aware of that offer an adit (mine entrance). They are the BTS Mill
Creek Coal and Coke, and the AMB Martinsburg No. 2 tipple. The
adit in the BTS kit is more obvious, with the portal in plain sight,
than the AMB kit, which is a small shaft mine. Both of these
structure kits have auxiliary buildings. The only tipple structure
that has a power house is the BTS Cabin Creek mine. Extra struc-
tures need to be added to make the scene complete.
You can include support structures if you model the Miller
tipple, because Ron included drawings for them in his articles.
Since this is a mule mine, animal powered, there is no need
for a power house; all electricity is supplied by the local power
company. However, you will need a mule barn. There are two
scale houses for trucks and mine cars, and a blacksmith and
mine car repair building. Up the hill is a fan house for ventila-
tion of the mine, and over to the side is a powder house and a
company store. The company store and powder house will be
covered in a future column.
Building the mine
I began construction of the tipple by making throwaway molds.
By throwaway, I really mean a one-time-use mold. There are
three large molds and two small molds that will be cut into
pieces. The largest mold is for the retaining wall at the rear of
the tipple. This wall is 2’ thick by 47’ long and 12’ high. The front
concrete wall is 2’ thick by 17’ long and 4’ high. Four 2’ square
4
4. G.W. Miller tipple at Jollar, PA taken from the company
store side of the tipple. This photograph may have been
taken on a fan trip ran up the branch to the mine in 1940.
Miller family photograph. Carolyn Lundball collection.
5
5. Large retaining wall and the coal dump end of the
building that was constructed before photos arrived
showing a different wall configuration.
Lite and Narrow Column - 5
MRH-Jun 2014
