1:24/Gn15 Motorized Working INCLINE KIT for Mine/Mill

Prototype Information:

We have based this kit on plans and site surveys from several abandoned coal and shale mining inclines located in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales. Inclines were constructed to lift ore, minerals or coal from a mine adit in the floor of a valley, up a steep ridge or cliff line to a loading facility at the top of the valley. Inclines could be single or double track with steam or electric winding engines and associated winches placed at the top. Many double track inclines operated a continuous steel wire rope with loaded skips wound up and empty skips returning down to act as a counter-balance. The ‘return’ sheave was positioned at the lower terminus. Some endless rope inclines featured steep gradients as well as banked curves and even tunnels through ridge tops. They all featured vertical and horizontal rollers placed between the rails to carry the steel wire rope over the sleepers.

On the edge of a cliff near the popular Blue Mountains tourist town of Katoomba, there is an historic coal mine incline which still operates today. Considerably modernized, it is known today as the ‘Scenic Railway’ or ‘Mountain Devil’ and it takes 2 minutes to lift seated tourists 600 feet out of the Jameson Valley and with a maximum gradient of 52 degrees, it’s the world’s steepest funicular railway!

Designed to compliment our new Gn15 Mine Skip Kit, our working Incline kit has all the parts you need to make a fully operational incline: straight or curved, single or double track, the choice is yours! This kit also compliments our Winding House machinery kit.

We include a high torque 12 volt DC reversible gear-head motor with main and return rope sheaves, cable guide pins and a selections of rollers, pillow block bearings which can be used in either the vertical and horizontal positions. You can use standard HO track but for maximum realism on our trial incline, (photographed) we used genuine Peco O-16.5 flexi-track.

Design Options:

Four assembly options range from the most simple to the most complex. Note: Our test rig in the photos featured sweeping compound curves with 10 degree bankings and a 30 degree incline!    

1. Single track straight incline
2. Twin track straight incline
3. Single track curved incline
4. Twin track curved incline