Mine

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how wide and tall a typical mine drift is?
Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi Scott,
I'm making an assumption here, forgive me if I'm wrong, that by drift you mean the tunnels, I don't think any two will be the same. Back in the mid 70's I went down the Point of Ayr colliery in North Wales where the tunnels were at least 9' high. The working coal face, which was under the sea, was about 6' high. That area of Wales is full of mines, lead mining was a big industry and there are pits there from Roman times. These were just a few feet wide and dropped vertically for about 20' or so.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

Thanks Kim,
I'll make it more specific.
First a drift is a horizontal tunnel.
Second I'll make it six feet tall (Gold Bug mine was just tall enough for my dad)
That leaves width. How's this: How wide is the average g scale ore car?
Thanks,
Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi trainmaster 1989
A standard G ore car even the small Hartland or Bachmann ones are far
too big.
I would sugest and LGB Gnomy side tip as a mine push skip and try and
find some old time thousand lb per yard HO scale track and I do mean old
grossly over size HO Rail track
regards John

[Anonymous]

Thanks John,
Do you know where i might find this rail?
Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi Scott
Hobbie shop second hand sections train show second hand dealers
E bay (as much as I dislike it) any brand of two rail track with oversize propper rail will do
In my case Tri-ang is the brand name to look for
in super 4 or serise 3 don't be fooled into paying silly prices the stuff is next to worthless unless you collect Triang trains and intend runing them on orriginal track
once you have obtained the track give it a good spray of exterior varnish if you intend the mine being out doors.
regards john

[Anonymous]

Here's one for the electricians,
I am going to light up the mine with some small lamps. I know that the power draw will be 1.5 volts at 300 Miliampres. What do you suggest I use as a power source?
Would a 1.5 volt 1500 miliampre power source work?
Thanks,
Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi Scott
I am no electrician but that sounds like you are going to use LED's for lights
if this is correct then 1.5V penlight batteries will do the job with the right
wiring you will get a couple of years maybe more out of them as i assume they will not be on all the time.
Now I will turn this over to the more knoledgable for a cct diagram and how you work out how many batteries you need and wether you parralell wire them or not.
regards John

[vsmith]

I would buy a couple of On30 side dump cars and track and use them as a guide, but 6' high by 6' wide seams a reasonable size.

[grandpopswalt]

At 300 ma, no battery would last more than a few days. You'd probably be better off using an AC to DC adapter. Just looked it up, there's one at Radio Shack for $13 and it's rated at 300ma.

Walt

[Anonymous]

Walt
thats great
thanks
Scott