Gene,
My favorite place to play was in the coal bin in our house. You know the type. You had this little window in the basement that opened like a hopper, hinged at the bottom, so the chute from the coal delivery truck could be placed in it. Then the coal was hand shoveled down into the basement on that chute. Mom always made me wait a half a day for the coal dust to settle before I was allowed to go down into the basement after a delivery. We had a coal fired furnace that was my job as I became older to keep supplied. I remember Dad saying that the hard Anthracite was better because it burned hotter and lasted longer than the soft Bituminous.
Those coal chunks made great eyes for the snowmen we built every winter.
I guess since there is so much coal rubbed into my body that my love of steam engines comes naturally. :D
I think I need to get another Atlas Shay too.....
B-) & :x
