It’s Throwback Thursday on WLAF

By Charlie Hutson

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- On this Throwback Thursday, here’s a look back at the Lafollette Coal & Iron Company  Dinky Locomotive from 1918. The Dinky was used to haul coal to the company coke ovens.

The dinky locomotive would charge or load coal into the coke ovens from the top. The person who loaded the coal was called the charge cutter. When the oven was full of coal, the charge cutter would stop the coal supply and move to the next oven.

In the above image, the first person is not identified, the second person was Alex Thompson- the engineer, next was the charge cutter Tom Wyatt and the last person was the dinky locomotive fireman Theodore Hatmaker. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-08/13/2026-6AM)