Minecart
type of rail vehicle used with mine railways
A minecart, mine cart, or mine car (or more rarely mine trolley or mine hutch), is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for transporting ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are seldom used in modern operations, having largely been superseded in underground operations (especially coal mines) by more efficient belt conveyor systems that allow machines such as longwall shearers and continuous miners to operate at their full capacity, and above ground by large dumpers.
Terminology
Throughout the world, there are different titles for mine carts. In South Africa, a minecart is referred to as a cocopan; or koekepan. In German, it is called Hunt (alternative spelling Hund). In Wales, minecarts are known as drams. In the U.S. and elsewhere, the term skip – or skip wagon (older spelling: waggon) – is used. (See: Skip (container) § Etymology)
In particular, a V skip wagon is a side-tipping skid with a V-shaped body (Images)
Shape and operation
Minecarts range in size and usage, and are usually made of steel for hauling ore. Shaped like large, rectangular buckets, minecarts ride on metal tracks and were originally pushed or pulled by men and animals (supplemented later by rope-haulage systems). They were generally introduced in early modern time, replacing containers carried by men.
“Minecart” enters the record as type of rail vehicle used with mine railways. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Minecart, type and rail can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1570882. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Minecart” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.