A-car

A-Car

(Mine Car)

Copper Queen A-car

An "A-Car" is one-ton end dump car used to haul broken rock and ore. In its early years, this style of car was the workhorse of the mining industry. In the beginning, individual cars were pushed by miners. This method of haulage is called hand tramming. Replacing this was animal haulage consisting of mules pulling trains made up of four to five "A-cars". Motorized haulage quickly followed mules combined with the use of skips for hoisting rock instead of cars being hoisted in a cage. This caused the "A-car" design to be slowly phased out and was replaced with the rocker dump and gable bottom cars. In Bisbee, when miners refer to a “mine car”, it is this type of car they indicate. All other cars are called by their letter designation as the, "H- car". Several versions of the end dump cars exist in Bisbee. The larger companies like the Copper Queen and Calumet & Arizona built their own mine cars. The only purchased items for the cars were the wheels, axle assembles and bearings. The Higgins Development Company used Truax brand cars and a few other types of unknown manufacturers have been found in some of the smaller mines.

A 1912 blueprint of a Calumet & Arizona mine car

Even through, it is referred to as, an end dump car it can be swiveled and dumped sideways. When dumping a car, it is best to chain the car to the track to prevent it from derailing or rolling. Bumper boards/rail can also be used to prevent this action. In the later years of mining they were replaced by rocker dump style cars. After this, A-cars were regulated to haul wedges, sand, turned into mobile tool boxes and one was used in the nasty job of mucking out the Cole Shaft sump . Underground there was a large surplus of these cars and a natural cave in the Cole mine was gobbed with them. Also, a few stopes in the Southwest and Shattuck mines had a few cars backfilled in them, normally just one or two. Today a bridge still exists in South Bisbee that was made from A- car tubs.
Dating the cars can be difficult. As a general rule, the ones with chains in the corners date after 1907, when animal and motorized haulage was beginning to be used. The chain was used to connect multiple cars together by running the keyhole-shaped links through one another. Cars without chains or other means of connecting them together, date before 1907 or were used by the smaller
companies as these were hand trammed cars. The company which used individual cars can be identified by the track gauge. The Copper Queen used 20” gauge and Calumet & Arizona used 18”. After a merger, the mines all went to 18” gauge.

Copper Queen A- Car Specifications

Capacity	12 cubic ft
Weight empty	820 lbs
Overall length	3’-7”
Inside length	3'-4"
Outside width	2'-3/4"
Height	3'-8 1/8"
Over hang	0' -2 3/8"
Coupler type	Chain
Oil used	Black
Bearing	Hyatt roller

Track gauge 20”

Calumet & Arizona A-car Specifications

	Type 1	Type 2
Capacity	16 cubic ft	16 cubic ft
Weight empty	1080lbs	960lbs
Overall length	3'-10"	3'-10"
Inside length	3'-6"	3'-6"
Outside width	2'-5"	2'-5"
Height	3'-7 7/8"	3'-7 7/8"
Over hang	5 1/2"	5 1/2"
Coupler type	Chain	Chain
Bearing	Hyatt roller	Brass