that make up a sample - fusain, durain, vitrain and clarain, but think will end explanation there

South Wales coalfield was - left to right - Bituminous , (dry) steam coal and anthracite. The latter roughly west of the Neath Valley towards the Ammanford / Llanelli area. The further west , the generally better quality and harder the coal - anthracite being very high in carbon and often a shiny , glass like appearance. Very small outcrops in Pembrokeshire which was handy for lime burning.

The anthracite coalfield was generally later to develop - 1840's and 1850's in the prime Rhondda area and really from 1880 / 1890 for the anthracite areas. The latter linked to special industrial use (as mentioned) and for export to Canada and Europe for stoves and central heating purposes. High calorific value allowed it to be cost effectively transported - the Canadian flows backloaded inwards grain ships. Anthracite fuelled very many suburban domestic boilers in London etc , "grains" , "Stovesse" etc. despatched to a wide range of domestic coal years and coal concentration depots such as Charrington , Neasden until well into the 1970's until gas increasingly took over. Relative cleanliness was a key marketing point.

 

[Taunton]

South Wales coalfield was - left to right - Bituminous , (dry) steam coal and anthracite.

Would I be correct in saying that ought to be right to left?

I always understood that "steam coal" was that which was not fit for anything else, just burning. There is Coking Coal, used to make coke, and various other detailed descriptions. Household Coal burns when handled by amateurs, without all the forced draught or anything else. What long went into gasworks was different to what was burnt.

At loco sheds, it seems general practice that, within reason, you used what was local. "Burned what you hauled" was a US expression.

Some steam coals were notably better than others. Somerset was pretty ropey apparently, only suitable for Portishead power station. I believe Ayrshire in Scotland was the same, generally with a proportion of stone and impurities mixed in.

The failure of 4079 Pendennis Castle on the Paddington to Plymouth high speed in 1964 commemorating 60 years since City of Truro was put down to the specially selected coal being just too good and hot, along with two firemen they overdid it and it burned through the firebars; some WR loco inspectors said it should have been mixed with lesser stuff. Still, it gave a chance for Taunton's immaculately cleaned and prepared reserve 7025 Sudeley Castle to show its paces (and with no firebar failure).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Would I be correct in saying that ought to be right to left?

I always understood that "steam coal" was that which was not fit for anything else, just burning. There is Coking Coal, used to make coke, and various other detailed descriptions. Household Coal burns when handled by amateurs, without all the forced draught or anything else. What long went into gasworks was different to what was burnt.

At loco sheds, it seems general practice that, within reason, you used what was local. "Burned what you hauled" was a US expression.

Some steam coals were notably better than others. Somerset was pretty ropey apparently, only suitable for Portishead power station. I believe Ayrshire in Scotland was the same, generally with a proportion of stone and impurities mixed in.

The failure of 4079 Pendennis Castle on the Paddington to Plymouth high speed in 1964 commemorating 60 years since City of Truro was put down to the specially selected coal being just too good and hot, along with two firemen they overdid it and it burned through the firebars; some WR loco inspectors said it should have been mixed with lesser stuff. Still, it gave a chance for Taunton's immaculately cleaned and prepared reserve 7025 Sudeley Castle to show its paces (and with no firebar failure).

Sorry - yes - right to left.

Particularly good Welsh steam coal for domestic burning was known as "Garw Cobbles" , apparently very good. Nobody in SW Wales would have burned steam coal (bar the railways of course) , it was all local anthracite - steam coal would be referred to dismissively as "en fochyn" (slang - a pig - as it was so dirty)

One gathers that Kent Coal , very welcome in saving long rail or sea hauls from other coalfields was not that great. One gathers that Northern Ireland survived on shipped Ayrshire coal , whilst Eire burned what it could afford. Vast quantities of SW Wales "duff" (dust basically) was shipped over and compressed into briquettes for domestic use to augment peat and the limited supply of Arigna coal via the Cavan and Leitrim railway.

When we first moved to St Albans we had an open fire - subsequently modernised to a wood burning stove which is superb - we bought from a local merchant and being ever keen to talk coal , found we were burning Daw Mill cobbles for a while , which was OK but left a lot of clinker and ash. ..........(and unlike wood ash could not be put on the garden or compost bin)