Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-88.212.37.71-20130226215346/@comment-11561078-20130705190031

Here's a screenshot thumbnail of an automated setup that doesn't require high-order machines.

It's basically 3 steam engines, a variable number of pumps, a network of water pipes in the foreground, a separate power network in the background, and a transport pipe system with a redstone engine to move coal from a chest to the steam engines, and recirculate the leftovers back into chest.

On the left is  "power sink" that can be largely ignored. You can substitute a quarry.

Note that steam engines operate at a set output power level and will overheat and stop working if they can't drive something.