Lea Bailey - the Whistling Pig

Down in the forest something stirred... A Motor-Rail (driven, despite appearances to the contrary, by a grumpy-looking teddy bear), then the Whistling Pig (an EIMCO compressed air-powered mines loco) and finally a Lister, ex Painters of Hereford. Great fun!

[@eb2588]

Absolute classics! I wish more mining locos would be in such good places like this!

[@jappedut9009]

I love the whistling pig and the idea that it is an inflatable locomotive 😂

[@AnnRKeei]

What a cool video! I really enjoyed watching you fellas keep this segment of mining history alive and keeping these carts running for your and future enthusiasts fun. Keep the passion. Very neat!

[@lawrence18uk]

I really wonder whether it would be possible to convert some of the smaller 'trad' steam engines into compressed air engines - given the lack of coal facing the Heritage Rail industry...

[@ebtv445]

Wouldn't it be genius to fill up an air tank with an electric air compressor connected to a battery, so the compressed air locomotive can “charge” its tank on the go?

[@Shipwright1918]

Compressed air, eh? Wonder how much of a compressor it would take to charge it up, and how long it'd run on one filling? I ask because I don't have the machinery required to build a steam engine, but I would like a ride-on railway for the back garden, and compressed air would be a good start as one of the few things I do have is an air compressor.

[@nicholaskelly7519]

Nick told me that the Compressor that was being used was rated at 23 cfm which charged the locomotive at 110 psi in about half an hour which in turn gave around 10 to 15 minutes of operation. Ideally he would like to have a Compressor rated at above 50 cfm which would charge the locomotive quite quickly. Of course in a working mine you would have an air supply which would be able to charge the locomotive in under 90 seconds or so! The EIMCO Type 401 locomotive was designed mainly for use in mine development work and indeed for tunnelling projects were the required compressed air capacity was available. This type of low pressure air locomotive was developed around Cripple Creek in Colorado for use in the small metal mines in the area. The first recorded locomotive of this type was built by Shirley Johnson and was named 'WILDHORSE ' today it is preserved in the Cripple Creek Museum. This development led to Ed Fry developing The UNIVERSAL TRAMAIRE which after WW II was built by The UNIVERSAL DREDGE MANAFACTURING CORPORATION in Denver several versions were supplied including the Tramaire Special, the Tram Master, the Cageaire and the Low Tram. EIMCO in Salt Lake City who were building the well known EIMCO Rocking Shovels entered the locomotive market with this locomotive the EIMCO Type 401 which was rather better than the Universal Tramaire Special as it has a two - speed mechanical transmission which gives greater range. This type of locomotive would have a range of around 1ooo yards/1 Km hauling a load of up to 20 tons there is a clutch so that you can coast on down grades to save air! They were nicknamed " Whistle Pigs " due to the noise of the exhaust! This type of Compressed Air locomotive was quite different to the ultra high pressure locomotives that were supplied to the European Deep Mined Coal Industry. From around 1910 up to the 1990's ultra high pressure locomotives charged up to pressures as high as 225 bar were built. The earier designs were multiple expansion machines with up to four expansions. That said a typical example built by BMAG in Germany would be charged to 200 bar (3000 psi ) with the air being reduced to 20 bar (300 psi) for the high pressure Cylinder exhausting via an ambient air reheater in to medium pressure Cylinder at 12 bar (180 psi) then via a second ambient air reheater into the low pressure Cylinder at 6 bar (90 psi) finally exhausting at around 2 bar (30 psi) to provide the power to opperate the exhaust air powered ambient temperature air reheating systems. As you can see this is highly complicated. This type of 3 expansion locomotive would on 2000 litres of air have a range of up to 10-12 Km hauling a load of around 100 tons! However the most recent types of Compressed Air Locomotives built by JUNG in Germany the Pz45 which was built from 1954 to 1987, The TSM BVD -40 built in Slovakia from 1964 to 1974 and the Polish built KONSTAL LPD -45 built from 1989 to 1992 were all Ultra high pressure single expansion designs. The locomotives were charged at 200 bar (3000 psi) with the air being reduced to 40 bar (600 psi ) being supplied to a four Cylinder non reversing single acting air motor via an ambient air reheater. The air motor then drove the wheels via a gearbox and chains. The weight of the locomotives being around 12 tons or so. They would have a range of around 8000 yards/8Km on a single charge which due to the very high capacity air supply would take under a minute! This type of locomotive is still in service in a number of Collieries in Eastern Europe. I hope that this will help explain how air locomotives work.

[@eb2588]

Today "The whistling pig" is in the British dean forest. As seen in this video.

[@charlesevans1872]

What kind of mine was it?

[@geoffspages]

Gold, in theory. In reality - ironstone. See www.lblr.org.uk/from-the-archives/the-lea-bailey-gold-mine/

[@ThunderboltSirenStudios]

Kinda souns like an old Volkswagen air cooled boxer flat 4.

[@jacobpugpoirier3350]

May the 200th liker have an amazing day! - 199th liker