A Mine Train roller coaster is a steel

Steel roller coaster

A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world...

 roller coaster

Roller coaster

The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...

 whose trains depict a set of mine carts, sometimes pulled by the reproduction of a steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 which is often designed in a cartoon style. Most Mine Train roller coasters are themed

Theming

Theming refers to "the use of an overarching theme...to create a holistic and integrated spatial organization of a consumer venue." Often themes are derived from history, different cultures and fantasy....

 in the style of a mine

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

, a Western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 scene or simply a mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

.

Typical track elements are heavily banked turns and helices whereas heavy drops are normally avoided, hence most Mine Trains feature more than one lift hill.

The first Mine Train roller coaster of its kind was Mine Train (Run-A-Way Mine Train until 1995) at Six Flags Over Texas

Six Flags Over Texas

Six Flags Over Texas is a major amusement park located in Arlington, Texas , east of Fort Worth and about west of Dallas. It is the oldest park of the Six Flags chain. The park opened on August 5, 1961 following just a year of construction and an initial investment of US$10 million by real estate...

. Built by Arrow Dynamics

Arrow Dynamics

Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster and amusement ride design company based in Clearfield, Utah, United States. In 2002, the company went bankrupt but was quickly bought by fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power to form S&S Arrow. During its peak, Arrow Dynamics was responsible for some of...

 in 1966, Mine Train is the oldest roller coaster in the park. With Matterhorn Bobsleds

Matterhorn Bobsleds

The Matterhorn Bobsleds or the Matterhorn is an attraction composed of two intertwining steel roller coasters, which opened in 1959 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is modeled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps...

 (built in 1959 also by Arrow), it is one of the first roller coasters with tubular steel tracks.

Other notable Mine Trains are the Colorado Adventure in Phantasialand

Phantasialand

Phantasialand is an amusement park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. The park was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented park, Phantasialand has also added thrill rides,...

, the Big Thunder Mountains

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is an indoor/outdoor mine train roller coaster located in Frontierland at several Disneyland-style Disney Parks worldwide...

 in various Disneyland parks, Thunder Run in Canada's Wonderland, and Thunderation

Thunderation

Thunderation is an outdoor steel roller coaster at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. The third and fifth cars of the roller coaster used to point backwards...

 in Silver Dollar City

Silver Dollar City

Silver Dollar City is a theme park in the state of Missouri. Opened on May 1, 1960, the park is located between Branson and Branson West, Missouri, on Highway 76...

 near Branson, Missouri

Branson, Missouri

Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....

.