mine cart and its function

1. 1
INTRODUCTION
A mine cart (also knownas a mine tub) isa type of rollingstock
found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials
procured in the process of traditional mining.
A mine railway, sometimes pit railway, is a railway
constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a
mine.
Materials transported typically include ore, coal and
overburden (also called variously spoils, waste, slack, culm,
and tilings; all meaning waste rock).
It is little remembered, but the mix of heavy and bulky
materials which had to be hauled into and out of mines gave
rise to the first several generations of railways, at first made
of wood rails, but eventually adding protective iron, steam
locomotion by fixed engines and the earliest commercial
steam locomotives,all in andaround the works aroundmines.

2. 2
TERMINOLOGY
• In South Africa a minecart is referred to as a cocopan, in
German it is called Hund (alternative spelling "Hunt"), a
homonym to hund, meaning dog.
• In Wales minecarts are known as drams.
• Throughout the world, there are different titles for mine
carts.
• In the U.S. and elsewhere the term skip is use.
MINE CAR WHEELS AND AXLES
The best mine car wheels are made of charcoal pig iron
so cast that the rims and flanges will be chilled and thus
hardened.
Since charcoal pig iron is high priced , mine car usually
cast from mixtures of mottledand whitepig iron andgray
pig iron and then chilled.
Car wheels made of special steel, such as manganese
steel, give excellent service.

3. 3
They are lighter than cast iron wheels and do not groove
on the tread as do cast iron wheels.
Mine cars will run smoother over rough tracks and run
easier when the diameter of the wheels is large.
Coal mine car vary in diameter from 12 to 20 inches and
ore mine car wheels from 7 to 18 inches.
USE OF MINE CART
• Mine carts are used for the purpose of transporting
materials from the working place in a mine to a place
either in or out of the mine where they are unloaded.
• There are great variety in their shape and construction,
but one of the chief considerations in their design is
whether they are to be dumped by hand or by the aid of
tipple, and whether ther are to be dumped from the end
or side.

4. 4
DESIGN
Minecarts range in size and usage, and are usually made of
steel for hauling ore. Shaped like large, rectangular buckets,
minecarts ride on metal tracks and were originally pushed or
pulled by men and animals (supplemented later by rope-
haulage systems).
• They were generally introduced in early modern time,
replacing containers carried by men.
• Originally, they didn't run on a real "rail", where the
wheels would have a rim to fit into the tracks, but with
plain wheels on a wooden plank way, hold in track by a
pin fitting into a guide groove, or by the underside of the
cart itself which was lower than the wheels and fitted
between the planks ("Hungarian system").
SIZE OF MINE CAR
• In mines where headroom for passage and loading is
limited by the thickness of the material mined, or where
the width of the passageways is restricted by the nature

5. 5
of the roof , floor, or the heights and widths of the
passages in the mine through whichthey must be moved.
• Where the passagesways are not restricted by the
thickness and nature of the material mined , the size of
the cars is determined by the ease with which they may
be handled and loaded.
CAPACITY OF MINE CARS
• The capacityof mine carisobtainedbythe followingrule:
RULE :- Multiply the capacity of the inside of the car box, in
cubic feet, by the weight of a cubic foot of the loose material
loaded in to car.
Expressed as a formula, this is,
C= 62.5 X Sp. Gr. X R X S
In which C = Capacity of car , in pounds
Sp. Gr. = Specific gravity of material loadeD
R = Ratio between weight of a cubic foot of
broken and a cubic foot of solid material.

6. 6
S= Contents of car, in cubic feet
TRACK AND MINE CARS ff
Figure:- 3-D diagram of mine cart

7. 7
Track
While adapting a track mine system, properly laid track and
suitable types of mine cars are mandatory to achieve smooth
and trouble free transportation of ore, rocks and material in
the mine. Selection of a track depends upon the weight of
locomotive or the weight on a wheel in case of rope haulage
system.
In figure/table 7.14(c) suggested rail weights given by
Bethlehem catalog 2314 can be used as guide. Grosvenor9
gave a thumb rule to choose rail weight in pounds/yard to be
10 lb./yard for each ton. of weight on wheels. Track lying is a
skilled job. A track laying operation involves laying of ballast,
sleepers, track with fish-plates and bolts, switches and
crossings. Ballast provides an elastic bed for the track,
distributes the applied load over a large area and holds the
sleepers in place. The ballastshould be crushed rock, which is
not affected by water and produces minimum dust when
subjected to heavy weights as it has got adverse effect on
locomotive parts and the rolling stock. Its size should be in
between 12–50 mm (0.5”-2”).
The sleepers could be of wood, concrete or steel. Spacing (L)
between them should not exceed 850 mm (2’9”), or the
following relation1 can determine it:

8. 8
Spacing between sleepers,L =5000x W/P
Value of W = 37, 56, 82, 109 for rails of 14, 17.5, 24.8 and 30
kg/m respectively. P is the wheel pressure in kg.
The sleeper length should be gauge
0.6 m (2). At each rail joint two sleepers must be laid.Suitable
crossovers and crossings (fig. 7.14(a)) and turnouts (fig.
7.14(b)) should be used. A proper super elevation as per the
gauge, speed andradiusof the curve must be providedat each
turning. Roadwaysshould be as straight as possible. The track
gauge of 600 mm is knownasnarrow gauge and thisissuitable
for rope haulage.The 750, 900 or 1000 mm gauges are known
as meter gauges that are suitable for locomotive haulage.
1000 mm – meter gauge and 1524 mm broad gauge are
common for the surface locomotive.
Mine cars
Mine cars, bundies or tubs are the different names given to
mine cars, which are made of a steel body; and are available

9. 9
with up to four axles and with carrying capacity up to 100
tons.9 Mine cars up to 15 tons. capacity are very common. In
coalmines mine cars of small size (1, 1, 2, 3, tons.) are used
where asin metal mines big size mine cars (3, 5, 7, 10 or more)
are common. These cars available in various designs
particularly as per their mode of discharging muck they hold,
and prominent amongst them are:
side discharge (fig. 7.15(a)), end discharge (fig. 7.15(b)),
bottom discharge (fig. 7.15(c)), side discharge Granby cars,
and automatic bottom discharge cars. Bottom discharge cars
have the advantage of getting rid of muck sticking at their
bottoms and also require less height of workings during muck
discharge operation.
Figure 7.15(d) illustrates the process of muck discharge from
the bottom discharged cars as per Swedish prac
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track,
signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a
handfulof the stationsof the British railway system from 1994
until 2002.
It was created as part of the privatisationof British Rail, listed
on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the

10. 10
FTSE 100 Index. In 2002, after experiencing major financial
difficulty, most of Railtrack's operations were transferred to
the state-controlled non-profit company Network Rail. The
remainder of Railtrack was renamed RT Group plc and
eventually dissolved on 22 June 2010.

11. 11
History
Founding
Founded under Conservative legislation that privatised the
railways,Railtracktookcontrol of the railwayinfrastructure on
1 April 1994 and was floated on the Stock Exchange in May
1996.
Robert Horton was first chairman, leading the organisation
through the early years of its existence up to 1999, including
an industrial dispute from June to September 1994.
The fatal accidents at Southall in 1997 and Ladbroke Grove in
1999 called into question the effect that the fragmentation of
the railway network had had on both safety and maintenance
procedures.
In February 1999 the company launched a bond issue which
caused a significant fall in Railtrack's share price.
Railtrack was severely criticised for both its performance in
improving the railway infrastructure and for its safety record.

12. 12
Between its creation and late 1998, the company had a
relatively calm relationship with its first economic regulator,
John Swift QC, whose strategy was to encourage Railtrack to
make commitments to improvement.
But critics said that the regulator was not tough enough and
that the company had, as a result, been able to abuse its
monopolyposition.In particular, its customers, the passenger
and freight train operators, were desperate for regulatory
action to force the company to improve its stewardship of the
network and its performance.
Swift had been appointed rail regulator in 1993 by the then
Conservative transport secretary John MacGregor MP.
When the Labour government took over after the general
electioninMay1997, the new transport secretary (anddeputy
prime minister) John Prescott took a much harder line. When
Swift's five-year term of office expired on 30 November 1998,
he was not reappointed.
After an interim holding period, during which Chris Bolt,
Swift's chief economic adviser and effective deputy, filled the
regulator's position, in July 1999 a new rail regulator began a
five-year term, and a new, much tougher regulatory era
began.

13. 13
The new rail regulator, Tom Winsor (later Sir ThomasWinsor),
had been Swift's general counsel (1993–95), and adopted a
more interventionist and aggressive regulatory approach.
At times the relationship was stormy, with Railtrack resisting
pressure to improve its performance. In April 2000 it was
reported in the Guardian that "Railtrack is adopting a
deliberate 'culture of defiance' against the rail regulator".
Gerald Corbett, Railtrack's chief executive at the time, and
Winsor clearly saw things very differently from each other.
Railtrack resisted regulatory action to improve its
performance, and as the regulator probed ever more deeply,
serious shortcomings in the company's stewardship of the
network were revealed.
It wasthe Hatfieldcrash on 17 October 2000 thatproved to be
the defining moment in Railtrack's collapse.
The subsequent major repairs undertaken across the whole
British rail network are estimated to have cost in the order of
£580 million.
According to Christian Wolmar, authorof On the Wrong Line,
the Railtrack board panicked in the wake of Hatfield.

14. 14
Because most of the engineering skill of British Rail had been
sold off into the maintenance and renewal companies,
Railtrack had no idea how many Hatfields were waiting to
happen, nor did they have any way of assessing the
consequence of the speed restrictions they were ordering –
restrictions that brought the railway network to all but a
standstill.
Regulatory and customer pressure had been increasing, and
the company's share price began to fall sharply as it became
apparent that there were serious shortcomings in the
company's ability to tackle and solve its greatest problems.
Photograph of a sign identifying a bridge maintained by
Railtrack.
Meanwhile, the costs of modernising the West Coast Main
Line were spiralling.
In 2001, Railtrack announced that, despite making a pre-tax
profits before exceptional expenses of £199m, the £733m of
costs and compensation paid out over the Hatfield crash
plunged Railtrack from profit to a loss of £534m.
This caused it to approachthe government for funding,which
it then controversially used to pay a £137m dividend to its
shareholders in May 2001.

15. 15
Administration
Railtrack plc was placed into railway administrationunder the
RailwaysAct 1993 on 7 October 2001, followingan application
to the High Court by the then Transport Secretary, Stephen
Byers.
This was effectively a form of bankruptcy protection that
allowedtherailwaynetwork to continueoperatingdespitethe
financial problems of the operator.
The parent company, Railtrack Group plc, was not put into
administrationandcontinued operating its other subsidiaries,
which included property and telecommunications interests.
For most of the year in administration, the government's
position had been that the new company would have to live
within the existing regulatory settlement (£14.8 billion forthe
five years 2001–2006).
However, it soon became obvious that that was impossible,
and that the aftermath of the Hatfieldcrash had revealed that
the network required significantly more money for its
operation, maintenance and renewal. It was reported on 23
November 2001, that a further £3.5 billion may be needed to

16. 16
keep the nationalrailwaynetwork running, a sum disputed by
Ernst & Young, the administrators.
To get Railtrack out of administration,the government had to
go back to the High Court and present evidence that the
company was no longer insolvent. The principal reason given
by the government to the court for this assertion was the
decision of the rail regulator – announced on 22 September
2002 – to carry out an interim review of the company's
finances, with the potential to advance significant additional
sums to the company.
The High Court accepted that the company was not therefore
insolvent, and the railway administration order was
discharged on 2 October 2002.
Transfer of assets to Network Rail
Network Rail was formed with the principal purpose of
acquiringand owning Railtrack plc. Originallythe Government
allowed private companies to bid for Railtrack plc.
However, with limited availability of financial data on
Railtrack,thepoliticalimplicationsofowningthe companyand
the very obvious preference of the government that the
national railway network should go to Network Rail, no

17. 17
bidders apart from Network Rail were forthcoming, and
Network Rail bought Railtrack plc on 3 October 2002.
Railtrack plc was subsequently renamed to Network Rail
Infrastructure Limited.
Network Rail'sacquisitionofRailtrackplcwaswelcomedatthe
time by groups that represented British train passengers. The
attitude of Railtrack'scustomers – the passenger- and freight-
train operators – was much more cautious, especially as they
were wary of a corporate structure under which shareholders'
equity was not at risk if the company's new management mis-
managed its affairs.
Liquidation
Railtrack's parent company, Railtrack Group, was placed into
members' voluntary liquidation as RT Group on 18 October
2002.
The Railtrack business (and its £7 billion debt) had been sold
to Network Rail for £500 million, and the various diversified
businesses it had created to seek to protect itself from the
loss-making business of running a railway were disposed of to
various buyers.

18. 18
£370 million held by Railtrack Group was frozen at the time
the company went into administrationand was earmarked to
pay Railtrack shareholders an estimated 70p a share in
compensation. The Group's interest in the partially built High
Speed 1 line was also sold for £295m.
Compensation
Litigation
Railtrack shareholders formed two groups to press for
increased compensation.
A lawyer speaking for one of those groups remarked on GMTV
that his strategy was to sue the government for incorrect and
misleading information given at the time Railtrack was
created, when John Major was Conservative Prime Minister.
An increased offer of up to 262p per share was enough to
convince the larger shareholder group, the Railtrack Action
Group, to abandon legal action. The Chairman, Usman
Mahmud, believed that legal action would not be successful
without the support of management and major shareholders.

19. 19
The legality of the decision to put Railtrack into railway
administrationwaschallengedby the smaller RailtrackPrivate
Shareholders Action Group. Their action against the
government alleged that the Secretary of State for Transport
at the time – Stephen Byers MP – had, by deciding to cut off
funding for Railtrack and asking the High Court to put the
companyinto railwayadministration,committedthe common
law tort of misfeasance in public office.
It is believedthatthere was £532 millionavailabletoRailtrack
comprising £370 millioninthe bank[29] and£162 millionof an
existing Department of Transport loan facility still availableto
be drawn down, but Stephen Byers MP cancelled this facility,
causing shareholders to believe that he had broken the loan
agreement.
This was the largest class action ever conducted in the English
courts – there were 49,500 claimants,all smallshareholdersin
Railtrack.Keith Rowley, QC, the barrister for the shareholders,
alleged Byers had "devised a scheme by which he intendedto
injure the shareholders of Railtrack Group by impairing the
value of their interests in that company without paying
compensation and without the approval of Parliament".
The case was heard in the High Court in London in July 2005;
some embarrassment was caused to Byers when he admitted
that an answer he had given to a House of Commons Select
Committee was inaccurate, but on 14 October 2005 the judge

20. 20
found that there was no evidence that Byers had committed
the tort of misfeasance in public office.
The private shareholders decided not to appeal against the
judgment, because there were no legal grounds for doing so.
For many of them – who had contributedaround£50 each, on
average, to the fighting fund to bring the action – the case had
served its purpose.
The circumstances in which Railtrack had been put into
administration were highly controversial, with allegations in
Parliament on 24 October 2005 that the company had not
beeninsolventatthe time (7 October2001) andtherefore that
the administration order had been wrongly obtained.
This was because of the jurisdiction of the independent rail
regulator – at the time Tom Winsor – to provide additional
money to maintain the company's financial position. Sir Alan
Duncan MP, then the shadow transport secretary, said in
Parliament that this aspect of the affair – which was not dealt
with in the shareholders' case in the High Court – was
"perhaps the most shameful scar on the Government's
honesty" and "an absolute scandal".
Byers apologised in the House of Commons on 17 October
2005 for having given a "factually inaccurate" reply to the

21. 21
Select Committeebut saidthat he hadnotintendedtomislead
them.
This personal statement to Parliament was not accepted by
the MP who had asked the original question, and the matter
was remitted to the House of Commons Standards and
Privileges Committee for investigation. As a result of that
committee's report, Mr Byers made another statement of
apology to Parliament.
Payments to shareholders
Hawarden Bridge station with typical station track in 1999.
RT Group plc (in voluntary liquidation) made a number of
payments to shareholders during the winding up of the
company's affairs before finally being dissolved on 22 June
2010.
December 2003 200p
August 2004 43p
December 2004 9p
December 2005 8.5p
March 2010 2.0718

22. 22
Railtrack directors
Gerald Corbett was the company's Chief Executive from 1997
until his resignation in November 2000. He was succeeded by
Steve Marshall, who announced his own resignation in
October 2001 and actually stood down in March 2002.
Geoffrey Howe was appointed Chairman of Railtrack Group
(the part of the businessnot in administration)inMarch 2002.
See also….
History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date
Impact of the privatisation of British Rail
Tom Winsor § Rail Regulator 1999-2004
References
"Britain Puts Price On Railtrack Shares". The New York Times.
2 May 1996. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
Harper, Keith (27 February 1999). "Horton quits Railtrack".
The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
Six dead in Southall Train Disaster BBC News 19 September
1997
Ladbroke Grove Crash BBC News 11 October 1999
400m issue derails Railtrack share price Independent, 18
February 1999

23. 23
Railtrackto give further commitmentsArchived2008-09-06 at
the Wayback Machine Office of Rail Regulation, 16 July 1998
Rail Regulator to go BBC News, 21 September 1998
City lawyer will be the new rail regulator[permanent dead
link] Independent, 24 March 1999
Get-tough regulator named for Railways Guardian, 24 March
1999
Railtrack Declares War on Regulator Guardian, 3 April 2000
Prescott orders probe into rail repairs Independent, 24
October 2000
Four dead in Hatfield Train Crash BBC News, 17 October 2000
Wolmar, Christian, On the Wrong Line, Aurum Press, 2005.
ISBN 978-1-85410-998-9
Railtrack shuts down West Coast Main Line BBC News, 25
October 2000
Railtrack drops out of FTSE 100 as shares fall 17% on brokers'
note[permanent dead link] Independent, 6 June 2001
Repair costs spiral to £5bn BBC News, 15 December 1999
Leathley, Arthur (25 May 2001). "Railtrack in line for all-clear
on borrowing". The Times.
Railtrack shares dive to all time low Telegraph, 6 June 2001
Railtrack goes bankrupt with debts of 3.3bn Independent, 8
October 2001

24. 24
Blair told: find 3.5bn or the railways collapse Guardian, 24
November 2001
Windsor's pointer to rail billions Telegraph, 25 September
2002
Network Rail closer to Railtrack takeover BBC News, 18
September 2002
"Accounting for Producer Needs: The case of Britain's rail
infrastructure" (PDF). Centre for Management and
OrganisationalHistory. p. 18. Archived from the original(PDF)
on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
Think tank lays into Network Rail structure Guardian, 16
September 2002
Liquidation Archived 24 October 2002 at Archive.today RT
Group
Railtrack suggests bigger payout BBC News, 20 September
2002
Student sets up action group to lobby for 360p Telegraph, 16
October 2001
Rail War Chest BBC News, 4 November 2002
HSBC sued over freeze on 370m in account Independent, 9
October 2001
Fresh Railtrack attack on Byers Scotsman, 15 November 2001
Byers to answer charge that he misled Railtrack's
shareholders Telegraph, 25 June 2005
Defeat for Railtrack shareholdersBBC News, 14 October 2005

25. 25
RPSAG: Appeal Decision[permanent dead link] RPSAG, 21
October 2005
Hansard Debates Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback
Machine The Stationery Office, 24 October 2005
Byers denies lying over Railtrack BBC News, 17 October 2005
Byers told to apologise over Railtrack Guardian, 31 January
2006
RT Group homepageRT Group plchomepage Archived16 July
2012 at the Wayback Machine
New Yearcash back for rail investors BBC News, 13 December
2002
"Railtrack chief quits". BBC. 17 November 2000. Retrieved 16
October 2017.
"Railtrack chairman stands down". The Telegraph. 5 March
2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
"Railtrack's lawman rides into town". The Telegraph. 10
March 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
External links
RT Group Official site
Railtrack Action Group Homepage
Christian Wolmar, The Guardian, 16 July 2005, "Forget Byers:
the scandal was in the original sell-off: Railtrack was heading
for disaster long before the Hatfield crash"

26. 26
BBC news report on Railtrack compensation, December 2002
Text of a 1999 speech by Gerald Corbett
BBC article on Corbett's role with Railtrack
Guardian,15 October 2005, "Railtrackshareholderslose court
battle for compensation"
Why Rails Crack, the likely cause of the Hatfield crash Ingenia,
June 2005
Figure:- Main and tail rope incline

27. 27
MINE CAR WHEELS
The wheels of the little mine car are a great exercise to
practice our building of various shaped reliefs and how to
merge them intoa finalshape which we want. As we buildthe
reliefs we have to keep in mind the final result and then think
of what we haveto addor take away to get exactly that. There
are many ways we could have achieved a similar effect.
We start with the vectors of course – all created inside
EnRoute.
Thewheel willbe fourinchesindiameter(includingtheflange)
and 1″ deepThe back flanges on railway wheels are sloped so
the first task was to create a disk using the largest vector
circle. I kept it fairly shallow.
Then I selected the next vector andcreated a flat disk 0.9″ tall.
This was then merged with the first tapered disk I created.
Then it was time to knock out the center to make room for the
spokes and the hub of the wheel. I created a zero height relief
which was then merged to the base relief.
Next up was the spokes. I first created flat reliefs in the shape
of the spokes.

28. 28
The spokes looked good but I wanted them to be curved on
top and higher in the center. THis would need to be done in a
couple of moved by modifying these reliefs. First ‘I used the
done tool to puch down the center in a bowl shape.
Then I used the prism tool to modify the reliefs once more by
building them over a cone shape.
These spokes were them merged highest with the base relief.
Next up was the hub of the wheel. I created a flat relief 0.9″
tall. This was then merged (replace) with the base relief.
The last step was to add the center section of the hub by
adding to the relief.
I then duplicatedthewheel to make a set of four. Thiswastool
pathed using a 3/8″ ball nose bit for a rough pass at a 50%
overlap.
A final pass was then addedusing a 1/8″ tapered ball nose bit
with an 80% overlap. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I put
the file on the MultiCam.
It will be routed from 1″ 30 lb Precision Board.

29. 29
Figure:- mine cart
Figure :- Top View Of Mine cart

30. 30
Figure:- Mine cart at site
Figure:-Model of mine cart
Figure:- Wagon Wheels

31. 31
Figure:- Wagons Wheels

32. 32
Mine rails
Minecart shown in De Re Metallica (1556). The guide pin fits
in a groove between two wooden planks.
Wagonways (or tramways) were developedin Germany in the
1550s to facilitatethetransport of ore tubsto andfrom mines,
using primitivewoodenrails.Suchan operationwasillustrated
in 1556 by Georgius Agricola of Germany (Image right).
This used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on
wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the
gap between the planks, to keep it going the right way.
Such a transport system was used by German miners at
Caldbeck, Cumbria, England, perhaps from the 1560s.
An alternativeexplanationderives it from the Magyarhintó –
a carriage. There are possiblereferences to their use in central
Europe in the 15th century.
A funicular railway was made at Broseley in Shropshire,
Englandat some time before 1605. Thiscarried coal for James
Clifford from his mines down to the river Severn to be loaded
onto barges and carried to riverside towns.

33. 33
Though the first documentary record of this is later, its
construction probably preceded the Wollaton Wagonway,
completed in 1604, hitherto regarded as the earliest British
installation. This ran from Strelley to Wollaton near
Nottingham. Another early wagonway is noted onwards.
Huntingdon Beaumont, who was concerned with mining at
Strelley, also laid down broad wooden rails near Newcastle
upon Tyne, on which a single horse could haul fifty to sixty
bushels (130–150 kg) of coal.
By the 18th century, such wagonways and tramways existed
in a number of areas. Ralph Allen, for example, constructed a
tramway to transport stone from a local quarry to supply the
needs of the builders of the Georgian terraces of Bath. The
Battle of Prestonpans, in the Jacobite rising of 1745, was
fought astride the 1722 Tranent – Cockenzie Waggonway.
This type of transport spread rapidly through the whole
Tyneside coalfield, and the greatest number of lines were to
be found in the coalfield near Newcastle upon Tyne. They
were mostly used to transport coal in chaldron wagons from
the coalpits to a staithe (a wooden pier) on the river bank,
whence coal could be shipped to London by collier brigs.
The wagonwayswere engineeredso thattrainsof coalwagons
could descend to the staithe by gravity, being braked by a
brakesman who would "sprag" the wheels by jamming them.
Wagonways on less steep gradients could be retarded by

34. 34
allowing the wheels to bind on curves. As the work became
more wearing on the horses, a vehicle known as a dandy
wagon was introduced, in which the horse could rest on
downhill stretches.
Coal, iron, rail symbiosis
A tendencyto concentrateemployees started when Benjamin
Huntsman, looking for higher quality clock springs, found in
1740 that he could produce high quality steel in
unprecedented quantities (crucible steel to replace blister
steel) in using ceramic crucibles in the same fuel
shortage/glass industry inspired reverbatory furnaces that
were spurring the coal mining, coking, cast iron cannon
foundries, and the much in demand gateway or stimulus
products of the glass making industries.
These technologies, for several decades, had already begun
gradually quickening industrial growth and causing early
concentrationsof workers so that there were occasionalearly
small factories that came into being.
This trend concentrating effort into bigger central located but
larger enterprises turned into a trend spurred by Henry Cort's
iron processing patent of 1784 leading in short order to
foundries collocating near coal mines and accelerating the
practice of supplanting the nations cottage industries.

35. 35
With that concentration of employees and separation from
dwellings, horsedrawn trams became commonly available as
a commuter resource for the daily commute to work.
Mine railways were used from 1804 around Coalbrookdale in
such industrial concentrations of mines and iron works, all
demanding traction-drawing of bulky or heavy loads. These
gave rise to extensive earlywoodenrailways andinitialanimal
powered trains of vehicles, then successively in just two
decadesprotective ironstrips nailedtoprotect therails, steam
drawn trains (1804) cast iron rails. Later, George Stephenson,
inventor of the world-famous Rocket and a board member of
a mine, convinced his board to use steam for traction.
Next, he petitioned Parliament to license a public passenger
railway,foundingthe LiverpoolandManchesterRailway.Soon
after the intense public publicity, in part generated by the
contest to find the best locomotive won by Stephenson's
Rocket, railways underwent explosive growth worldwide, and
the industrial revolution gradually went global.
Company towns and child labour
Today, most mine railwaysare electricallypowered; in former
times pit ponies, such as Shetland ponies, donkeys, and/or
mules were used to haul the early mine trains. In the very
cramped conditions of hand-hewn mining tunnels, children
were also often used, and the animalswere led and tended by

36. 36
boys(called 'mule boys'[13] in the USA, aged 10–12). Until the
movement against child labour pushed passage of laws
requiring universal mandatory education of children to the
sixth grade in the United States, in the Appalachiananthracite
coal fields in Eastern Pennsylvania, these urchins were used
and known as mule-boys into the 1920s, a position one step
up the ladder towards the better pay as an apprentice miner
(age 12+) from breaker boys, while the earnings of each stage
allowedeach group to return considerablymore to their hard-
scrabble families.
Since many US mines were founded in remote areas and the
jointstock companiesimportedworkers from Europe whohad
to work off their passage in a company town purpose-builtto
staff the mine – a typical miner's family wasconstantly in debt
to the company for board, rent, groceries, and tools most of
their lives, so there was considerable social pressure from
family and community for children to earn wages as soon as
someone would pay them. Practices in Europe were little
different, the mining interests owned the town lands, the
buildings, the commercial enterprises established to support
the workers from beer gardens, company stores to barbers,
dentists, theaters and even doctors offices. The mining
companies even ran the real estate offices, and happily sold
lands to all comers so individuals gradually invested in such
busy communities, including rights of way to railway
companies.

37. 37
Rails
There is usually no direct connection from a mine railway to
the mine's industrial siding or the public railway network,
because of the narrow-gauge track that is normallyemployed.
In the United States, the standard gauge for mine haulage is 3
ft 6 in (1,067 mm), although gauges from 18 in (457 mm) to 5
ft 6 in (1,676 mm) are used.
Original mine railways used wax-impregnated wooden rails
attached to wooden sleepers, on which drams were dragged
by men, children or animals. This was later replaced by L-
shaped iron rails, which were attached to the mine floor,
meaning that no sleepers were required and hence leaving
easy access for the feet of children or animalsto propel more
drams.
Wood to cast iron
These early mine railways used wooden rails, which in the
early industrial revolution about Coalbrookdale, were soon
capped with iron strapping, those were replaced by wrought
iron, then with the first steam traction engines, cast iron rails,
and eventually steel rails as each was in succession found to
last much longer than the previous cheaper rail type.

38. 38
By the time of the first steam locomotive drawn trains, most
rails laid were of wrought ironwhich was outlasting cast iron
rails by 8:1.
About three decades later, after Andrew Carnegie had made
steel competitivelycheap,steel railswere supplantingiron for
the same longevity reasons.
Motive power
Riding on a mine car in Ashland, Pennsylvania
The tram (or dram) cars used for mine haulage are generally
calledtubs. The term mine caris commonlyused in the United
States.
Pit ponies
A preserved Dandy wagon of the Ffestiniog Railway. Before
locomotives, slate trains would travel down to Porthmadog
under gravity, and be pulled back up by horses
The Romans were the first to realise the benefits of using
animals in their industrial workings, using specially bred pit
ponies to power supplementary work such as mine pumps.

39. 39
Pit ponies at work in 18th century French mine workings
Ponies began to be used underground,often replacingchildor
female labour,as distances from pit head to coal face became
greater. The first known recorded use in Britain was in the
County Durham coalfield in 1750; in the United States, mules
were the dominant source of animal power in the mine
industry, with horses and ponies used to a lesser extent.
At the peak in 1913, there were 70,000 ponies underground
in Britain.
In later years, mechanical haulage was quickly introduced on
the main underground roads replacing the pony hauls and
ponies tended to be confined .
To the shorter runs from coal face to main road (known in
North East England as "putting", in the United States as
"tramming" or "gathering") which were more difficult to
mechanise. As of 1984, 55 ponies were still at use with the
National Coal Board in Britain, chiefly at the modern pit in
Ellington, Northumberland.
Dandy wagons were often attached to trains of full drams, to
contain a horse or pony. Mining and later railway engineers
designed their tramways so that full (heavy) trains would use
gravity down the slope, whilehorses would be used to pullthe
empty drams back to the workigs.

40. 40
The Dandy wagon allowed for easy transportation of the
required horse each time.
Probably the last colliery horse to work underground in a
British coalmine, Robbie, wasretired from Pant y Gasseg, near
Pontypool, in May 1999.
Cable haulage
Main articles: wire rope, gravity railroad, cable railroad, and
funicular
In the 19th century after the mid-1840s, when the German
invention of wire rope became available from manufacturies
in both Europe and North America, large stationary steam
engines on the surface with cables reaching underground
were commonly used for mine haulage. Unsurprisingly, the
innovation-minded managersof the Lehigh Coal & Navigation
Company pioneered the technology in America using it to
allow the dead-lift of loaded coal consists 1,100 feet (340 m)
up the Ashley Planes, and the augmentation of their works in
and above the Panther Creek Valley[21] with new gravity
switchback sections and return cable inclines, but most
notablyby installingtwo cable lift sections and expandingthe
alreadyfamousMauch ChunkSwitchbackRailwaywith a 'back
track' dropping car return time from 3–4 hours to about 20
minutes, which the new inclines then fed from new mine
shafts and coal breakers farther down into the valley.[22]

41. 41
Sometimes, stationary engines were even located
underground, with the boiler on the surface, though that was
a minority situation. All of the cable haulage methods were
primarily used on the main haulage ways of the mine.
Typically, manual labor, mules or pit ponies were used in
gathering filled cars from the working areas (galleries were
driven across seams as much as possible) to main haulage
ways.
In the first decade of the 20th century, electric locomotives
were displacing animal power for this secondary haulage role
in mines where sparking triggered explosive methane buildup
was a lesser danger. Severalcable haulagesystems were used:
In slope mines, where there was a continuous downgrade
from the entrance to the working face, the rope from the
hoisting engine could be used to lower empty cars into the
mine and then raise full cars.
In shaft mines, secondary hoisting engines could be used to
pull cars on grades within the mine. For grades of a few
percent, trainsof 25 cars each carrying roughly halfa ton were
typical in the 1880s.
In mines where grades were not uniform or where the grades
were not steep enoughfor gravity to pulla train into the mine,

42. 42
the main hoisting rope could be augmented with a tail rope
connected to the opposite end of the train of mine cars.
The tail-rope system had its origins on cable-hauled surface
inclines prior to the 1830s.
This was the dominant system in the 1880s Frequently, one
engine was used to work both ropes, with the tail rope
reaching into the mine, around a pulley at the far end, and
then out again.
Finally,the most advancedsystems involvedcontinuousloops
of rope operated like a cable car system. Some mines used
endless chains before wire-rope became widely available.
The endlesschainsystem originatedinthe mines nearBurnley
(England) around 1845. An endless rope system was
developed in Nottinghamshire around 1864, and another
independently developednearWigan somewhat later (also in
England).
In these systems, individual cars or trains within the mine
could be connected to the cable by a grip comparable to the
grips used on surface cable car systems.
In some mines, the haulage chain or cable went over the top
of the cars, and cars were released automatically when the
chain or cable was lifted away by an overhead pulley.

43. 43
Where the cable ran under the cars, a handheldgrip couldbe
used, where the grip operator would ride on the front car of
the train working the grip chained to the front of the car.
In some cases, a separate grip car was coupledto the head of
the train. At the dawn of the 20th century, endless rope
haulage was the dominant haulage technology for the main
haulage ways of underground mines.
Steam engines
A tank locomotive advertised in the H.K. Porter, Inc. 1908
catalog for use in underground mines
Gnom, used on a mine in Switzerland
For aslong asit waseconomicalto operate steam locomotives
on the general railway system, steam locomotives were also
used on the surface trackage of mines. In the 19th and early
20th centuries, some large mines routinely used steam
locomotives underground. Locomotives for this purpose were
typically very squat tank engines with an 0-4-0 wheel
arrangement. Use of steam power underground was only
practical in areas with very high exhaust airflow, with engine
speed limitsof 1/2 the airvelocityto assure adequatecleanair
for the crew on outbound trips. Such engines could not be
used in mines with firedamp problems.

44. 44
Porter, Bell & Co. appears to have built the first underground
mining locomotivesused in the United States around1870. By
1874, the Consolidation Coal Company and Georges Creek
Coaland Iron Companywere using several Porter locomotives
in their underground mines in the Georges Creek Valley of
Maryland. Other users included several coal mines near
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation
Company and an iron mine in the Lake Superior Iron Ranges.
Porter's mine locomotives required a minimum 5-foot
clearance and 4-foot width when operating on 3-foot gauge
track, where they could handle a 20-foot radius curve.
The Baldwin Locomotive Works built similar locomotives,
starting in 1870.
By the early 20th century, very small British-made oil-fired
steam locomotives were in use in some South African mines.
Porter and Vulcan (Wilkes-Barre) advertised steam mine
locomotives in 1909 and 1911.
By the early 1920s, only a few small mines in the Pocahontas
Coalfield in West Virginia were using steam locomotives
underground.
Nonetheless, bothBaldwinandVulcancontinuedto advertise
steam locomotives for underground use outside the coal
industry as late as 1921.
Compressed air

45. 45
Compressed-airlocomotiveswere poweredby compressed air
that were carried on the locomotive in compressed-air
containers. This method of propulsion had the advantage of
being safe but the disadvantageof highoperating costs due to
very limited range before it was necessary to recharge the air
tanks. Generally, compressors on the surface were connected
by plumbing to recharge stations located throughout the
mine. Recharging was generally very fast. Narrow gauge
compressed air locomotives were being manufactured for
mines in Germany as early as 1875, with tanks pressurized to
4 or 5 bar.
The Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered their first
compressed air locomotivein 1877, and by 1904, they offered
a variety of models, most with an 0-4-0 wheel arrangement.
Compressed air locomotives were introduced in the
Newbottle Collieries in Scotland in 1878, operating at 200 psi
(14 bar).
Ordinary mine compressed-air systems operating at 100 psi (7
bar) only allowed a few hundred feet of travel. By the late
1880s, Porter was building locomotives designed for 500 to
600 psi (34-41 bar).
By the early 1900s, locomotive air tank pressures had
increased to from 600 to 800 psi (41-55 bar), although
pressures up to 2000 psi (140 bar) were already envisioned.

46. 46
In 1911, Vulcan (Wilkes-Barre) was selling single-tank
compressed-air locomotives operating at 800 psi (55 bar),
double-tank models up to 1000 psi (69 bar) and one 6-tank
model that may have operated at a much higher pressure.
The Homestake in South Dakota, USA used such high
pressures, with special compressors and distribution piping.
Except for very small prospects and remote small mines,
battery or diesel locomotives have replaced compressed air.
Electric
The electric motor technologyused pre-1900 to DC with a few
hundred volts and a direct supply of power to the motor from
the overhead wire enabled the use of efficient, small and
sturdy tractors of simple construction. Initially, there was no
voltage standard, but by 1914, 250 volts was the standard
voltage for underground work in the United States. This
relatively low voltage was adopted for safety's sake.
The first electric mine railway in the world was developed by
Siemens & Halske for bituminous coal mining in Saxon
Zauckerode near Dresden (now Freital) and was being worked
as early as 1882 on the 5th main cross-passage of the Oppel
Shaft run by the Royal Saxon Coal Works.

47. 47
In 1894, the mine railway of the Aachen smelting company,
Rothe Erde, was electrically driven, as were subsequently
numerous other mine railways in the Rhineland, Saarland
Lorraine, Luxembourg and Belgian Wallonia.There were large
scale deliveriesof electric locomotivesfor these railwaysfrom
AEG, Siemens & Halske, Siemens-Schuckert Works (SSW) and
the Union Electricitäts-Gesellschaft (UEG) in these countries.
The first electric mine locomotive in the United States went
into service in mid 1887 in the Lykens Valley Coal Company
mine in Lykens, Pennsylvania. The 35 hp motor for this
locomotive was built by the Union Electric Company of
Philadelphia.
The 15000 pound (6800 kg) locomotive was named the
Pioneer, and by mid 1888, a second electric locomotivewas in
service at that mine.
Use in the Appalachian coal fields spread rapidly. By 1903,
there were over 600 electric mine locomotives in use in
America with new ones being produced at a rate of 100 per
year.
Initially, electric locomotives were used only where it was
economical to string overhead line for power. This limited
their usage for gathering loads at the mine face, where
trackage was temporary and frequently relocated.

48. 48
This motivated the development of battery locomotives, but
in the first decade of the 20th century the first successful
electric gathering locomotives used cable reels. To run on
tracks away from overhead lines, the power cable was clipped
to the overhead line and then automatically unreeled as the
locomotive advanced and reeled up as the locomotive
returned.
Crab locomotives were equippedwith a winch for pulling cars
out of the un-powered tracks. This approach allowed use of
temporary track that was too light to carry the weight of the a
cable-reel or battery locomotive. The disadvantage of a crab
locomotive was that someone had to pull the haulage cable
from the winch to the working face, threading it over pulleys
at any sharp turns.
Explosion-proof mining locomotives from Schalker Eisenhütte
are used inall the mines owned by Ruhrkohle(today Deutsche
Steinkohle).
Combustion engines
The Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz (Deutz Gas Engine Company),
now Deutz AG, introduced a single-cylinder benzine
locomotive for use in mines in 1897. Their first mining

49. 49
locomotives were rated at 6 to 8 hp and weighed 5280
pounds.
The original 6 hp engine was 8 feet 6.5 inches long, 3 feet 11
inches wide and 4 feet 3.5 inches high and weighed 2.2 long
tons.
Typical Deutz mine engines in 1906 were rated at 8 to 12 hp.
By this time, double-cylinder18 hp. engines builtby Wolseley
Motors were being used in South African mines.
By 1914, Whitcomb Locomotive Works, Vulcan Iron Works,
and Milwaukee Locomotive Manufacturing Co. (later merged
with Whitcomb) were making gasoline mining locomotives in
the United States with 4 and 6 cylinder engines.
Late 19th and early 20th century mine railway locomotives
were operated with petrol benzene and alcohol / benzene
mixtures.
Althoughsuch engines were initiallyusedin metal mines, they
were in routine use in coal mines by 1910. Firedamp safety
was achieved by wire gauze shields over intake and exhaust
ports as well as cooling water injectionin the exhaust system.

50. 50
Bubbling the exhaust through a water bath also greatly
reduced noxious fumes.
For safety (noxious fumes as well as flammability of the fuel)
modern mine railway internal combustion locomotives are
only operated using diesel fuel.
Catalytic scrubbers reduce carbon monoxide. Other
locomotives are electric, either battery or trolley.
Battery
Trainload of chrome ore emerging from a mine tunnel at the
Ben Bow chromite mine in Stillwater County, Montana
Battery powered locomotives andsystems solved many of the
potential problems that combustion engines present,
especially regarding fumes, ventilation and heat generation.
Compared to simple electric locomotives,battery locomotives
do not need trolley wire strung over each track. However,
batteries are heavy items which used to require long periods
of charge to produce relatively short periods of full-power
operation,resultingin either restricted operationsorthe need
for the doubling-up of equipment purchasing.
In the 19th century, there was considerablespeculationabout
the potential use of battery locomotives in mines.

51. 51
By 1899, Baldwin-Westinghouse had delivered an
experimental battery locomotive to a Virginia mine; battery
recharging occurred whenever the locomotive was running
under trolley wire, while it could run from battery when
working on temporary trackage near the face. Thislocomotive
was eventually successful, but only after the voltage on the
trolley system was stabilized.
A Siemens and Haske pure storage battery locomotivewas in
use in a coal mine in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) by 1904.
One problem with battery locomotives was battery
replacement. This was simplifiedby use of removable battery
boxes. Eventually, battery boxes were developed that
included wheels so that they could be rolled off of the
locomotive.
While the initial motivation had to do with battery
maintenance, the primary use for this idea was at charging
stations where a discharged battery box could be rolled off
and replaced with a freshly charged box.
While popular, battery systems were often practically
restricted to mines where systems were short, and moving
relatively low-density ore which could explode easily. Today,
heavy-duty batteries provide full-shift (8 hours) operations
with one or more spare batteries charging.
In operation

52. 52
Until 1995 the largest single, narrow gauge, above-ground,
mine and coal railway network in Europe was in the Leipzig-
Altenburg lignite field in Germany.
It had 726 kilometres of 900 mm track – the largest 900 mm
network in existence. Of this, about 215 kilometres was
removable track inside the actual pits and 511 kilometres was
fixed track for the transportation of coal to the main rail
network.
The last 900 mm gauge mine railway in the German state of
Saxony, a major mining area in central Europe, was closed in
1999 at the Zwenkau Mine in Leipzig. Once a very extensive
railway network, towards the end it only had 70 kilometres of
movable 900 mm track and 90 kilometres of 900 mm fixed
railway track within the Zwenkau open cast mine site itself, as
well as a 20-kilometre, standard gauge, link railway for the
coal trains to the power stations (1995–1999). The closure of
this mine marked the end of the history of 900 mm mine
railwaysin the lignitemines of Saxony. In December 1999, the
last 900 mm railway in the Central German coalmining field in
Lusatia was closed.
In the United States, Consol Energy's Shoemaker Mine,
covering a large area east of Benwood, West Virginia was the
last underground coal mine to use rail haulage. Starting in
2006, 12 miles of underground conveyor belt and 2.5 miles of

53. 53
above ground conveyor belt were installed. The last load of
coal was hauled by rail in January 2010.
Museum and heritage railways
A remnant of the coal railwaysin the Leipzig-Altenburg Lignite
Field may be visited and operated as a museum railway.
Regular museum trains also run on the line from Meuselwitz
via Haselbach to Regis-Breitingen.

54. 54
Mineral wagon
A mineral wagon or coal truck (British English) is a small open-
topped railway goods wagon used in the United Kingdom and
elsewhere to carry coal, ores and other mine products.
Background
When the railways originated in the United Kingdom, the
initialrules and laws of passage were based on those used on
the roads. Hence the railway companies provided the track
(road) and initially it was proposed that the owner of the
goods being transported would either provide and operate
theirowntrain (locomotiveandwagons)or obtaintheservices
of an agent to do so. This 'open access' model quickly proved
impractical so the emerging railway industry settled on a
compromise of the railway company providing the route and
locomotive and being responsible for their organisation and
control, while the wagons and vans that transported the
actual cargo remained in private hands. As a step further
towards the old open access arrangements some of the early
long-distance railways contracted with a single transport
agent to handle all their goods operations, with the agent not
onlyprovidingwagonsandvansbutwarehousingandhandling
at each station and conveying the goods to and from the
railway at each end of the journey. For instance the London
and North Western Railway contracted with Pickfords to

55. 55
manage all its goods operations on the line between London
and Birmingham from 1841 to 1849.
This situation resulted in a proliferation of private owner
wagons, and growth in wagon makers. But with few rules
except those demanded by the railway companies (there was
no Railway Inspectorate), wagons were mostly specified by
agreement between the wagon manufacturer and the
transportingcustomer. The originalgoodswagons - with many
designs based on farm carts, and hence utilising four wheels -
were based on an iron or steel frame, with main bodywork
made of wood. The wagons had no driver operated train
brakes, but were equipped with independent hand-operated
brakes, which could be pinned on steep hills.
The railway companies had no control over the maintenance
or design of private owner wagons (many were very poorly
maintained and crude in construction - and many of the
'private owners' actuallyleased their wagons from the wagon
builder, adding a further layer of complexity to maintaining
the vehicles)but were legallyobligedtooperatethem. Thisled
to frequent delays and breakdowns due to broken couplings,
faulty brakes and hot boxes - the latter caused by the crude
grease-lubricatedwheel bearingsoften used on privateowner
wagons - and problems caused by the simple dumb buffers
that were near-universally used up to the time of World War
I.

56. 56
To combat these issues the Railway Clearing House (an
organisation originally set up to share out revenue from joint
services between companies) introduced minimum standards
for private owner wagons in 1887. Companies that were
signed up to the RCH refused to allow wagons that did not
meet the standards in their trains, although there was a
lengthy grace period for owners to upgrade or replace their
older wagons. The operational advantages of the more
reliable and modern RCH design were such that several
railway companies instigated 'buy-back' schemes for private-
owner wagons, whereby the company would buy existing
wagons from their owners. Either the railway replaced them
with company-ownedwagonsorthe privateowner spent their
proceeds on new RCH-type wagons. Between 1882 and 1902
the MidlandRailwaypurchased66,000 private-owner wagons
andbuiltover 50,000 of its own wagonsas replacements.New
and stricter standards were introduced by the RCH in 1909
whichrequired hydraulicbuffersandoil-lubricatedbearingsas
well as numerous other details in the construction of the
frame, brakes, axles, and suspension that made the RCH's
design the basis for virtually every British mineral and goods
wagon for the next 30 years. Wagons that complied with the
standards carried a plate saying 'RCH'. Although the 1909
design standards were supposed to be fully enforced by 1914
the advent of World War I meant that they were suspended
and many non-compliantwagonsactuallyremained in service
until well after the Grouping of 1921.

57. 57
The result was a cheap sturdy wagon, which was easily
repaired when damaged ; but they proved relatively short-
lived and hence increasingly uneconomic.
Development
With wooden bodied wagons proving uneconomic to replace
for their owners, and post the 1930s recession the wagon
makers looking for more economic longer-life products, both
Charles Roberts and Company and the Butterley Company
started developing standard all-steel construction mineral
wagons, with capacities of 14 long tons (14.2 t; 15.7 short
tons) and 15 long tons (15.2 t; 16.8 short tons). those from
Roberts had sloping sides, and both companies a combination
of riveted or welded construction.
At the outbreak of World War II, and with need for a quick
expansion in railway carrying capacity, the then Ministry of
Transport (MoT) requisitioned all of the existing steel wagons
from both companies, including the stock within the private
mineralcompaniesthatthey hadsoldthem to;andalso placed
additional orders with both companies. The MoT then
developed a specification for a standard 16-long-ton (16.3 t;
17.9-short-ton) wagon:

58. 58
2axles/4 wheels
9 feet (2.74 m) wheel base
16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) total length over headstocks
2 side doors and 1 end door
Designed for andequippedwith the welded hangersfor either
vacuum or air brakes
But only equipped with the standard Moreton "V" hanger
independent hand-brakes
Contracting out the orders to both existing wagon companies
as well as general engineering contractors, the result was a
huge variance in constructions methodologies
(welded/riveted), and some minor design differences
(fabricated/pressed steel doors; sloping sides).
Despite the introduction of the all-steel wagons the basic
characteristics of the standard mineral wagon remained
largelythe same asthose from the earliestdaysof the railways
- short in wheelbase, relatively low in capacity, restricted to
low speeds and mostly without a form of continuousbraking.
This reliance on a large number of small, simple wagons
introduced a great deal of inefficiency to railway operations.
Railway companies had long wanted to adopt larger-capacity
mineral stock with braking and running gear suited to
operating at higher speeds. However the introduction of
improved stock was always thwarted by opposition from the
railways' biggest customers - collieries, ports and heavy

59. 59
industry. These industries had sidings and loading/unloading
equipment designed around the short-wheelbase rectangular
sheer-sided unbrakedwagon which had been in use for nearly
a century.Operationsat boththe collieryandtheuser endwas
dependant on loading/unloading wagons individually and the
need to connect and disconnect brake systems or handle a
wagon perhaps twice the size and weight of the familiar type
was seen as a huge disruption.Some industries couldnot even
accept brakedvariantsof the standardall-steel mineralwagon
as the work-side track or handling equipment would foul the
brake gear. In the days of the private-owner wagon the
railways had little power to enforce such a major change on
their customers as the customers owned the wagons the
railway was paid to transport. The North Eastern Railway
leveraged its geographic monopoly over a large coal-
producing area to encourage major collieries in its territory to
accept the NER's own design of 20-ton wooden-bodied coal
hopper. Other railways offered financial incentives such as
lower carriage rates for larger or more modern wagon types
but the take-up remained very limited. The NER's successor,
the London and North Eastern Railway introduced 21-ton
steel-bodied hoppers for mineral work and that design was
continued by British Railways but the vast majority of British
coalwas stilltransported in the 16-ton, 9-foot wheelbasesteel
wagon. The situation was something of a deadlock as the
industries refused to adapt to use different stock while the
traditional mineral wagon remained in widespread use, while
the railways had to continue use of the wagon as it was the
transport method favoured by its biggest source of freight

60. 60
traffic. It wasn't until the 1960s that Merry-go-round trains
changed a system for transporting coal that was
fundamentally different to that introduced in the 1830s, with
specially-designed hoppers that could carry twice the load at
twice the speed of the old mineral wagon.
Variants
On creation of British Railways (BR) in 1948 - which took
control of all railway assets, including all private owner
wagons - the new organisation inherited 55,000 original MoT
wagons. Officially termed "MCO/MCV 16t Mineral Wagons",
they were all given a "B" prefix in their 5-figure numbering.
Both the LNER and London, Midland and Scottish Railway
(LMS) had taken an additional 5,000 wagons from the MoT
post-WW2, and once these were absorbed by BR were given
the prefix "M".
Due to the decimatedstate of Europe afterWorld War II, SNCF
in France ordered 10,000 MoT specification wagons - except
for their continental-style vertically-hinged "cupboard" doors
- from various British-based wagon manufacturers in
1945/1946. Proving quickly out-dated due to their small
capacity,BR bought the residual9,000 in 1951. Overhauledby
their original manufacturers, they were subsequently given
numbers in the "B19xxxx"-series. All were withdrawn by the
end of the 1960s.

61. 61
The basic BR-commissioned variant stayed true to the MoT
originalspecification, except they had linked Moreton brakes,
using either welded (diagram 1/108; 85% were made to this
diagram), or riveted body construction (diagram 1/109; only
10% of the total number of wagons). The most common
variant was an opening flap above both of the side doors.
Known as a "London Traders" flap, there are conflicting ideas
about its function, but it is generally thought to have been
provided to make it easier for coal merchants to unload the
wagon by hand.
BR through various large orders eventually brought the total
number of wagons to over 300,000. Thisincludeda late-1950s
order towards the end of their construction, when Pressed
Steel was commissioned to build27,500 wagons split across 4
lot numbers.
Re-bodying occurred throughout the wagon's service with BR,
until the end of their service in the late 1970s. This mainly
resulted in a replacement steel body, often of a simpler
design. But in 1975 under lot number 3863, 394 former
Palbrick wagons which were originally built on an extended
10-foot (3.05 m) chassis were re-bodied, and then
renumbered "B596000 - B596393". BR eventuallydevelopeda
21 long tons (23.5 short tons; 21.3 t) version (B200000-

62. 62
B202499 series), which was a 16T wagon with extended wheel
base and two side doors.
Under TOPS, the remainingwagonswere allocatedcodesMCO
and MCV for those with clasp brakes (two shoes per wheel),
andfrom 1981 code MXV forthose withpush brakes(oneshoe
per wheel).
Operations
In BR days there were unfitted mineral trains run at express
freight speed, locally known as "the Annesley Cutters" or
"Windcutters", exclusively running on the ex-GC line. These
ran from Annesley, a collection yard for the collieries of
Nottinghamshire served by the ex Great Central Railway, to
Woodford Halse and then onwards to major destinations
across southern England.
These trains have been recreated on the preserved Great
Central Railway, using over 30 of these wagons purchased in
1992 by readers of Steam Railway magazine. Whilst there
were many equivalent empty wagon trains run by the
Midland/LMS/ BR LM Region, they were never run at express
speeds, nor did they attract any nickname such as
Windcutters.

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Withdrawal
Mineralwagonswere phasedout by BR inthe 1970s, following
reductionin demand for householdcoaland the development
of merry-go-round trains, which used much larger (and
braked) hopper wagons. Two batches of 16T wagons were
bought by CC Crump in 1971, hired to ICI in Runcorn for the
transport of soda ash, and subsequently scrapped in 1979.
The rusty BR survivors were transferred to Departmental use,
under TOPS codes ZHO (unfitted) and ZHV (vacuum braked).
Used by civil engineers for general works, the greater weight
of stone necessitated holes being cut in the wagon sides to
avoid over-loading. According to TOPS records, 3,600 ZHVs
were in use by 1987, 26 in 1992, and 4 by 1999.
Slate waggon
Slate waggons (sometimes spelled wagons) are specialized
types of railway waggons designed for the conveyance of
slate. The characteristics of this stone led to the development
of small open cars that carried the slate in its various forms.
These were first developed on the narrow gauge railways
serving the slate industry of North Wales in the late 18th
century. They were initially used on horse-drawn tramways,
but survived with only minor modifications into the days of
locomotivesandare still to be foundin use in the 21st century.

64. 64
Types
1 Slate Waggon 2 SlabWaggon 3 RubbishWaggon
The three most common types of slate wagon are:
Slate Waggon
Thisisthe basic vehiclefortransportingroofing slatesfrom the
quarry to the destination.Because roofing slatesare relatively
friable, they are packedvertically into the open slate waggons
to reduce the chance they will be broken on their journey.
Early designs used simple wooden rails to hold the packed
slates. Later these were replaced with iron or steel railed
examples of a similar design.
Slab Waggon
Slab waggons are designed to carry large uncut slabs of slate,
often internallywithinquarries. The most common form is flat
waggon (often referred to as a sled) where the slab is laid
horizontally on wooden runners and chained to the wagon. A
lesscommon form isthe vertical slabwaggon, where two slabs
are chained to an A-frame mounted on the wagon; this form
of slab wagon was most famously used on the Corris Railway

65. 65
though other lines such as the festiniog Railway also had
examples of this type.
Rubbish Waggon
These were used almost exclusivelywithinslate quarries. They
transported waste slate from the mills to the dumps. These
were often crude vehicles that were heavily abused during
service. They typically consisted of a basic flat waggon with a
three-sided ironbodythat heldthe waste. The waste slate was
usually tipped from the wagon onto the slate tips, usually by
physically tipping the entire wagon and its contents.
CONCLUSION
• Mine carts are used for the purpose of transporting
materialsfrom the working place in a mine to a placeeither in
or out of the mine where they are unloaded.
• There are great variety in their shape and construction,
but one of the chief considerationsin their design is whether
they are to be dumped by hand or by the aid of tipple , and
whether ther are to be dumped from the end or side.

66. 66
REFRENCES
Dictionary definition of "Cocopan"
"Glossary". Welsh Coal Mines. Retrieved 16 April2018. Dram.
Tram or Truck.
"Copper Country". Engineering & Mining Journal. New York:
McGraw Hill. 26: 1109–1110. 26 June 1915.
de:Hunt#Geschichte
"The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Mine Cart Level".
Next Generation. No. 15. Imagine Media. March 1996. p. 37.
Periscope Film (2008). Mining Haulage: The Classic Mine
Technology Book From 1907. Lulu.com. pp. 1–51. ISBN
098165262X. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
Rakes, Paul H. (2012). "Coal Mine Mechanization." The West
Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council,
Charleston, WV.