Anybody else still using a coal shovel?

Anonymous-0 · Feb 22, 2013

I did some snow shoveling today, worked up a good sweat with an old heavy coal shovel and was wondering if anyone else still uses one. I enjoy it, brings back memories from when I was a kid.

Pitch1 · Feb 22, 2013

Aluminum grain scoop

John Fulton · Feb 22, 2013

Yep, still use mine for shovelling snow, though not so much since we are now in southern Virninia.
40 years ago when we lived in Morgantown, WV we had a big old coal furnace. Tolerated the soot on the walls, minor explotions in furnace when methane buildup finally caught fire, and rising cost of coal even in WV, till we finally put in fuel oil furnace. Smell of burning coal still brings back fond memories, however.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 22, 2013

Yep. Have my Dad's old coal shovel hanging in the garage. Don't use it a lot but it comes in real handy for some things.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 22, 2013

Still use a coal shovel for shovelling coal. Our village has no gas, oil and electricity are too expensive, so heat the house with a coal-fired furnace. English villages are cute, but can be hell to live in. Phil

John B. · Feb 22, 2013

Yes I love the smell of the old coal fired furnaces even in the summer when it sat idle.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 22, 2013

I liked that big old coal fired furnace. Always had heat and missed it terribly when we got forced air and the blower turns on and out comes cold air first.

DoubleR · Feb 22, 2013

I second the Aluminum Grain Scoop.

G1355 · Feb 22, 2013

Yup got a few

Mike (WA) · Feb 22, 2013

Used to use a steel coal shovel, but now have a couple of aluminum scoop shovels we use for horse stalls (I gave Mrs. (WA) one for Christmas one year, she gave me one for my next birthday)- we go out and get 'em on the rare occasion we have to shovel snow. Usually get 3 or 4 inches, rarely more.

We did get 17 inches a couple of years ago- great fun watching the Pomeranian go in and out of the snow like a porpoise going in and out of the water. She got to the house completely packed with snow, and grinning like she had good sense. The enthusiasm of Poms can be a real pain in the far East, but for a jaded old guy like me, it is refreshing to watch a critter whose glass is always half full.

NEKS · Feb 22, 2013

Show me a picture of a coal shovel. We might of had one around the place when I was a kid and to me it was just a shovel.

S.Crum · Feb 22, 2013

I use a #12 aluminum grain shovel for snow, floor sweepings and general 'dust pan' type duties. On rare occasions I use and old 'stoker shovel' Dad gave me that has LVRR stamped in the shank. Cliff McMorran gave it to Dad after the end of steam power on the Lehigh.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 22, 2013

The canal? I read a few stories about that- some history there!

Larry NEIL · Feb 22, 2013

I've had mine so long that I've cut it down about 4 times since I moved in this house 51 years ago. It's an "oldmans" scoop now, only holds about 2/3 of what originally did.

S.Crum · Feb 22, 2013

Lehigh Valley Railroad. The Lehigh Canal and navigation Co. was the percursor and was eventually eclipsed by the railroad. The north branch canal ran thru the river bottom land of our farm, the railroad built on the towpath of this canal.

Rusty 2N · Feb 22, 2013

The shovel I use today is the very same shovel I used 50 years ago to shovel coal with.
That statement made me feel a bit old!!!

Whichester1 · Feb 22, 2013

I still have one and use it from time to time. Handy for shoveling dirt/gravel off concrete surfaces.

Ted in NE-OH · Feb 22, 2013

Have one with all wooden handle. Says NYC (New York Central) on the handle.

Rollie NE PA · Feb 22, 2013

I have a couple of coal shovels, but use aluminum for snow. My Grandfather and my two uncles were coal miners in the Wyoming Valley of PA.

gtractorfan · Feb 22, 2013

Is this one? It's about 14" wide. I have several similar ones, this is the widest.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 22, 2013

If I had that I wouldn't use it. My dad was an engineer on NYC.

D beatty · Feb 22, 2013

I also have one that is marked the same way with a wooden handle. I don't know where dad got it from but its been around the place for a long time.

EricInSEI · Feb 22, 2013

Yesterday on CL somebody was giving away 6 cubic wheelbarrows of coal. How much?
Cincinnati

Lamar Fudd · Feb 22, 2013

Ever slide down a hill on one of those 'Po Boy Sleds'? I used to--about 50 years ago. Way better than an old Chebbie hood.

the tractor vet · Feb 22, 2013

The last COAL shovel went down the road in Oct of 83 when i sold my truck and trailer , no more getting up on top of the load to level it off before the rag went on. and OLD BERTHA left this house in the summer of 68 when the gas furnace went in.

Rusty wheel · Feb 22, 2013

Hey Kornfused, It's a small world. My dad was a freight conductor on the NYC. Went from Columbus to Toledo. Hauled a lot of coal. Loved them old steam engines.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 22, 2013

Rusty, I grew up in Toledo, my dad worked in the yard and also had a Toledo to Cleveland run. I never wanted to work on the railroad because he was always tied to the phone. We had an outside bell on the house so he would never miss a call from the railroad. He worked the extra board a lot. If he got home from work early he would say "water on the cereal today", if he got in extra hours he would say "milk on the cereal today" - always in jest.

THEkyroastnear · Feb 23, 2013

there are 2 or 3 around this place , use them now and then

Cienna · Feb 23, 2013

I used to buy lots of shovels, spades, rakes, forks, etc at farm auctions, with the intention of refurbishing them. Some I haven't. One I'm showing belonged to a railroad (Chicago,Rock Island & Pacific). This RR used this name from 1851 to 1933. So this shovel has got to be an oldie! A later name for this RR was simply "Rock Island". Several years ago my wife rode the RI to Mpls from Lincoln, NE. The RI depot is still in Lincoln, but it is now a bank. The RI RR bed is now a biking/hiking trail.

Anybody else still using a coal shovel?

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