I picked up a 40lb bag of coal from a place in Greenville for $9. I've heard coke (product of coal) was nice too bc it burned hotter, buddy of mine is a farrier and suggested it but the coal did fine from my messing around. I've seen where people have used charcoal though with success I actually started my fire with charcoal as it was easier to light. I've got an old grill I'd like to look at building a gas forge from, just need to figure out a few things with burner and all. Once I figure out and mess with it some I'll post a thread of my shenanigans with it.
Ive been reading a lot of stuff on iforgeiron.com and pretty much a master of it from YouTube but haven't messed with it enough to be wise. There's a folk school in Asheville I'd like to take some classes to get to know what I'm doing better and learn some trick. Uri holf is a guy in Israel who's a boss at it. Also checkout modernblacksmith on YouTube he's some Canuck who does and shows a lot of cool things. I messed around last night and figured how to draw the metal out and twist it and a few other things but my final product looked like doo doo as it started as a torches piece of scrap.
The RR track is great but I found myself running out of flat surface to hammer on last night and how much it rings is annoying. A good anvil won't make much noise. Used good anvils go for as much as $800, I've found a few for around 3-400 but can't justify that. Harbor freight has some cheaper ones that are made from iron I believe that although are still pretty crappy as they'll chip, I've heard they aren't to bad and get the job done. I need to cut the track I have now to about 16" and find a stump or something to mount it on, I've heard it's better to do that and will save my back. Picked up a 3lb mini sledge looking hammer from lowes yesterday and seemed to be alright but I'd like a different one. They sold a blacksmith hammer but had a synthetic handle and I would rather have wood and about a 2-2.5lb