Pictured here in 1973 is a Wabco Haulpak 85-C haul truck at work in Temagami, Northern Ontario.
The Sherman Iron Ore Mine was in full swing, having opened in 1968 to produce iron ore pellets primarily destined for use at the Dofasco Steel Plant in Hamilton, Ontario.
A fleet of five 85C’s plus an additional 10 Wabco 65-ton haul units were required to annually produce the 1 million tonnes of pelletized iron ore. Given that the crude ore at this quarry contained 25 per cent iron, some 5 million tonnes of waste rock had to be hauled as well.
This Wabco 85-C seen here is dumping crude ore into a gyratory crusher that reduced the ore to minus 300 mm to feed into the processing and concentrator plant. Daily rail shipments of the iron ore pellets consisted of 30 rail cars each carrying 82 tonnes bound for Hamilton.Â
By the time it closed in 1990 the Sherman Mine had produced more than 20 million tonnes of concentrated iron ore.
In the mid-1950s, Wabco (Westinghouse Air Brake Company) had purchased the R.G. LeTourneau construction equipment lines and soon after were producing large rear dump quarry trucks. To handle the 81 tonne load, required either a Cummins or Detroit Diesel powerplant in the 560 kW range. Some smaller Wabco haul units were built in the former J.D. Adams plant in Paris, Ontario until it closed in the 1970s.
Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 situation HCEA Canada’s annual ‘Last Blast’ event, scheduled for Oct. 17, at the Simcoe County Museum has been cancelled. We look forward to seeing you at our future events.
HCEA Canada is a proud Community Partner of the Simcoe County Museum.
