ODDS `N’ SODS — Working on the railroad

During my 16 years in Timmins, Ont., I seemed to be involved with mine cars on a continual basis.

Redesigning the cars at the Paymaster gold mine presented the biggest challenge I faced while working in the plate and welding shop there in the early 1930s. We were required to adapt three sizes of mine cars so they could be used in operations at the No. 5 shaft.

The mine cars used at the original West Dome mine (which later became the No.

5 shaft) had a capacity of 1.5 tons but were not equipped with anti-friction wheel bearings. Machining new axles and boring out the wheels required nearly 10 months of work.

In 1936, a decision was made to replace the haulage trucks with a narrow-gauge railroad which ran from the No. 5 shaft to the mill. We were assigned the task of building a 25-Ton mine car, a mammoth undertaking for our small shop. Soon enough, however, the little Paymaster railroad was hauling 1,000 tons per day — a pace it kept up for the next 36 years.

Karl Eyre, owner of New Ontario Machine Works, was impressed with the large mine car we built and offered me a job as “blue collar foreman.” I transferred to his new and well-equipped plate and welding shop to fabricate mine cars and Eyreline diamond drills.

In 1949, I joined Aunor Gold Mines as mechanical superintendent and again found myself involved with mine car problems.

Serpentine was present in the haulageways of the Aunor and, in several areas, steel arches were secured in place with concrete. However, the addition of the reinforced concrete required that all future mine cars be the same width as development cars. It was clear that 3- or 4-Ton cars must be used if the mill was to handle 1,000 tons per day, and we investigated the potential of all mine car designs.

The Aunor-Alpine car soon evolved, and for this I was granted a Canadian patent. A longer car with a 3-Ton capacity was used on the upper levels, whereas, on the lower level, a 3-Ton car with dimensions similar to a Granby-Type mine car was used. Both designs were used until the mine closed in 1975.

Over the years, the Aunor-Alpine mine car became popular in subway excavation. I am still involved with each order of that car and am currently restoring one of the original Aunor cars.

— The author, a frequent contributor to this column, resides in Boyertown, Pa.