Hi I’m planning on building a mine on my layout I was wondering if anyone had any idea and any pictures of finished mines it would be a great help
Thanks
What kind of mine: gold,silver, copper, coal, salt??? Open pit ??
Coal.
I have a name for the mine - “Yorsen Mine” [:o)]
Might be an idea to do a Google Image search on “coal mine”. I’m sure plenty of photos will show up.
Bob Boudreau
here’s a pic of what I want to do.
Ken.
http://coalcity.lib.il.us/coalmining/
There is a lot on the web. I am modelling a particular mine in central illinios and could not find any web photos of the mine, but have been able to get several postcards from e-bay of the mine for referece.
You could also call it the “Itzahl Mine” if you’re feeling greedy!
or, how about the “Eyegot Mine?”
Itzahl Mine I like that
thanks
Simon,
Have you tried the local historical society or newspaper office. What about a local community college. Here at Illinois Valley Community College in LaSalle County, IL, they have some local history stuff in the school library. Our town library in Peru has a local history area as well.
Hope this helps.
Paul, thanks for the advice. I am actually quite fortunate in that some of the main mine structures are still standing, so I have been able to get some photos of what is left, and from that, a good idea of the plan of the mine. My wife is very keen on collecting postcards of the area and the mine in particular, as her grandfather died as a result of a mine accident, so we are happy to pay for and collect the postcards. It is remarkable, how many post cards of the mine exist. I would have never imagined that it would have been a subject for a postcard. We have also been able to research some materials from the local newspaper archives in Macoupin Co. Anyway, I have what I need to model the place, and she is enjoying researching this part of her family history.
CBQ_Guy is right - there’s lots of stuff on the net. I model West Virginia and did a search on Yahoo for “West Virginia Coal Mine” and got a boatload of information. The railroad museum in Mendota, Il also sells a book about the coal mines of the area with a lot of good pictures.
There is an excellent book available from the Burlington Route Historical Society on coal mining in Southern Illinois. Here is a description of the book from the Society’s web page:
Bulletin #35, THE Q IN THE COAL FIELDS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS, our largest issue ever, contains 256 pages of information and photographs compiled by BRHS member John Mitchell. The issue is solely devoted to the portion of the Beardstown Division south of Centralia that served over 70 coal mines. It includes information on operations, motive power, rolling stock, structures, MOW equipment, people, mines served and a small section on the Paducah & Illinois and the Q’s navy!
The Society’s web page is at www.burlingtonroute.com
Click on “BRHS Company Store” (in the red area of the homepage), and then on the photo of the Burlington Bulletin immediately below the text which reads “BURLINGTON BULLETINS and BURLINGTON BULLETIN REPRINTS”. Then scroll down to the book. Lotsa good info AND photos.
Hope this is helpful!
Are you going to scratchbuild it?
If not, you probably already know about this, but in case you didn’t…:
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3017
Unfortunately Walthers doesn’t have any in stock right now, but a few dozen LHS showed up when I did a “find-it”…
This is a marvelous resource as are all the Burlington Bulletins’, membership in the BRHS has to be one of the best value hobby related expenses I have. The quality of the volenteer produced publications is outstanding.
Unfortunately, from the perspective of my modeled mine, it does not cover Macoupin Co north East of St. Louis, but then again my mine was owned by the “Superior Coal company” who were a subsiduary company of the C&NW who used the coal exclusively to power the steam roster.