Anybody have any info on compressed air mine motors like they used at homestake?
Like one of these? What do you need to know?
Ok, where did you get that?
Yep thats what I'm talking about. What psi did they operate at? How many pounds of air did the tank hold and how long would it run on one tank of air?
It could probably run for a few hours, depending on the amount of traffic it had to haul.
Wow nice model! What scale is that?
Doug thanks for the link.
Glad Doug did the link for you, I was going to dig out the '84 Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette article on them.
I built that short tank Motor in'98 all brass except the wood part on the seat bumper. Fully working Stevenson valve gear, working throttle, reverser, whistle valve and gate valves. Weighs over 11 pounds and is 1" scale. Not 18" gauge unlike the prototype, runs on G gauge track 45mm which I think is about 21.25" really a compromise. I didn't build the driver, he was a plastic toy figure mastered for me by the very talented modelbuilder Joe Crea of Denver.
The orecar trailing is also brass, totally scratchbuilt from cars on display at the Empire Mine State Park in Grass Valley Calif.
Excellent job on the model Chris. It looks like the tank pressure was 800 psi and the working pressure is 150. I still haven't found any info on the tank volume or how long the would run on a charge.
That is motor is awesome! Building that would have been the ultimate discussion in the 'mining projects' forum! Very neat! You should make a video of that running, I'd love to see it.
I'm sorry to say that back in '98 I was time pressed on building it and the electrical pickups were never fitted so even though there is a 40mm Can motor and 45:1 gearbox mounted. I started milling the wheels in March and only just scraped by at the middle of August before leaving for my Nth American trip .
I'm too past it now to mess with it and I have nowhere to run it anyway. I always figured she would look great in a workshop diorama one day.
As to NG's query, there is no mention in the Gazette article on cu ft capacity of the tanks, Don Gleason out in Oregon may know, he owns one of the larger tank 5 tonners. Now I think he only charged his to about 150 + psi in deference to the age of the tank and that allowed about three trips on his short line. There is a short tank 3-1/2 ton version like my model at the Colorado Springs Western Mining Museum that they operate on occasion. It may pay to ask there as the guide was reasonably knowledgable about them.
As for a mining projects essay, are you interested in my pictures of the Mancha Motor I'm building from scratch?