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THE GRAND CENTRAL GOLD MINING CO. - Gilpin County, Colorado.

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Posted: Sat Jan 30th, 2016 04:24 pm

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Si.
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Howdy fellow prospectors :cb:

I hope your ore-cars are full & the nuggets HUGE.

" THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THERE HILLS !! " :old dude:

- - - - - - -

I've been digging around a while now, looking at ideas for a mine model.
Even with quite a large collection of photos & drawings, nothing quite jumped out & said ... EUREKA !

Then I was reminded of The Grand Central !

I was checking out Keiths exellent thread 'Modelling The Gilpin Tram' in the Freerails narrow-gauge forum...
...where I saw this photo of The Grand Central mine on Gunnell Hill.

BINGO !

I remember seeing adverts for the 'Trout Creek Engineering' kit, years ago in the Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette.
I know I've seen various models built over the years of this mine also.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT !

It's not hard to see why this lil' ol' mine has been loved by countless railroaders over the years.

Compact yet realistic size.
The 'classic' kinda small mine shape.
Nice wooden sides, for all yer board by board fans.
Funky looking sign !
The nice little outbuilding adds a certain 'something' as well.

Does the world need yet another model of The Grand Central mine ?

YOU BET IT DOES PARDNER !

All together ... A bit of a 'gold mine' !

- - - - - - -

I see that various kits of The Grand Central are still available in HO and 1/4" scale.
I am interested in making a mine in 1:35 scale.

I've looked around the W.W.W quite a bit, but can't find any drawings & plans for the structure.
I have found that Walthers say the 'Classic Miniatures' kit has a 26ft x 39ft base.

I could probably scale & draw a reasonable version of the building from that info & the photo.
I'm wondering though, if anyone has a drawing or instructions from a kit build, that they could scan & eMail me, and/or post here ?
I would be eternaly grateful !

Also, if anyone has any photos of their own builds of The Grand Central in any scale, I would love to see them posted here as well !

I'm sure that the miner 49ers of Freerails can show me the way to 'the pay dirt' !

All the best.

Cheers.

:moose:

Si.

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Posted: Sat Jan 30th, 2016 09:45 pm

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W C Greene
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Yep, that is a cool little structure and that's why it has been "kitted" in HO & O scales. There should be someone around who has one of the kits and might want to help out with plans/drawings of the Grand Central. Si, it might be scaled from the size of the guy in the doorway and the folks up against it. Keep looking, something will turn up. I considered this one for my layout, maybe I will again....

Woodie

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Posted: Sun Jan 31st, 2016 01:04 am

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NevadaBlue
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I saved the picture, thanks! Making a printable kit wouldn't be too difficult. Let me look for some round tuits...

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Ken

Posted: Tue Feb 2nd, 2016 01:06 pm

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Si.
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After a nose on the net...
...I came up with this photo of a partly-built 'Trout Creek Engineering' kit for sale.

Quite helpful to see the internal framing & mine-shaft etc.

Some useful measurements can be made from the photo.

:bg:

Si.

Posted: Tue Feb 2nd, 2016 11:42 pm

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NevadaBlue
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Nice find, thanks. I didn't know the shaft was inside the building. Lots of people call a building a 'mine' but in this case it is true.

There are several model kits on ebay now and one of them has the overall length and width of the building listed as 26 x 39 feet.

Last edited on Tue Feb 2nd, 2016 11:43 pm by NevadaBlue

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Ken

Posted: Wed Feb 3rd, 2016 04:22 am

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oztrainz
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Hi Si and all,
for a mine that small and with limited "headroom" at floor level, your winding speeds would want to be pretty slow. Any over-run on the way up is going to put the cage through the poppet wheel at the top of the headframe very quickly :w:

Now where's that "Ouch!" emoticon? :bg:

I can understand why the headframe is inside the building. Wouldn't be much fun going the the top of the headframe to grease the bearings mid-winter in the Rockies if it was outside a building like just about all of the Aussie mine headframes are.

This Aussie headframe was on top of a lot bigger mine that went a lot deeper (1400' before the rope ran out) and the cage travelled a whole lot faster...

All the same I wouldn't want to be lugging a drum of grease up all those stairs too often.

Last edited on Wed Feb 3rd, 2016 04:27 am by oztrainz

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Posted: Wed Feb 3rd, 2016 06:24 pm

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Salada
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Correct John. Some (most ?) older Western U.S. mines have the shortest winding distance between shaft collar & head-sheave that I've ever seen - & no anti-overwind protection in any of the otherwise still fairly intact mines that I've found in the deserted 'outback'.

Regards, Michael

Posted: Wed Feb 3rd, 2016 06:50 pm

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Salada
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Another Salada Thread Hijack !!

Si: these photos show the shaft headgear & winding sheave wheel that is normally 'hidden' under the roof cupola of U.S. style small mines.

Firstly the view from outside :

And views of the inside :

(not an overwind release anywhere !!).

And what must be the shortest wind between collar & headsheave almost anywhere.

Amazingly this was wound directly off an electric winder - the Banksman (winder operator) could have only had a couple of seconds or less to disengage the winder clutch ! :

All photos by Salada.

Regards, Michael

Posted: Wed Feb 3rd, 2016 09:13 pm

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NevadaBlue
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Thanks for those pictures. I've always liked inclined shaft mines, very interesting critters. Kind of like a tilted railroad.
Is the first one, in the building, an inclined shaft too? I have several pieces of gear from an inclined shaft mine.
Out of curiosity, where are those mines located? The view from the last one looks familiar, but much of the west looks that way.

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Ken

Posted: Fri Feb 5th, 2016 12:50 am

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Si.
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Hi Michael.

Great photos !

That mine has def. got the Grand Central 'classic' type look about it !
Interesting to see a cut-away view sans cupola.

Here's another photo of the part-made Trout Creek Engineering kit.
Roof trusses.

Regarding the current Classic Miniatures kit as being 39' x 26'

There is in fact a small outbuilding at the back of the mine, which we haven't seen yet.
Since it is positioned right near the boiler firebox door...
...my guess is it was an addition to the main building for coal storage.

If say it was about 8' deep, this would make the main mine building say 18' deep.
I have a couple of references for this & can probably make a more accurate measurement.

The main roof is clearly at a 45deg. angle.

It is also possible that the lean-to on the right didn't go full depth, as depicted in the kit...
...but in fact only went about 1/2 depth.
I think this add-on was a small office.

It's also possible that the overall width of the mine was in fact 36' not 39'...
...more on that later.

Si.

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