of the tunnel heads black. These are put back in place after
the oven is charged from the larry car so the coal will ignite.
When the coal ignites, the cover is removed and green smoke
is vented. Haven’t figured out how to do that yet.
The Sewell ovens' larry track was narrow gauge and ran on
girders between piers 2’6” x 4’. The actual track gauge was 42”
but mine will be 3’. The piers are cast in throw away molds.
Placing the top piece in place, I covered both it and the coke
dock with dirt and let dry. Then I applied a liberal coating of
Highball coal dust. To the coke dock I added some scale coke
that I purchased from a company that is long out of business.
8: Coke ovens at Sewell, WV on Ron Lane’s Mann’s
Creek Railway. Two of the ovens have smoke units
installed. Photo by Ron Lane.
8
