Elk River Colliery Engine - Fort Steele, BC
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 37.099 W 115° 37.846
11U E 598901 N 5497095
One of several pieces of machinery on display near the locomotive shed at Fort Steele, this is a little ex coal mine engine, apparently one of at least five locomotives at the heritage village.
Waymark Code: WMVM5R
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 05/02/2017
Views: 2
Dating from 1910, this little 0-4-0 engine was used by the Elk River Colliery to haul coal out of the mine. As a result it has a very low profile and especially no smokestack. There's no smokestack because there was on fire. The engine was run using a remote source of compressed air. The engine would be connected to a central air compressor via air lines run into the mine, its tank charged with air, run until the pressure dropped below a usable level, then refilled. Built by H.K Porter, the engine uses a compound engine, with air exhausted from the high-pressure cylinder being fed into a larger diameter low-pressure cylinder, doing double duty before being exhausted into the atmosphere.
There is a possibility, however slight, that this could be a steam locomotive. Given the large numbers (600 on the inner scale, 1500 on the outer) on the pressure gauge, its similarity to other Porter compressed air locomotives and the fact that there is a heat exchanger on it, we tend to lean toward air.
The Elk River Colliery came into operation in November, 1943 as a result of the need for coal during World War II. It remained in operation only until January 30, 1958, when the need for coal had been sufficiently supplanted by oil to make the colliery no longer profitable.
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