Hi all. I’m a fan of local rail/industrial history. Birmingham, Al has a rich history in those areas. The local surroundings had all the ingredeints needed to make iron and steel. Red Mountain is literally red from the iron ore it contains. Sloss Industies was a major player in the area. Today, I went to visit the old Sloss #2 ore mine on Red Mountain with a friend from work. I thought ya’ll might find the pics interesting.
Entry mantle of the main drift.
A close up of the mantle inscription. Look closely. It reads: 1890 SSS&I Co, Sloss #2.
Winch house that was used to pull loaded mine cars up the drift.
Inside the winch house. Note the drive motor and gearing. The winch drum is just to the right of this view.
Shot from an adjacent cemetary that inadvetantly got bulldozed. [V] It was so overgrown when they brought in heavy equipment that I’m sure it was just an accident. I’m guessing that most of these folks were miners. Almost all were male.
RR bridge on what I believe to be the old Tennessee Coal and Iron (TC&I) High Line. Empty trains went up to Red Mountain mines and returned their ore loads to the Fairfield Works.
Block signal on what must have been the L&N’s Birmingham Mineral Sub. The tracks are long gone…
Here’s a veiw on the lower level. There was much more that I didn’t shoot.
Glad you enjoyed the pics. I was reluctant to post them here, but thought someone might find them useful or be spured to an adventurous trip themselves.
That would be quite a job… It’s in pretty rough shape anyway. I know where there’s a few Pensy style signals off (I think) the old SCL/ACL. Now those might be in better condition. Hum…
Thanks for posting those grande Man. The mine I’m modelling was scavenged for scrap during WW2 so none of the equipment is left.
From your pictures, it appears that the sequence went “steam engine-gearing-flywheel-cabledrum” but I can’t tell if the connections were belt drives or iron shafts. Did you see any indications of one or the other there? Also, I’m wondering if there would have been a local steam storage tank. It seems to me that under some conditions, the steam engines could use steam faster than a given supply line from the power house could supply it, leading to the installation of a tank near the hoist to store up steam and even out the supply when needed. Any evidence of this?
That building looks pretty solid, but I’ve been fooled before, went through a floor, tore up my legs pretty bad and it could have been a lot worse. For others reading this thread, take great care around any old building, and when it comes to old mines, just say no. There’s too many potential problems in unmaintained tunnels, poor shoring, unmarked vertical shafts, wide area cave ins, bad air, even pools of acid, so the best policy is to give them a wide berth.
The cable drive was electric. The motor is visable in one of the shots. It was made by General Electric and had a drive shaft with a flywheel and universal joint to drive the cable drum. The remains of the building’s electrical system were quite interesting.
I’ll echo your sentiments about abandoned sites, they are full of dangers. Be very careful around buildings and STAY OUT of any underground mines.
Durn modernists are messing up my vision of a steam powered world at the turn of the century.
There was a vicious rumor that the mines in the area I’m modelling went electric too, supplying not just the mines but the towns and homes too. I ignored said rumor, because clearly it was spread by killjoy’s who can’t stand the idea of old technology ever succeeding.
(Actually, the Tesla/Westinghouse versus Con-Ed AC/DC wars began around 1895 in New York City if I recall correctly, but on my railroad they used steam, period.)
The building that got me was ostensibly new construction, an A frame log cabin, but they used old plywood decking and my bodyweight (195) took out a 16 inch by 20 foot section between joists. I was in up to my hips before I knew what happened, the splintered sides of decking wedged against my legs, both hands busy finding support from the joists over an unknown drop, the only way out was to bear down and jut take the damage from pulling them free.
Since then, I’ve been been more leery of old sructures.
Thanks again for the drive line info ad pics, you’ve helped fill a difficult gap.
great pics!..and you can tell they used steam power too…the beveled gear in the wench house room is a reduction gear from a steam turbine motor…naval ships use the same thing in the present day…some things never change…chuck
That’s a great idea for a layout, especially a free-lanced one like what mine will be.[:D] I love touring older buildings, but have not been in any abandoned ones, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing from reading some of the posts above.[B)] I’ld rather not risk it.[:I]
Thanks for the pictures Grande. One questions though, is there a Shaft #1 nearby?[?]
More good pictures, lots of visible details, some I’m not clear on. The large through holes in the cable drum’s bearing supports have a ring of bolts like a steam fitting, brakes perhaps?
Looks like they pulled the steam engine and used the same foundation for the electric plant. I’m planning to do the same thing, only without removing the steam engine first.
I have a couple of different sources telling me this mine, in a different Red Mountain Mining District, was probably supplying the surrounding towns and mines with electricity, maybe even before the turn of the century. No date on the Sanborn map I have, but it’s still showing steam, so I’m going with that.
A lot of time a mine’s shaft goes in first, where the original outcrop of ore was first discovered. Later on, as the shaft gets deeper, hauling out the ore and many times groundwater necessitates driving an adit into the shaft at a lower elevation. If the number two tunnel is that adit, it could point directly to the shaft. The hoist cable could turn a corner underground, but not much of one without additional equipment.
Hunting a misplaced hole in the round is a good time to leave an itinerary with a responsible third party, especially if your working a bearing that takes you directly over the main workings. A GPS would probably allow you to follow a parallel route and still stay in sight of the ground over the adit.
I’m going to try to get back up to Red Mountain tomorrow.
After viewing the layout drawing on the Bhamrails website, the track right of way that went under the crusher/tipple should take me to the #1 mine. There was a concrete culvert that passed below the bridge pictured in the original post. The ore car tracks went thru it. I may even try to find the remnants of the L&N in that area. It should be a fun trip.
Nice way to spend a day, especially the next couple of days, which look like pretty decent weather.
The mine I’m modelling lies on land that was purchased by an attorney who is using it to try to force the Foerst Service to give him better land in trade, by threatening to bulldoze the original mine buildings. He already destroyed the bunkhouse for the Joker Tunnel, now he’s threatening the Yankee girl headframe.
Thanks for the history lesson and great pics. Finding anything this old still standing at all is a really rare treat. I appreciate your taking time to share them with us.
