Murrysville man builds period-appropriate Export mine cart replica using actual wheels

About three decades ago, Greensburg attorney Wes Long discovered a set of mine cart wheels on his property along Kemerer Hollow Road, near the former Skelly mine.

Long had the wheels sandblasted and cleaned up, and held onto them as a piece of local history.

Now, those wheels are part of a period-appropriate cart replica, created by Scott Rubright of Murrysville and bound for display in Export.

Rubright got the idea for the cart when members of the Export Historical Society and borough council were discussing plans to build a replica of the town’s former train station.

“I knew Wes had the axles, and everyone thought it was a terrific idea,” Rubright said.

Historical society member and borough Councilwoman Melanie Litz sent Rubright and his son, Matt, information and photos from an Export history book, and borough fire Chief Stephen Opsitnick showed them a few spare cart parts that were pulled from the mine entrance discovered in the hillside behind District Court 10-3-02.

“They were all crumpled up, but you could kind of see what was what and where it should go,” Rubright said.

Rubright was able to scale up the cart photos using the real-world measurements for the wheels, and over the course of five months built the replica, which features extremely durable hemlock boards.

“They made carts to hold one ton and two tons (of coal),” he said. “This one is a two-ton cart.”

Below, Rubright shows the various parts of the cart.

And while the cart has all of the necessary pieces to be functional, one of the final things Rubright did was make sure none of the moving parts actually move, for safety reasons.

“I could just see kids hopping in here and messing with all this stuff,” he said.

The final piece came from Rubright’s neighbor, who discovered a short set of rails when he was digging footers in his yard.

“The former resident had a cistern set on those rails; I forgot they were even back there,” Matt Rubright said. The replica cart is now affixed to the small section of track.

“Whenever they tell me they’re ready for it, we’ll bring it on down,” Rubright said.