Baby Gauge Industrial Railroads.

[Fred M. Cain]

It is a fact largely overlooked by many railfans and nearly unknown to the public at large that there are many narrow gauge mining and industrial railways still operating in the United States and Canada.

Many underground mines in North America have abandoned the use of rail underground in favor of large, rubber tired vehicles many of which use internal combustion engines for a source of power.
To date, no one in the mining business has been able to provide me with an adequate explanation as to why this is so.  True, the rubber tired trucks are far more flexible than rail but balanced against that is the fact that the underground tunnels have to be much larger to accommodate them.  That together with ventilations issues should, in my mind’s eye, come to quite an added expense.

Perhaps because of those disadvantages or for other reasons, there are still numerous underground mines in North America that have made the decision to stick with rail.  One that I am particularly aware of is the Original Sixteen To One Mine in the tiny community of Allegheny in California’s northern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The following URL is a link to a video that shows both the mine and a little bit of the rail operation.  The “Ragtime” guitar in the background also provides a nice touch.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DZDQysk2XA