Living in a coal town in Pennsylvania as a kid, coal room was on one side, the coal boiler on the other side in my grandmothers basement facing the street. I really wish now I had pictures of that set up. 25 years plus working in the HVAC field, use to do a lot of oil, but nothing related to coal.
Out of curiosity, looked onlline, and there are some businesses that still deliver coal to homes in that area in Pa.
oosik, in Pa they used anthracite coal. I honestly don't know the varieties of coal in different regions of the country, but at least to my grandmothers house the coal was chipped and each piece was the size of a small throwing stone. From what I remember, the coal came down the chute pretty quick and it didn't take long to fill that coal room up.
Growing up, we use to live on those coal banks playing as kids. If you got lucky, you found a fossil in the coal (which our boys have now on the ones I found). Couple years ago went to a science musesum with the boys here in NC, and what do you know, we came across some fossils that were taken from the same town I pulled them from when I was a boy.