I've got a mine on my proposed layout: about 36" of track coming out of the mine shaft which goes to the top of some hoppers. There will be an HOn3 spur at the bottom of the hoppers for pickup. What gauge would the mine track & mine carts typically be? (Colorado, 1900.) 30"? 24"? Thanks, Jeff.
They could be many and various. From home made, to manufactured equipment. You might look at some of the HOn30 items available, to adapt them. There are small cars from MinitrainS which may be useful.
If you can't find anything else, I designed some Nn3 hopper cars that would work out to about 22" gauge in HO. They take FVM Z scale 33" wheels and they hook together with wire. http://shpws.me/qngj The usual Shapeways caveats apply. Jason
Thanks for the tips guys. While looking for some of the various suggestions, I also discovered there are many different ways to empty the ore car (front tipping, side tipping, bottom dumping, etc.), which I'll need to match to my hoppers. Or maybe not. I also found this lovely picture of the Little Johnny Mine: The roof nicely hides the details of how the ore gets from the carts into the hopper, giving me a bit more leeway. And the mine is even in the correct location (Leadville) to match my other planned features. Cheers, Jeff.
It sure is. I'll be in the area in July or August, so I'll get a pictures from all sides, and maybe even some rough measurements if I can get up close enough to it.
I like your choice of location...You were aware that the Little Johnny belonged to the Brown family with the wife of the owner being none other than the Unsinkable Molly Brown of Titanic fame?
Indeed I was. (I'm currently living in Ireland, so it seemed like a nice tie-in.) My track plan has evolved a lot since then, but the Little Johnny ore bin still features, although it's been moved to my fictitious Whitepine branch: Cheers, Jeff.
Could you eventually use something like this? It runs on Z track. Still being finalized, probably months away, but it IS coming together. Envelope will be much like that shown. Cars and loco will have link and pin couplers as standard with a Z coupler optional. This is built as an Nn3 mine loco but an HOn3 will be available, too. In the video, for proportion, that is an N scale Plymouth and hopper in the background.
That's very cool, tracktoo. But in my time-period (1920s) mechanization was largely confined to the larger tunnels serving multiple properties (such as the Argo or American). Something like the Little Johnny would have stuck with good old-fashioned mules.
Not often known is that some of the very earliest uses of electric power were in the remote mining districts in Colorado. Here are a couple of quick references to them, including Georgetown Colorado having Edison's DC current in 1882, hydro DC by 1886, before to convert to AC by 1891. And in Telluride it was the first example of Tesla/ Westinghouse AC being used for long range transmission and industrial use, predating Niagara power. I marvel at these little known facts and especially some of the remote locations as well as the wealth and support for innovation demonstrated by those characters who were out there. Pretty outstanding stuff. I understand about your Little Johnny mine but there were mine locos in use in the late 1800's but it's hard to get good specific info on this. I'm still working on that to satisfy my own curiosity but also for this product line. It's almost an obsession anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouray_Hydroelectric_Power_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado http://www.georgetownenergymuseum.org/history.html
Pity the Georgetown article doesn't mention the transmission line over Argentine Pass and down Peru Creek to Frisco, thence up Ten Mile Creek and over Fremont Pass to Leadville. I'd love to know more about it, but there's doesn't seem to be much written on it. Summit County Journal, June 20, 1913. Blue Valley Times, July 18, 1914. Carbonate Chronicle, Dec 24, 1917. Cheers, Jeff.
Modeling an electrified operation, even with overhead wire, might be more practical than building a working HO-narrow-gauge mule. When I was 5 years old, my dad build a working model mule to pull a wagon for a stage play about a hayride. Legs articulated to walk like real mule. But the working mule was 75% life size and a 2-dimensional flat to be viewed only from audience angle.
Uh... brother from another mother??? Another Jeff here, and I would guess by your nick that your middle initial is also J? I'm currently living in Colorado and planning a dual-gauge mountain layout including a couple of mines, based around approximately 1905. And I've also visited Ireland. All of the info above is very relevant to myself as well. Very cool about electricity being delivered to the mines, I'll have to research that some more and see if I can incorporate that somehow! @Kenneth - since my time period is just on the cusp of automotives, I've actually been wondering if it would be possible to articulate an HO-scale horse. One aspect in particular would be for a horsecar (a trolley that rode on tracks but was pulled by a horse or mule). I don't think we're quite there yet, but 3D printing is advancing fast and being able to create gears directly inside the horse body (but driven externally) may be possible in the next few years.
