Blue Coal

Tom M.

This is a damper motor that runs on a 16V doorbell transformer. I used to have an older one that ran on spring tension. It had a gauge to tell you when you had to wind it up.

Tom M.

Maine doug

The Shadow knows

My wife got me the Cd set of the old radio program "The Shadow". It makes good travelling stories while on I95.
Some of the ads in the program are for Blue Coal from PA. The modern way for even heat in your house and they go on to tout the many fine qualities of anthracite.
I suppose some of our Wallers know about this stuff, available in three sizes???

Jaitch

Blue Coal, Red Coal - It's all Anthracite to me.....

I'm no expert, but from what I understand "back in the day" the anthracite mining companies tried to establish "brand recognition" for their product, much the same way the oil companies wanted you to distinguish between Texaco, Gulf and Shell gasoline. The control photo that Tom posted gives us an indication that Blue Coal was a product of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DL&W), most notably a railroad, but I'm sure a coal hauling line.
Do a Google on "Phoebe Snow" and learn the advantages of heating with anthracite coal (or riding on a train powered by anthracite)
Even the oil co's in the 1950's and 60's tried to establish the same "brand recognition" with heating oil..... Texaco marketed "Fuel Chief" heating oil and there were several others.
As to how blue the coal was - all anthracite was black at the colliery, but was dyed the manufacturer's specific color to indicated that it was the brand you wanted. There were at least red and blue coal that I knbow of, and I'm sure many other flavors.

Anybody from the Anthracite region of PA have any other info?

Good Post - Jaitch!

BillW@honeywell

The Road of Anthracite...

The DL&W railroad (popularly known as the Lackawanna) was a big hauler of anthracite coal, also known as "hard" or smokless coal. They very cleverly found a way to promote their premier named train, and the fact that anthracite coal burned much cleaner in a locomotive firebox than the bituminous(soft) coal that other lines used. The train was the Phoebe Snow, and the "Gibson Girl" fictional Miss Snow always wore a white gown. The ads always rhymed, eg: "My gown stays white both day and night upon the Road of Anthracite" and featured her standing on the open platform of the observation car, seated at the table in the dining car or in a chair in the parlor car. Those ads and the C&O's "Chessie the Kitten" ads were some of the longest running in history, and among the most popular.

Blue coal was simply a dye put on at the processing plant, and indeed was a marketing tool. Rainbow or peacock coal was also advertised, and it was a natural phenomenon, the fractured edges of the coal were irridescent, and broke up the light into the colors of the rainbow. Besides the Lackawanna, the Lehigh Valley, Erie, Reading, and several others were called the "Anthracite Roads", and essentially were "conveyors" moving the coal from the mines to the processing plants or tidewater. That's how the Dead Men got their coal!

jeff_51

If you like old time radio

go to radiospirits.com They have tons of stuff. I have a closet full. Love the old shows