Hey gang… many moons ago my wife had driven past a mining display.The only detail I had recalled was some sort of turbine-based air delivery shaft. Well, the other day after work, I decided to go hunting in the backwoods near my home and finally found the target I was looking for. Named the “Coal Country Campground” they have both the mining air shaft I remembered, but there was also a small mining train display. an 0-4-0 electric motor with two 1-ton coal mine carts in tow on what appears to be a 3-foot gauge track coming up out of a mine… including the overhead electric wire. If its accurate, its a good thing I’m not a couple inches taller… I’d have been bumping my head on the electric wire… ZAP! [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgallaway81/5628376478/]
[/url] air-turbine by jgallaway81, on Flickr Here is the turbine. Despite the railing, I did get close enough to look into the “tube”. It appears to dead-end to a little 1ftx1.5ft hole at the bottom. Almost looks like the fire door on an old boiler. The fan’s support has obviously settled compared to the tube because the blades scrap on the bottom but miss the top by a couple of inches. With a little bit of oiling and breaking free, it looks like it could work. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgallaway81/5627793997/]
[/url] mine-engine1 by jgallaway81, on Flickr Here is the engine. It appears to have been a straight DC electric motor with four little 12" wheels. The driver sat on the end closes to the carts and operated a simple lever to open valves of the four sand hoppers next to each wheel. The multi-position “throttle” appears to be completely gutted. I doubt this engine could be operated without a MAJOR overhaul. The electric trolly pole has been replaced by a length of grey plastic conduit/pvc pipe. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgallaway81/5628376826/]
[/url] display by jgallaway81, on Flickr Here is the complete display. As you can see, the locomotive has two carts. Being the nosy busy-body railfan I am, I couldn’t resist going where I shouldn’t have been. The mine entrance is blocked off by a piece of outdoor carpet framed up to the “mine” rafting. Tip-toeing past the carcass of a dead opossum, I snuck under the carpet to see what was behind it. To my unbelieving eyes there were two more of the carts. Like the ones on display, the iron work was ruff, but overall the two hidden carts were in better condition than those on display. Snooping around, I was unable to determine if this was a decommissioned actual mine, or if someone had simply built a small mine entrance and then buried it in the ground. Its very convincing if its a fake, but I don’t know enough of the details to tell. I have lots of other pics, but these were the three best “overall” pictures I got that early morning. This makes…nine of these little carts I’ve found in varying states around the central PA area.