I'm not sure why it happened or what specifically caused it but I entered the stout mines, delivered the guild invitation, and spoke with the king who told me to find the ore, yadda yadda... but instead of embarking on the journey right then, I left and went to the boogre caves on a whim. When I finally returned to the stout mines the trolley lever was no where to be found. It was not in the room with the tombstones next to the cart. It had vanished! This was pre-patch and I was left with nothing else to do but reset the game data and install the patch... Has anyone else encountered this problem? Did I do something wrong?

Cheers,
--phantomwid

Room with tombstones next to the cart?? - is this the right room? We are talking several levels down on the west track, the room gives you a voiceover, there is an entrance from the west, and an exit to the north that curls east and south to the tiny lift platform to the track switch - this room??

I'll bet if you go back and talk to the Stout King again the trolley lever will reappear. I did the same thing with the Toadem, walked out after talking to Shinwiki, did some other things and came back. No trapdoor. But, I got Shinwiki talking about 'evil' and he re-opened the door after giving me the whole quest spiel again.