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The answer depends on the size of the loading operation, and the era. Years ago and to some extent today with smaller mine operations empties would be brought to the mine and swapped for outgoing loads. The empty hopper would be spotted so that the mine staff could use a winch to move the cars once they were loaded, or the track under the mine would be on a grade that would allow the mine staff to release the brakes and allow gravity to roll the next car under the loading area. Most of the older tipples would not be able to load hoppers fast enough to justify delaying the train crew waiting for the hoppers to be filled and ready to depart. <br />Today in the larger mine operations utilize "flood" loaders to load an entire unit train of hoppers while the rail crew slowly pulls the train of empties under the loader. The train then departs to its destination, or to a yard to be consolidated into a larger unit train for shipment to the customer. <br /> <br />Will
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