Smokebox Char - any use as a fuel??

Has anybody investigated the use of smokebox char as a fuel - for say heating signalboxes, workshops or mess rooms?

I have seen it put on already buring brakevan stoves to good effect in the past.

This char which we all currently seem to discard is fairly fine particles of part burnt coal.

It seems rather wasteful not to burn whats left somehow and save £££s otherwise spent on heating.

 

Sounds like a nice little earner............if you don't mind being filthy black all the time....

 

To be honest you would be better off in sieving the coals from a dropped fire or indeed a fire that has been removed through the firehole door.

The fine char peices you refer to could be added to sizeable coal peices but ultimately you will end up with a dead fire as no air can pass through.

I regularly fire my workshop stove with the coals from dropped fires (and the dregs from the bunker).

Stan

 

I put the bigger ones back in!

 

Sounds ideal for Granville to manufacture in the backroom for Arkwright to sell in his shop .......Arkwright,s b b b b b briquettes, to L L L L L L LIGHT up your FFFFFFire Mrs Bluet (Open all Hours)................

 

Errr...yeah.

Back to the original point: you could use it for small fires but it won't last very long as the particles will burn very quickly, produce a quick burst of heat and then they're done - much the same as if you fire some slack into a firebox. You'd still need a decent coal base to get the best out of your smokebox ash.

 

Not quite the same but I remember my father mixing small coal with water at home, and applying it to an established fire.
It solidified into sizeable lumps and gave out a tremendous amount of heat - black rock we called it.

 

You could always bag some of it and sell it to railway modellers to dirty their engines / sheds

 

I was always told that it was excellent fertilizer for gardens and vegetable plots.

 

So thinking sideways...

ive always wondered where that "railway" style brick came from (the dark purple coloured regular railway brick used everywhere on the railways).. it to me at least.. isnt just dirt coloured.. just dark... is this because it's coal ash based ?