Colliery feature: ideas and information, please?

[steveprice]

Hi everyone,

I am planning a colliery feature (generic/fictional). I've searched here and on the web and have found pictures and books from the library, but what I am lacking is an actual typical plan, of sorts, showing the buildings, their relationship to each other, their purpose, etc.  If I had one I could work everything else out but surprisingly, after hours searching, I cant find one, and basically I'm guessing. (Pictures are of course are two dimensional and from one perspective and videos tend to focus on what the author wants you to see). My understanding is very simple: I know it brings coal from underground, sorts it and transports it. I'm off to the mining museum tomorrow but I'm not very hopeful. Just wondered if anyone had come across anything that might help. Scratch building will be the order of the day. Many Thanks.

[jpendle]

Hi,

 

You might want to post this elsewhere, this is the DCC section.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[doilum]

Not sure where you are going, but be prepared for a big school day. Take pen and paper to take notes otherwise you will end up with dozens of photos which will leave you more confused than before.

If you are lucky you may be able to buy a guide book that explains each building and structure. Once you have this knowledge it is fairly easy to identify such features on an old large scale OS map or from photographs.

Look out for:

Winding gear. Upcast and Downcast shafts. Fan house. Boiler house. Screens. Washery (not all collieries had them). Workshops.

There was a Ladybird book "The Coal Miner"........

[mike morley]

You might find these help.  On special offer, too!

https://www.booklaw.co.uk/booklaw-publications/modelling-aspects-of-the-coal-industry.html

https://www.booklaw.co.uk/booklaw-publications/modelling-furthur-aspects-of-the-coal-industrty-vol-2.html

[eastglosmog]

Ian Pope and Paul Karau's books on the Forest of Dean branch  contain detailed descriptions of several collieries.  Vol 2 in particular contains a plan of Northern United with most of the buildings identified.

[bigherb]

Depends on what type of mine you are aiming for, not all mines where large with winding gear, many where drift mines just tunnelled into to the side of a hill with minimal buildings.

[doilum]

How did the visit go?

[Nick Holliday]

I've had a look at the Aspects of Coal Industry books, and, whilst informative and useful, they do concentrate more on the larger, more modern collieries.  For modelling purposes it might be better to have a look at some of the older, smaller collieries, which can be modelled in a sensible space.  I would suggest trying to track down some more of the Lightmoor Press works, in addition to the Paul Karau books mentioned earlier.  Coal fields such as the Forest of Dean, Somerset and Kingswood, Bristol had a number of modelgenic collieries, and the LP book "From the Mendips to the Sea" features a number of Somerset collieries, and emphasises how they were integrated within the local rustic community, and also reminds you that many collieries were multi-level at surface level, with various embankments and gantries etc. Their books on PO wagons from the Forest of Dean and Somerset also feature the many collieries involved.

These small establishments were not confined to those smaller coal fields - almost every coal mine would have started off on a similar scale, it's just that many grew over time to overwhelm their neighbourhood, and it is these that tend to feature in the photographic coverage. The smaller ones seem to have been eclipsed by the behemoths, but many soldiered on into the sixties, and are are eminently more modellable as complete entities than the giants.

There are a number of excellent websites that cover coal mines, such as this one https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines/ or http://www.archive-images.co.uk/gallery/Archive-Images-of-Industry/ which may give you further inspiration.

[doilum]

12 minutes ago, Nick Holliday said:

I've had a look at the Aspects of Coal Industry books, and, whilst informative and useful, they do concentrate more on the larger, more modern collieries.  For modelling purposes it might be better to have a look at some of the older, smaller collieries, which can be modelled in a sensible space.  I would suggest trying to track down some more of the Lightmoor Press works, in addition to the Paul Karau books mentioned earlier.  Coal fields such as the Forest of Dean, Somerset and Kingswood, Bristol had a number of modelgenic collieries, and the LP book "From the Mendips to the Sea" features a number of Somerset collieries, and emphasises how they were integrated within the local rustic community, and also reminds you that many collieries were multi-level at surface level, with various embankments and gantries etc. Their books on PO wagons from the Forest of Dean and Somerset also feature the many collieries involved.

These small establishments were not confined to those smaller coal fields - almost every coal mine would have started off on a similar scale, it's just that many grew over time to overwhelm their neighbourhood, and it is these that tend to feature in the photographic coverage. The smaller ones seem to have been eclipsed by the behemoths, but many soldiered on into the sixties, and are are eminently more modellable as complete entities than the giants.

There are a number of excellent websites that cover coal mines, such as this one https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines/ or http://www.archive-images.co.uk/gallery/Archive-Images-of-Industry/ which may give you further inspiration.

Agree entirely . Perhaps best to look for a colliery that was at the end of a branch line or internal railway system.  Yorkshire possibilities might include Clayton West (had BR terminus) Waterloo ( paddy train into Leeds) Primrose Hill and if you fancy something pre grouping, Dom Pedro. I have always fancied this last one as my dad would have remembered it as a boy. Reduced to being just a ventilation and man riding shaft in the 1930s, it actually had a couple of wagons of coal brought up from Whitwood to fire the boilers. The only product brought to the surface was manure from the underground stables at the pit bottom. This was loaded into wagons and tipped at the lineside at the farmers request.

[dasatcopthorne]

Harton Gill from our Club

Carshalton & Sutton MRC.

 

More photos at www.csmrc.co.uk

 

Dave.

[DCB]

The National Library of Scotland has a website of OS maps for the whole of the UK Mainland and maybe beyond which is very useful for building and track positions especially the 21" to the foot.

All mines are not the same.   The Forest of Dean was at the eastern end of the South Wales Coalfield and produced house coal which it sent over much of the GWR (pre WW2) in Colliery or merchant PO wagons.   Further West was the Locomotive  Coal as used by the GWR probably shipped in "LOCO" coal wagons and further west again the valleys produced Steam coal, very very slow burning coal ideal for ocean going steam ships which was tripped to the ports. ( and the north of Scotland in WW1).

Post WW2 everything went in uniform grey grimy wagons. Pre WW2 the FOD had a great variety of wagons and a very limited variety of locos, mainly 2021 class panniers and Saddle Tanks, 57XX were much too heavy pre 1951.

I modelled a colliery but it was just a painted head gear on the backscene and I concentrated on the exchange sidings

[eastglosmog]

I have annotated the OS 1907 map of Clifton (Wet Earth) colliery from the NLS with the uses of the various buildings as set out in Banks & Schofield "Brindley at Wet Earth Colliery".

 

Wet Earth was an old colliery (c1749 - 1928) that was modernized several times over the years and facilities got added, the screens for sizing the coal (and removing fine dust) were not installed until after 1880.  I believe the washing plant was later still.

For those not into mining jargon, the upcast shaft is the one up which the air was drawn (note fan engine by it) out of the mine and the downcast the one down which the air flowed into the mine.  It was also the one up which coal was usually drawn and down which supplies such as pit props were usually sent.

If folks find this useful. I can annotate a few others I have in my files.

Edited September 16, 2022 by eastglosmog
Restore plan

[CKPR]

If you're interested in the more basic end of coal mining, then have a look at the Brampton Railway  that connected with the NER on the Newcastle-Carlisle and the Alston branch. The raison d'etre for the line was to serve the coal mines, most of them drift mines, of Lord Carlisle and it continued to do so until the 1950s. Have a look at 'Hallbankgate' on the industrial railways forum and there are two main books on the line and the collieries it serviced, 'The Brampton Railway' by J.N. Charters (Oakwood Press 1971) and 'Lord Carlisle's Railways by B.Webb & D. Gordon (RCTS 1978).