Pratt Coal Mines

This image shows "First Shaft Opened at Pratt Mines" and is taken from Armes, p. 275.  Based on the locomotive shown, this image would be from about 1880 -- the locomotive certainly dates from earlier than that, and likely would have been "used" and purchased by the new Pratt railroad.

According to Armes, Slope No. 1 was opened first, then Slope No. 2, and then Shaft No. 1.

Compare this image with the following, taken from Birmingham Southern Railroad Company, The First Century by Ron Mele, p. 5.  The date is not known, but the rail cars indicate that it could be about 1900.  Mele does not clarify the location as being one of the slopes or shafts.  It is believed to be slope No. 1, since the surface plant there is similar.

There are maps available at the Birmingham Public Library (BPL) that show much more detail about the layout of the Pratt mines at different times.  These are of interest for detail, and they give a model railroader something to think about in terms of operations.

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