View source for Engineering:Mine railway

[[File:Mining Train 00.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Preserved typical mine train at the Museu de Les Mines d' Eschucha, Eschucha, Spain]]
A '''mine railway''' (or '''mine railroad''', U.S.), sometimes '''pit railway''', is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine.<ref>{{Ellis' Railway Encyclopaedia}}</ref> Materials transported typically include [[Earth:Ore|ore]], [[Earth:Coal|coal]] and overburden (also called variously spoils, waste, slack, culm,<ref>culture noted and terms listed: culm.</ref> 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 [[Engineering:Steam locomotive|steam locomotive]]s, all in and around the works around mines.<ref name="WorksOfMan"/>

==History==
===Mine rails===


<!-- This doesn't appear as mine railway. It appears actually as a private railway serving castle. Editors should look into it. In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug, a [[Engineering:Funicular|funicular]] railway at the Hohensalzburg Castle in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a [[Biology:Hemp|hemp]] haulage rope, and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel. The line still exists, albeit in updated form, and is possibly the oldest railway still to operate.<ref>{{cite news|first=Reinhard |last=Kriechbaum |url=http://www.die-tagespost.de/Archiv/titel_anzeige.asp?ID=8916 |title=Die große Reise auf den Berg |work=der Tagespost |date=2004-05-15 |accessdate=2009-04-22 |language=German }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=fm1>{{cite web | url = http://www.funimag.com/funimag10/RESZUG01.HTM | title = Der Reiszug – Part 1 – Presentation | publisher = Funimag | accessdate = 2009-04-22}}</ref>-->
[[File:Mining cart.jpg|thumbnail|250px|right|Minecart shown in ''De Re Metallica'' (1556). The guide pin fits in a groove between two wooden planks.]]
Wagonways (or tramways) were developed in Germany in the 1550s to facilitate the transport of ore tubs to and from mines, using primitive wooden rails. Such an operation was illustrated in 1556 by [[Biography:Georgius Agricola|Georgius Agricola]] of Germany (Image right).<ref>Georgius Agricola (trans Hoover), ''De re metallica'' (1913), p. 156</ref> 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.<ref>The miners called the wagons ''Hund'' — "dog" — from the noise they made on the tracks.{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Charles E|title=The Evolution of Railways|edition=2|year=1943|work=Railway Gazette|location=London|page=16|oclc=1591369}}</ref> Such a transport system was used by German miners at Caldbeck, Cumbria, England, perhaps from the 1560s.<ref>Warren Allison, Samuel Murphy, and Richard Smith, 'An Early Railway in the German Mines of Caldbeck' in G. Boyes (ed.), ''Early Railways 4: Papers from the 4th International Early Railways Conference 2008'' (Six Martlets, Sudbury, 2010), 52–69.</ref>  An alternative explanation derives it from the Magyar ''hintó'' – a carriage.  There are possible references to their use in central Europe in the 15th century.<ref>Lewis, ''Early wooden railways'', 8-10.</ref>

A [[Engineering:Funicular|funicular railway]] was made at Broseley in Shropshire, England at some time before 1605. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the river Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns.<ref>Peter King, 'The First Shropshire Railways' in G. Boyes (ed.), ''Early Railways 4: Papers from the 4th International Early Railways Conference 2008'' (Six Martlets, Sudbury, 2010), 70–84.</ref> 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 [[Bushel|bushel]]s (130–150&nbsp;kg) of coal.<ref>M. J. T. Lewis, ''Early Wooden railways''.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ransom|first=Philip|title=The archaeology of railways|publisher=World's Work|location=Tadworth, England|year=1981|page=268|isbn=978-0-437-14401-0}}</ref> 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|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 wagonways were engineered so that trains of coal wagons 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 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 tendency to concentrate employees started when Benjamin Huntsman, looking for higher quality clock springs, found in 1740<ref name="Connections"/> that he could produce high quality steel in unprecedented quantities ([[Engineering:Crucible steel|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<ref name="Connections"/> of the glass making industries. These technologies, for several decades, had already begun gradually quickening industrial growth and causing early concentrations of workers so that there were occasional early small factories that came into being.<ref name="Connections">[[Biography:James Burke (science historian)|James Burke (science historian)]], Connections (1985), pages: 136-137, pbk: 304 pages, Little Brown & Co., New York, ISBN</ref>

This trend concentrating effort into bigger central located but larger enterprises<ref name="Connections"/> turned into a trend spurred by Henry Cort's iron processing patent of 1784<ref name="Connections"/> leading in short order to foundries collocating near coal mines<ref name="WorksOfMan"/> and accelerating the practice of supplanting the nations cottage industries.<ref name="Connections"/> With that concentration of employees and separation from dwellings,<ref name="WorksOfMan"/> horsedrawn trams became commonly available as a commuter resource for the daily commute to work.<ref name="WorksOfMan"/> 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 early wooden rail ways and initial animal powered trains of vehicles,<ref name="Connections"/> then successively in just two decades<ref name="WorksOfMan"/> protective iron strips nailed to protect the rails, 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.<ref name="EarlyLocos">George Stephenson#Early locomotives</ref> Next, he petitioned Parliament to license a public passenger railway,<ref name="WorksOfMan"/> founding the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. 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.<ref name="WorksOfMan"/>

===Company towns and child labour===
Today, most mine railways are [[Physics:Electricity|electrically]] powered; in former times pit ponies, such as Shetland ponies, [[Biology:Donkey|donkey]]s, and/or mules<!--in the USA,---> were used to haul the early mine trains. In the very cramped conditions of [[Engineering:Hewing|hand-hewn mining tunnels]], children were also often used, and the animals were led and tended by boys (called'' 'mule boys'<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065445/|title=Jim the Mule Boy (Film Short, title @IMDB)|quote=This film is run on a video loop with other historical programing in the Anthracite Coal Mining Museum, Coaldale, Pennsylvania|date=28 March 1911|publisher=Edison Film Company}}</ref> ''in the USA, aged 10&ndash;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 Appalachian [[Chemistry:Anthracite|anthracite]] 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 allowed each group to return considerably more to their hard-scrabble families.

Since many US mines were founded in remote areas and the joint stock companies imported workers from Europe who had to work off their passage in a [[Company:Company town|company town]] purpose-built to staff the mine&nbsp;&ndash; a typical miner's family was constantly 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.

==Rails==
[[File:Holzbahn.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Mine wagon on wooden rails from [[Place:Transylvania|Transylvania]], end of the 19th century]]
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 normally employed.  In the United States,
the standard gauge for mine haulage is {{RailGauge|3ft6in|lk=on}}, although gauges from {{RailGauge|18in}} to {{RailGauge|5ft6in}} are used.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4OXrgHYSk4C&pg=PA232| editor-first=Raymond L.| editor-last=Lowrie| title=SME Mining Reference Handbook| chapter=Excavation, Loading, and Material Transport| publisher=Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration| year=2002| page=232| accessdate=9 October 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/stream/studyofcoalmineh00stoerich/studyofcoalmineh00stoerich_djvu.txt| first=H. H.| last=Stoek| first2=J. R.| last2=Fleming| first3=A. J.|last3=Hoskin| title=A Study of Coal Mine Haulage in Illinois| work=Engineering Experiment Station Bulletin| volume=132| publisher=University of Illinois|date=July 1922| pages=102–103| accessdate=22 June 2011 }}</ref>

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 animals to propel more drams.

===Wood to cast iron===
These early mine railways used wooden rails, which in the early [[History:Industrial Revolution|industrial revolution]] about [[History:Coalbrookdale|Coalbrookdale]], were soon capped with iron strapping, those were replaced by wrought iron, then with the first steam traction engines, cast iron rails,<ref name="EarlyLocos"/> and eventually steel rails as each was in succession found to last much longer than the previous cheaper rail type.<ref name="WorksOfMan"><!--
-->{{Cite book|author= |last1=Clark |first1=Ronald W. |authorlink1=Ronald W. Clark|publisher=Viking Penguin, Inc., New York, U.S.A., (1985)
|title='Works of Man: History of Invention and Engineering, From the Pyramids to the Space Shuttle'
|isbn=9780670804832|edition=1st American Edition. 8"x10" Hard cover|pages=352 (indexed)
|chapter=|quote=|year=1985}}</ref> By the time of the first steam locomotive drawn trains, most rails laid were of wrought iron<ref name="WorksOfMan"/> which was outlasting cast iron rails by 8:1. About three decades later, after Andrew Carnegie had made steel competitively cheap, steel rails were supplanting iron for the same longevity reasons.<ref name="WorksOfMan"/>

==Motive power==
{{Main article|Engineering:Minecart}}
[[File:Riding on a mine car.webm|thumb|Riding on a mine car in Ashland, Pennsylvania]]
The tram (or ''dram'') cars used for mine haulage are generally called ''tubs''.<ref>{{cite journal| title=Mining| issue=  I, Vol II| date=2 December 1893| chapter=II, Haulage| publisher=Stowager and Sons| location=Wallgate, Wigan, England| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQwAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1}}</ref>  The term ''mine car'' is commonly used in the United States<ref>{{cite book| first=Albert H.| last=Fay| title=A Glossary of the Mining and Mineral Industry| chapter=Car| page=131| publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior| year=1920| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1yAKxdeu3oC&pg=PA131}}</ref>

===Pit ponies===
[[File:Dandywaggon.jpg|thumb|right|200px|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.

[[File:Mine-charbon.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Pit ponies at work in 18th century French mine workings]]
Ponies began to be used underground, often replacing child or 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.<ref>H.H. Stoek, J.R. Fleming, A.J. Hoskin, [https://archive.org/stream/studyofcoalmineh00stoerich#page/15/mode/1up A Study of Coal Mine Haulage in Illinois], Bulletin 132, University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station, July 1922; pages 15-16.</ref> 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"<ref>H.H. Stoek, J.R. Fleming, A.J. Hoskin, [https://archive.org/stream/studyofcoalmineh00stoerich#page/70/mode/1up A Study of Coal Mine Haulage in Illinois], Bulletin 132, University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station, July 1922; page 70 and page 12.</ref>) 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, while horses would be used to pull the empty drams back to the workigs. The Dandy wagon allowed for easy transportation of the required horse each time.

Probably the last colliery horse to work underground in a British coal mine, ''Robbie'', was retired from Pant y Gasseg, near Pontypool, in May 1999.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ceri|last=Thompson|title=Harnessed: colliery horses in Wales|location=Cardiff|publisher=National Museum Wales|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7200-0591-2|page=66}}</ref>

===Cable haulage===
In the 19th century after the mid-1840s, when the German invention of [[Engineering:Wire rope|wire rope]] became available from manufacturies in both Europe and North America, large [[Engineering:Stationary steam engine|stationary steam engine]]s on the surface with [[Engineering:Wire rope|cables]] reaching underground were commonly used for mine haulage.  Unsurprisingly, the innovation-minded managers of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company pioneered the technology in America using it to allow the dead-lift of loaded coal consists {{convert|1100|ft}} up the Ashley Planes, and the augmentation of their works in and above the [[History:Panther Creek Valley|Panther Creek Valley]]<ref
 name=Hazard>{{cite book
 | title=HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA | date= 1884
 | author = Fred Brenckman, Official Commonwealth Historian|edition=Archive.org project [https://archive.org/details/historyofcarbonc00inbren pdf e-reprint 2nd edition], 627 pages, (1913)
 | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcarbonc00inbren 
 | publisher =''Also Containing a Separate Account of the Several Boroughs and Townships in the County'', J. Nungesser, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 
 |=<!-- ca. or before, p.-271 -->
}}
</ref> with new gravity switchback sections and return cable inclines, but most notably by installing two cable lift sections and expanding the already famous Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway with 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.<ref 
 name=DEL&LHcanals>{{cite book 
 |last1= Bartholomew|first1= Ann M.  |last2= Metz|first2= Lance E. |last3= Kneis|first3= Michael
 |date= 1989 |title= ''DELAWARE and LEHIGH CANALS'', 158 pages
 |language= English  |edition= First  |publisher= Center for Canal History and Technology, Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museum, Inc.
<!--|location=Oak Printing Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-->
 |location=Easton, Pennsylvania |publication-date= 1989 |isbn= 0930973097 |lccn= 89-25150 |pages= 4–5
 }}
</ref>  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.<ref
 name=Fultz>Francis M. Fultz, An Iowa Coal Mine, Chapter V of [https://books.google.com/books?id=nor-ORf44sMC&pg=PA99 Out of Door Studies in Geography, I, The Making of the Surface and Soils of the Upper Mississippi Region], 1908; pages 97-105, see page 101.
</ref>  In the first decade of the 20th century, electric locomotives were displacing animal power for this secondary haulage role in mines<ref
 name="walker">Sydney F. Walker, Electrical Mining Notes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=V0I_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA8 Electrical Review], Vol. 48, No. 1, January, 1906.
</ref> where sparking triggered explosive methane buildup was a lesser danger.   Several cable haulage systems 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 [[Grade (slope)|grades]] of a few percent, trains of 25 cars each carrying roughly half a ton were typical in the 1880s.<ref>Wilhelm Hildenbrand, Section II, The Simple Engine Plane, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPUuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16 The Underground Haulage of Coal by Wire Ropes], John A. Roebling's Sons Co., 1884; page 16.</ref>

In mines where grades were not uniform or where the grades were not steep enough for gravity to pull a train into the mine, 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.<ref>Nicholas Wood, Chapter IV – Motive power, Section III – Steam-engine fixed upon ascending planes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TuwswZ2hi5AC&pg=PA114 A Practical Treatise on Railr-Roads], Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1832; page 114.</ref>  This was the dominant system in the 1880s<ref>Wilhelm Hildenbrand, Section III, The Tail Rope System, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPUuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA22 The Underground Haulage of Coal by Wire Ropes], John A. Roebling's Sons Co., 1884; page 22.</ref>  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 advanced systems involved continuous loops of rope operated like a cable car system.  Some mines used endless chains before wire-rope became widely available.<ref>Thomas J. Waters, Rope Haulage at the Westport Coal Company's Coalbrookdale Colliery, Westport, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aWtIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA12 Papers read at the Mining Conference held at Dunedin, March 1890], George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington, NZ, 1890; page 12</ref>  The endless chain system originated in the mines near Burnley (England) around 1845.  An endless rope system was developed in Nottinghamshire around 1864, and another independently developed near Wigan somewhat later (also in England).<ref>Report of the Tail-Rope Committee, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-CNWAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA3 Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers], vol. XVII, Appendix I (1867-8), Newcastle upon Tyne, 1868.</ref>  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.<ref>Carl Volk, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_VgxAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA113 Haulage and Winding Appliances used in Mines], Scott, Greenwood & Co. London, 1903; page 113.</ref>  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.  Where the cable ran under the cars, a handheld grip could be 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 coupled to the head of the train.<ref>Wilhelm Hildenbrand, Section IV, The Endless Rope System, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPUuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA22 The Underground Haulage of Coal by Wire Ropes], John A. Roebling's Sons Co., 1884; page 37.</ref>  At the dawn of the 20th century, endless rope haulage was the dominant haulage technology for the main haulage ways of underground mines.<ref name="walker" />

===Steam engines===
[[Image:Porter 1908 0-4-0 mine loco.jpg|right|thumb|A [[Engineering:Tank locomotive|tank locomotive]] advertised in the H.K. Porter, Inc. 1908 catalog for use in underground mines]]
[[File:Dampflokomotive H 1-2 Nr. 1 "Gnom".jpg|thumb|right|''Gnom'', used on a mine in Switzerland]]
For as long as it was economical to 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 limits of 1/2 the air velocity to assure adequate clean air for the crew on outbound trips.  Such engines could not be used in mines with firedamp problems.<ref>Mine Haulage, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ou9EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA129 The Elements of Mining Engineering, Vol. III], The Colliery Engineer Co., Scranton, 1900; paragraphs 2436-2437.</ref>

Porter, Bell & Co. appears to have built the first underground mining locomotives used in the United States around 1870.  By 1874, the Consolidation Coal Company and Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company were 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 [[Chemistry:Iron Range|Iron Range]]s.  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.<ref>Light Locomotives, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BIk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA39 Saward's Coal Trade Journal], July 29, 1874; pages 39-40.</ref><ref>[[:File:Porter Bell Mine Loco.png|Porter Bell & Co. 1873 advertisement]].</ref>  The Baldwin Locomotive Works built similar locomotives, starting in 1870.<ref>Baldwin Locomotive Works, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TreSf6lRDygC&pg=PA47 Illustrated Catalog of Locomotives], second ed., Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co., Philadelphia, 1881; page 47.</ref><ref>Mine Locomotives for Gold Mines, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bk2NVNYIHXEC&pg=PA453 Railroad Gazette], October 12, 1877; page 453.  Has good scale drawings.</ref>  By the early 20th century, very small British-made oil-fired steam locomotives were in use in some South African mines.<ref>A Novel Mining Locomotive, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t9s0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA215 The Locomotive Magazine], Vol. IX, No. 125 (Oct. 10, 1903); pages 214-215.  Includes photo.</ref>  Porter and Vulcan (Wilkes-Barre) advertised steam mine locomotives in 1909 and 1911.<ref>H.K. Porter Co., Advertisement, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fRHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA111 Engineering Magazine], Vol. XXVII, No. 6 (September 1909); advertising page 111.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 Vulcan Locomotives], Vulcan Iron Works, Wilkes-Barre, 1911; pages [https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA70 70], [https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA72 72], [https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA86 86] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA105 105].</ref>  By the early 1920s, only a few small mines in the Pocahontas Coalfield in West Virginia were using steam locomotives underground.<ref>H.H. Stoek, J.R. Fleming, A.J. Hoskin, [https://archive.org/stream/studyofcoalmineh00stoerich#page/17/mode/1up A Study of Coal Mine Haulage in Illinois], Bulletin 132, University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station, July 1922; page 17.</ref>  Nonetheless, both Baldwin and Vulcan continued to advertise steam locomotives for underground use outside the coal industry as late as 1921.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=j2kKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA275 The Mining Catalog (Metal and Quarry Ed.)], Keystone, Pittsburgh, 1921; pages [https://books.google.com/books?id=j2kKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA273 273] (Baldwin) and [https://books.google.com/books?id=j2kKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA275 275] (Vulcan).</ref>

===Compressed air===
[[File:Pressluftlokomotive.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Compressed air mine locomotive]]
Compressed-air locomotives were powered by [[Physics:Compressed air|compressed air]] that were carried on the locomotive in compressed-air containers. This method of propulsion had the advantage of being safe but the disadvantage of high operating 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 (unit)|bar]].<ref>Compressed Air Locomotives, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UkMoAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA16 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Monthly Journal]; vol. X, no. 1 (January, 1876); page 16.</ref>  The Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered their first compressed air locomotive in 1877, and by 1904, they offered a variety of models, most with an 0-4-0 wheel arrangement.<ref name="Baldwin 1904">Compressed Air Locomotives, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NLwYAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA14 Record of Recent Construction] No. 46, Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1904; page 14, mentions the first delivery; page 9 shows storage and working pressures; pages 13-14 discuss operation at 2000 psi.</ref>  Compressed air locomotives were introduced in the Newbottle Collieries in Scotland in 1878, operating at 200 [[Pounds per square inch|psi]] (14 [[Bar (unit)|bar]]).<ref>Professional Notes, ''Compressed Air Mine Locomotives'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=fzcLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA215 The School of Mines Quarterly], vol. II, no. 4 (May 1881), Columbia College, New York; pages 215-216.</ref>

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 [[Pounds per square inch|psi]] (34-41 [[Bar (unit)|bar]]).<ref>Compressed Air Mine Locomotive, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cZk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA183 The Colliery Engineer], vol. XII, no. 8 (March, 1892); page 183.</ref>  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.<ref name="Baldwin 1904" />  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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 Vulcan Locomotives], Vulcan Iron Works, Wilkes-Barre, 1911; pages [https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA74 74-78] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=jqZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA97 97].</ref> 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===
[[File:AEG U28 rotheerde 1894.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mine locomotive U 28 from AEG at the ''Verein Rothe Erde'', Esch-sur-Alzette 1894]]
The [[Physics:Electric motor|electric motor]] technology used pre-1900 to [[Physics:Direct current|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.<ref>David R. Shearer, Chapger VI: Direct-Current Power Plant Design, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aQVZAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA25 Electricity in Coal Mining], McGraw-Hill, New York, 1914.</ref>

The first electric mine railway in the world was developed by Siemens & Halske for [[Earth:Bituminous coal|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.<ref>F.M.F. Cazin, How can Mining and Metallurgical Industry be Benefited by Electric Contrivances? Part II, [ Electric Power], Vol III, No. 35, (Nov. 1891); pages 405-409 (see pages 408-409 for a discussion of early German and U.S. electric mine haulage).</ref>

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 deliveries of electric locomotives for these railways from [[Company:AEG|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&nbsp;hp motor for this locomotive was built by the Union Electric Company of Philadelphia.<ref>Schlesinger Electric Locomotive Motor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VlVEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA88 The Electrical World], Vol. XI, No. 8 (Feb. 25, 1888); page 88. Includes pictures of the traction motor.</ref>  The 15000 pound (6800&nbsp;kg) locomotive was named the Pioneer, and by mid 1888, a second electric locomotive was in service at that mine.<ref>The Electric Railway in the Lykens Valley Coal Mine, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VlVEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA303 The Electrical World], Vol. XI, No. 24 (June 16, 1888); page 303. Includes a picture of the locomotive.</ref><ref>The Union Electric Company, Philadelphia (Advertisement), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VlVEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PR15 The Electrical World], Vol. XI, No. 26 (June 30, 1888); page xv.  Includes locomotive weights.</ref><ref>T. C, Martin and Joseph Wetzler, Chapter XIII: Latest American Motors and Motor Systems, [The Electric Motor and its Applications, third ed.]; W. J. Johnston, New York, 1891; pages 218-224.  Includes good illustrations of the Pioneer.</ref>  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.<ref>George Gibbs, The Electric Locomotive for Mine Haulage, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EpQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA323 Cassier's Magazine], vol. 22, no. 3 (July 1902); pages 323-343.  Well illustrated.</ref>

Initially, electric locomotives were used only where it was economical to string [[Engineering:Overhead line|overhead line]] for power.  This limited their usage for gathering loads at the mine face, where trackage was temporary and frequently relocated.  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 [[Engineering:Power cable|power cable]] was clipped to the overhead line and then automatically unreeled as the locomotive advanced and reeled up as the locomotive returned.<ref>Seward Mighell, Locomotive, {{US patent|732768}}, granted July 7, 1903.</ref><ref>Kenneth Rushton, Reel Attachment for Mine Locomotives, {{US patent|737491}}, granted Aug. 25. 1903.</ref><ref>Cable-Reel Locomotives, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VQRZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA826 The Coal Miners' Pocketbook, 11th Ed.], McGraw-Hill, New York, 1916; page 826-827.</ref>

Crab locomotives were equipped with a [[Engineering:Winch|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 [[Engineering:Pulley|pulley]]s at any sharp turns.<ref>W. E. Hamilton, Locomotive Car Puller, {{US patent|765833}}, granted July 26, 1904.</ref><ref>Crab Locomotives, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VQRZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA827 The Coal Miners' Pocketbook, 11th Ed.], McGraw-Hill, New York, 1916; page 827.</ref>

Explosion-proof mining locomotives from ''Schalker Eisenhütte'' are used in all the mines owned by ''Ruhrkohle'' (today ''Deutsche Steinkohle'').

===Combustion engines===
[[File:Grubenlok Deutz.jpg|thumb|right|200px|1938 Deutz mine railway locomotive.]]
The ''Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz'' (Deutz Gas Engine Company), now [[Company:Deutz AG|Deutz AG]], introduced a single-cylinder benzine locomotive for use in mines in 1897.  Their first mining locomotives were rated at 6 to 8&nbsp;hp and weighed 5280 pounds.<ref>A Benzine Locomotive for use in Mines, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1fo9AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA879 The Petroleum Industrial and Technical Review], vol. 2, no. 68 (June 23, 1900); page 388.</ref>  The original 6&nbsp;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.<ref>Benzine Locomotive, [https://books.google.com/books?id=H0c_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA532 English Mechanic and World of Science], No. 1713 (Jan 21, 1898); pages 532-533.</ref>  Typical Deutz mine engines in 1906 were rated at 8 to 12&nbsp;hp.<ref>Benzine Locomotives for Mining Purposes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lv09AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA411 The Petroleum Review], vol. XIV (New Series), no. 375 (June 23, 1906); page 411.  Includes photos.</ref>  By this time, double-cylinder 18&nbsp;hp. engines built by [[Company:Wolseley Motors|Wolseley Motors]] were being used in South African mines.<ref>A Petroleum-Driven Mining Locomotive, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t9s0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA128 The Locomotive Magazine], Vol. IX, No. 119 (Aug. 29, 1903); page 128.  Includes scale drawings.</ref>  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.<ref name="Anglada1914">Joseph A. Anglada, Gasoline Locomotives for Mines, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ5VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA100 The Gas Engine], Vol. XVI, No. 2 (Feb. 1914); pages 100-103.  Includes photos.</ref>

Late 19th and early 20th century mine railway locomotives were operated with petrol [[Chemistry:Benzene|benzene]] and [[Chemistry:Ethanol|alcohol]] / benzene mixtures.<ref>Heise-Herbst, Bergbaukunde, Springer-Verlag 1910, p. 345 ff.</ref> Although such engines were initially used  in 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 injection in the exhaust system.  Bubbling the exhaust through a water bath also greatly reduced noxious fumes.<ref>A Unique English Internal Combustion Mining Locomotive, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DpLmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA272 Mining Science], Vol. LXI, No. 1573 (Mar. 24, 1910); page 272.  Includes photo.</ref><ref name="Anglada1914" />

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===
[[File:Ben Bow chromite mine 1942a.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Trainload of chrome ore emerging from a mine tunnel at the Ben Bow chromite mine in Stillwater County, Montana ]]
Battery powered locomotives and systems 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, resulting in either restricted operations or the need for the doubling-up of equipment purchasing.

In the 19th century, there was considerable speculation about the potential use of battery locomotives in mines.<ref>Electric Underground Haulage, [https://books.google.com/books?id=029JAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA726 The Coal Trade Journal], Oct. 3, 1894; page 726.</ref><ref>J. S. Doe, The Iser vs. the Waser, Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the Ohio Institute of Mining Engineers, Jan 19-21, 1898, Columbus, published as [https://books.google.com/books?id=AhZbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA254 The Ohio Mining Journal], No. 27, (1899); pages 60-66, see particularly page 62.</ref><ref>Francis A. Pocock, Accumulators and Mining, presented at the New York Meeting, Sept. 1890, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cMBLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA278 Trans. Amer. Inst. of Mining Engineers], Vol. XIX (1891); pages 278-282.</ref>  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.  This locomotive was eventually successful, but only after the voltage on the trolley system was stabilized.<ref>Harry K. Myers, A Combined Trolley and Storage Battery Locomotive for Mines, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zQU0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA512 American Electrician], Vol. XI, No. 11 (Nov. 1899); page 512-513.</ref>  A Siemens and Haske pure storage battery locomotive was in use in a coal mine in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) by 1904.<ref>J. F. Gairns, Industrial Locomotives for Mining, Factory and Allied Uses, part III, [https://books.google.com/books?id=poHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA474 Cassier's Magazine], Vol. XXVI, No. 5 (Sept. 1904); pages 474-496; see photo on page [https://books.google.com/books?id=poHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA474 page 474], text on [https://books.google.com/books?id=poHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA489 page 489].</ref>

One problem with battery locomotives was battery replacement.  This was simplified by use of removable battery boxes.  Eventually, battery boxes were developed that included wheels so that they could be rolled off of the locomotive.<ref>Eugene W. Schellentrager and Bradley E. Clarkson, Storage-Battery Locomotive, {{US patent|1413686}}, granted April 25, 1922.</ref>  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.<ref>William T. Petterson, Locomotive Battery Changing Mechanism, {{US patent|2970550}}, granted Feb. 7, 1961.</ref>

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==
[[File:Personenwagen Grubenbahn.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Passenger wagon on a mine railway]]
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&nbsp;mm track&nbsp;– the largest 900&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;mm track and 90 kilometres of 900&nbsp;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&nbsp;mm mine railways in the lignite mines of Saxony. In December 1999, the last 900&nbsp;mm railway in the Central German coal mining field in Lusatia was closed.

In the United States, [[Company:Consol Energy|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 [[Engineering:Conveyor belt|conveyor belt]] and 2.5 miles of above ground conveyor belt were installed.  The last load of coal was hauled by rail in January 2010.<ref>Shoemaker Mine banks on future, [http://www.timesleaderonline.com/news/business/2010/01/shoemaker-mine-banks-on-future/ The Times Leader], Martin's Ferry Ohio, Jan 28, 2010.</ref>

==Museum and heritage railways==
A remnant of the coal railways in 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.

==Mine railways in visitor mines==

===Austria===
# Pradeisstollen, Radmer in the Styria
# Schwaz Silver Mine

===Germany===
; Hesse
# Grube Fortuna, Solms, visitor mine with working shaft, field and pit railway museum with circular track, {{Track gauge|600mm|lk=on}}, {{convert|2.3|km|abbr=on}} long

; Lower Saxony
# Barsinghausen, Klosterstollen, {{Track gauge|600mm}}, {{convert|1,3|km|abbr=on}} long
# Clausthal-Zellerfeld&ndash;Clausthal, Ottiliae Shaft, open pit railway to the old station in Clausthal, {{Track gauge|600mm}}, {{convert|2.2|km|abbr=on}}
# Goslar, Rammelsberg
# Langelsheim&ndash;Lautenthal, Lautenthals Glück Pit

; North Rhine-Westphalia
# Bestwig&ndash;Ramsbeck, Ramsbeck Ore Mine
# Kleinenbremen, Kleinenbremen Visitor Mine

; Rhineland-Palatinate
# Steinebach/Sieg, Bindweide Pit

; Saxony
# Annaberg-Buchholz, Markus Röhling Stolln, {{Track gauge|600mm}}
# Ehrenfriedersdorf, Sauberg (underground section only), {{Track gauge|600mm}}

; Saxony-Anhalt
# Elbingerode (Harz), Drei Kronen & Ehrt visitor mine, {{Track gauge|600mm}}
# Sangerhausen&ndash;Wettelrode, Röhrigschacht show mine

; Thuringia
# Ilfeld&ndash;Netzkater, Rabensteiner Stollen, {{Track gauge|600mm}}

; Luxembourg
# Minièresbunn, Fond-de-Gras, {{Track gauge|700mm}}, {{convert|4|km|abbr=on}} long
# National Museum of Luxembourg Iron Ore Mines, circular track

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Industrial railway
* Granite Railway
* Mantrip (shuttle for transporting miners)
* [[Engineering:Gondola (rail)#Lorry or Mine car|Mine car]]
* [[Engineering:Minecart|Minecart]]
* Plateway
* [[Engineering:Quarry tub|Quarry tub]]
* Rail profile
* Rail tracks
* Wagonway
{{div col end}}
* Granite Railway

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.grubenbahn.de Grubenbahn.de - mine railway site]
*[http://www.schmalspurige-grubenbahn.de Schmalspurige Grubenbahn.de - narrow gauge mine railway site]
*[http://www.kohlebahn-page.de.vu Kohlebahn - coal railway site]
*[http://www.fond-de-gras.lu  Fond-de-Gras industrial and railway park in the Luxembourg mining region]
*[http://www.rail.lu/ Mine railway locomotives]



{{Sourceattribution|Mine railway|1}}