Using a narrow gauge mine cart (Micro Engineering) and a dump platform (I think Micro Trains had one as a structure kit)-- what could the mine economically produce that would be dumped from the carts into hoppers (1 or 2 hopper loads out a day)-- Copper? other metal or metallic ore? some mineral?
FWIW, my few cents: Depending upon where the mine is located, any of the following is possible: Gold (in both quartz and 'wash' states) Silver ore Copper ore Clay Lead Tin Salt Coal Talc Rare earths Oil shale Nickel Bauxite Diamonds (Rough, not as you see them in the Jeweller's shop) Guano (aka bird manure - used as fertiliser) Effectively, anything that can be 'mined' is a potential load. A 'Google' search under the heading 'Underground Mining' might be useful. And, if these are not sufficient (and you want to be whimsical), no doubt a 'Treacle' Mine or something similar could be a source for your wagons... Hope that this helps.
Urainium maybe ? other wise only two carts a day may be out of business and at that rate could take two fellas all week to fill one ore car ... hboy: just sayin ..
Here's an idea. I have a friend in Knoxville, IA who inherited a huge chunk of land from Dad. Years ago they mined coal from the area by hand. At first, they loaded 1 hp wagons to bring the coal into town, about 2 miles away. They took it to a grain elevator to be weighed, then loaded it into hopper cars on a CB&Q branch. Eventually they were able to get a couple dump trucks for transport and parked the horses. The coal vein was spent in the late '70s or early '80s. The mine entrance is still there, along with an end loader and dozer, which are just rusting away. I was told several families had operations like this in the area, either as their main income, or extra income. I'm sure this has been done in other areas as well.
At the iron mines in NY, the mine carts were used to take the ore just a short distance from the hoist to an onsite separator. The processed ore would then be loaded into larger hoppers for transport away from the mine. Wayne
In the Eastern coal fields there were many coal mines operated by families or possibly one or two men. No automation here just a pick and a shovel and a mine car. If you were lucky you had a mule to pull it. A good miner could dig about 16 tons per day [thus the Tennesee Ernie Ford song] The coal would be loaded into wagons,trucks or even RR hoppers and taken to a town collier and sold as fuel for heating homes. Mining was a way of life in the winter for many farmers trying to scratch a living from the land. In some places the railroad would put in a siding for a privately operated truck dump complete with scale. Various mines would truck coal to the dump, have it weighed and then dump it into the RR car. In other places where coal was coming from only one mine there may not be a scale. Instead the RR would weigh the car on its scales in the receiving yard.
