I have done a search for mining cars and I can not find them. Where do you guys get them? I am looking for some little mining cars, it is a last minute detail that I have decided to put into my lay out. Also on a HO lay out do I still use HO track for that or do I need some thing smaller?
Thanks
Baker
look in the walthers catalogue (web site ) and you may see some small mine hoppers that could be made by roco… i have some in a box somewhere and they are very good… do a google search… i also have a couple of n gauge flat cars that i have made flat top ho bodies for… these then have timber put on them to look like a load of mine props … i would use n gauge track… peter
Roco makes a line in HOn2 1/2 size (same as N gauge).
SS Ltd makes some white metal kits of HO scale mining cars, both a wooden hopper and a metal side dump model, and a kit of a mine loco (non powered). The guage is considerably less than typical HO. I am not sure what it is though. I have the kits but have not made them up as yet. The detail looks quite good.
Try N Scale Architect
http://www.the-n-arch.com/
Scroll down past the Lackawanna Coal Co. and you will see the loco and cars and track.
Gene
Do a search for “Ore cars”. It should have better results than “Coal Cars”. Here is a search at towerhobbies.com:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0095P?FVSEARCH=ore+cars&FVPROFIL=++&search3=Go
I had thought about using N Scale track and ore cars for going down into the mine. I will watch this thread to see what ideas others come up with.
Thanks guys I will be sure to look into these. Some thing has to work.
Baker
Try this link.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/160-18606
I presume the subject is the very small cars used in the workings of underground mines, HO scale, to run on N gauge (or smaller) track.
In railfanning around several coal mines in the late '50’s I noticed several types, all 4 wheel. One, a tip-dump (either side) metal hopper, approximately triangular in cross-section, was produced by Egger-bahn in the distant past. A second, little more than a box on wheels meant to be unloaded in a rotary dumper, could be kitbashed two at a time from N scale high side gondolas. The third, which somewhat resembled a bathtub, would be a scratchbuilder’s challenge. I have never seen anything similar offered in model form.
There were also several different designs of battery motors, plus some very complex and interesting arrangements of track for cable haulage. A couple of mines used four wheel internal combustion locos for long (up to about 1km) above-ground hauls.
Coupling of cars was always by link and pin, either a single link or a three-link chain. The link(s) stayed on the downhill end of the car, and the pins were attached by short cables so they wouldn’t get mislaid. When a cable had to be attached (always to the uphill end of a cut) the end shackle was placed in the coupling clevis and pinned with the standard pin. Brakes were nonexistant.
When I detail my own mine scene, I expect to scratchbuild most of the (probably non-operating) rolling stock. Building the common-carrier railroad is enough of an operational challenge.
The above-ground rail lines at the largest coal mine I railfanned could have made a rather large and interesting model railroad. In that case, the ‘interchange/entrance to staging’ would have been the humongous vertical elevator to the underground workings.
Chuck
Chuck, very interesting. I bet you have some great photos if you had a camera with you back in the 50’s?
The mine car, and therefore the mine, provided one of the motivations for me to model the mine scene on my layout. My wife’s pateral Grandfather was crushed between 2 mine cars deep in a shaft mine in the 1930’s. It took him over a week to die from the injuries with not much in the way of medical help. As a result of the desire to model this mine, I have been collecting old mine photos from Central Illinois, have visited and photographed the remains of the mine in White City/ Mount Olive Il, and have found myself reading several books on the social history of the mines, the labor movement and immigration to the US. These 3 subjects are intertwined like no others. Anyway, the SS Ltd white metal kits I mentioned above are of the triangular side dump and the square box type cars.
Have youthought of scratch building the cars? Just an idea.
Stephen