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At the Leighman 179 slope Chris and I already salvaged 2 mine car frames. We got one one night after other missions, and i went back and got the other after school one day. However, there was a third..... I went to check it out and realized that we wernt going to be able to lift it. It was very intact, including axels and it's a bigger size than the first 2. I stopped one day when they were working on the new freeway ramp and asked if there was any way to get it out also, since it was on the turnpike land. Jim, the superviser, told me it was "no problem at all, were gunna have to clea that up anyway." So a few days later he calls me back and i went to get the car. When i gotthere they put a chain around it and lifted it with a gradeall into the bed of my truck.. it JUST fit! It was the full length and width of the truckbed with the tailgate down.
So anyway, my dad needed the truck that night and the mine car had to be out of it. so i met chris after work and we had to devise a removal plan. We stopped at his house to pick up 4 mine car wheels that he had sitting around, and taking it back to his dad's house, we jacked it up, one end at a time, put the 100 pound wheels on it and layed rail underneath it (in the truck bed). Now I had a mine car sitting on mine rail in my truck! We drove it to where we wantedit in the yard, and got long pieces of rail. We layed those off the tailgate at an angle, like a ramp. Now here's the tricky part...... the car itself probably weighed 4 - 500lbs ... with 4 wheels weighing 100 lbs each on it, it jumps to a good 800lb mine car. We now have to take that mine car, and carefully roll it down a ramp of mine rail from the truckbed to the ground. This is where the old fashioned technique of......you guessed it! - spragging comes into handy. I have three shovels and a rake in the truck, and the handels made nice sprage in each wheel. We managed to get the first 2 wheels on the ramp without much of a problem, and all 4 wheels spragged. However, when we wanted to remove a couple sprags to let it roll a little farther, they were stuck. In trying to remove them, the front right mine car wheel fell off the car and the axel banged down on the rail........ luckily the whole thing didn't go crashing down. now what? The car was sliding little by little and getting to hard to hold. there was no way that wheel was going back on. I took the rest of what i could of the sprags out, only sucessfull removing 2, and chris finally said, "ok..... welll.... we're gunna have to just give it a good shove and catch the back wheels on the ramp rails and hope for the best......."
"ok i guess....here goes nothin' "
1
2..
3.... Push!!
And with a little luck, the mine car managed to stay on the rails with the other three wheels staying on, and it went sailing down the ramp before smashing into the ground and sending a sprag into splinters! It was sooo cool.... I thought it was going to be death for the tailgate of my truck if the car lef the rails and smashed down on it, but it worked!
Even though this new method has been tested, and the results were good, i would not recomend this method of removal. it sure was funny though!! The shovel sprag sure met it's demise quick! Had to replace that already..... Maybe next time we'll just put it on wheels and track with the track leading straight off the back of the truck and drive backwards really fast then hit the breaks quick and let it fly!
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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!
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