Walthers HO Scale Cornerstone Series® Coal Flood Loader
Served by a network of conveyors, these large buildings are essentially storage bins, which load entire trains on the move. After coal has been washed, crushed to size and graded, its delivered from these facilities to the flood loader, which can be quite some distance away. In operation, a unit train enters the loader at walking speed, about 4 mph. Loading begins when the first car rolls under the chute, a job handled by detectors and computers. In a matter of minutes the car is filled to capacity and loading begins on the next. Some loaders also use their computers to briefly stop the flow between cars, producing a down hill slope to the load. Others run continuously, and a wheel loader is used to reclaim the spilled coal. As the last car clears, the loader stops automatically and begins refilling for the next train. Now fully loaded, the unit train passes over a weigh-in-motion scale, to verify the actual amount of coal being shipped to the customer.