coal train

plural coal trains

1. rail transporta freight train which carries a single commodity: coal.

   One of the biggest flows of traffic through Trent consists of coal trains from Toton to Castle Donington or Willington power stations (on the Castle Donington branch) or to the Birmingham area, with two or three trains to Chaddesden.

   1961 March, Warren Smith, “The problems of train regulation - a study of operation at Trent”, in Trains Illustrated, page 169

   2 more examples

   Some interesting facts have recently been made known by the L.N.E.R. concerning the 178-ton Garratt 2-8-0 + 0-8-2 engine No. 2395, which since construction in 1925 has spent the whole of its working life banking coal trains up the 3 miles of 1 in 40 between Wentworth junction and West Silkstone, on the Worsborough branch, near Barnsley.

   1942 March, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes”, in Railway Magazine, page 93

   Out in Ohio on test on level, tangent track a single 2-6-6-6 once moved a 160-car, 14.083-ton coal train to 19 miles per hour from a standing start in 1 mile and 6 minutes, and had it rolling 29 miles per hour within a total elapsed time of 11 minutes.

   1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 61