Hugh Flynn Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Hi Photo of the last train out of Kellingley colliery. The place I started my career in 1975 going to work on my Garelli tiger cross? Hugh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 End of an era, thanks for posting Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted December 24, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 24, 2015 So the last train of UK deep mined coal. Do any of the remaining opencast mines have rail loading points? If not, the last train of UK coal and truly end of where it all started. Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 So the last train of UK deep mined coal. Do any of the remaining opencast mines have rail loading points? If not, the last train of UK coal and truly end of where it all started. Dava There are open-cast loading points in South Wales at Gwaun Cae Gurwen, Onllwyn and possibly also Cwmbargoed. In Northumberland, there is a loading point at Butterwell, and in Scotland, several sites in Ayrshire. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Flynn Posted December 25, 2015 Author Share Posted December 25, 2015 Hi Brother in law managed to sort some more photos as he worked at mine. Hugh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 4630 Posted December 25, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 25, 2015 . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Flynn Posted December 25, 2015 Author Share Posted December 25, 2015 Thanks for posting Hugh. I hope your BiL gets sorted for a job following the closure of Big K. Do you know if there is a sizeable amount of coal stock at the pit head and what the plans are for shifting it? Hi I was told that there are nothing left at colliery and that was the last coal train. The shafts are to be filled in before March. There could be spoil trains or scrap trains but who knows ,even if they will bother with lifting track? Hugh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Very sad times ahead,had some good afternoons watching stuff in and out of here at Suddy lane box... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted December 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 27, 2015 even if they will bother with lifting track? Hugh Knowing the area, the metal fairies will probably beat them to it. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Surely 66118 should be reserved for the NRM on its withdrawal. The end of deep coal mining at the "Big K" is a very significant event in the industrial (and indeed social) history of this country. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium richierich Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 A sad day, nice to see DB Schenker to assign a DBS Red 66 with headboard to the duty. Looks like a location possibly to be modelled considering I bet its not changed much since the Big K opened. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium richierich Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 So the last train of UK deep mined coal. Do any of the remaining opencast mines have rail loading points? If not, the last train of UK coal and truly end of where it all started. Dava There was some open cast coal being moved from the Weardale Branch by Colas using 66s. But think the traffic has now ended. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 I think as sad as it sounds a combination of economic factors and environmental sensitivities to coal use mean that coal mining in the UK is ending and also that combusting coal will soon be yesterdays fuel in the UK unless an economically viable means of carbon capture and storage is developed soon. This isn't just about UK mined coal, I think we will see an end to significant coal import flows too as most of the coal we use is used by power stations, a sector which has been moving away from coal for quite a few years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 And then the lights will go out. Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 And then the lights will go out. Brit15 Unfortunately a coherent energy policy needs long range stability and planning but our political system tends to promote policies which lurch from one election to the next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 There was some open cast coal being moved from the Weardale Branch by Colas using 66s. But think the traffic has now ended. I believe so, it was only ever going to be for a fairly short time. It's quite frightening just how short the lifetime of some of these things can be with the speed at which it can be extracted. I don't think that future open cast workings can be ruled out (new deep pits feels very unlikely), but coal doesn't seem to have much of a future beyond niches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 A sad day, nice to see DB Schenker to assign a DBS Red 66 with headboard to the duty. Looks like a location possibly to be modelled considering I bet its not changed much since the Big K opened. There must be a considerable amount of change as there was once an internal railway traffic there as there was a fleet of internal user tippler wagons there! Some of these ended their days at Manvers Main and were easily identified by the red livery and K prefixed numbers! see http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/manversmain/h25b10b31#h25b10b31for some photograps and http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/dvlr/h21950c95#h21950c95 for the one that is conserved! Mark Saunders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium richierich Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 Unfortunately a coherent energy policy needs long range stability and planning but our political system tends to promote policies which lurch from one election to the next. The foresight of the CEGB to build the the infrastructure that is now progressively been closed, just isn't there today. In big infrastructure planning, 5 years is a blink of an eye. To a politician its a life time! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 The CEGB was one (possibly THE one) nationalised industry which thought really long term. They were forward thinking and embraced ideas from outside the industry if applicable (eg MGR), unlike the NCB. Everything about it was quality.Tragic that it was broken-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Flynn Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hi Latest info is all the Machinery is to be left underground. As I worked there for 13 years a good few years back all heavy equipment would be slung under the cage and lowered steady then pulled out at bottom of the shaft or vise versa. Now scrap steel is £40 a ton (rock bottom) it will cost more to remove, Now there are loco,s under ground and man ridding cars they fit in cage so might come out? Could be sold to overseas?? Hugh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Hi I was told that there are nothing left at colliery and that was the last coal train. The shafts are to be filled in before March. There could be spoil trains or scrap trains but who knows ,even if they will bother with lifting track? Hugh Some of the track to the old Manton Colliery is still in place, viewable from Google earth. It is on private fenced land. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted December 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 30, 2015 I think as sad as it sounds a combination of economic factors and environmental sensitivities to coal use mean that coal mining in the UK is ending and also that combusting coal will soon be yesterdays fuel in the UK unless an economically viable means of carbon capture and storage is developed soon. This isn't just about UK mined coal, I think we will see an end to significant coal import flows too as most of the coal we use is used by power stations, a sector which has been moving away from coal for quite a few years. Our 'wise & farsighted government' cancelled carbon capture and storage in the last spending review, costing industrial investors millions. No one will invest in this technology in the UK now. So effectively coal is dead. Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vin Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I totally agree. Coal is king. The king is dead! P.S. They should have named 66118 'Kellingley Colliery' so our industrial heritage doesn't die. Vin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted December 31, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 31, 2015 Our 'wise & farsighted government' cancelled carbon capture and storage in the last spending review, costing industrial investors millions. No one will invest in this technology in the UK now. So effectively coal is dead. Dava I'm not a fan of the current government in many ways (nor several before this one either) but on this particular point I tend to think they made a sensible decision. The CCS funding has been around for years and it has never been allocated to a serious project. E.ON were committed to CCS as part of Kingsnorth 5 & 6 but walked away when it was seen to be politically toxic to be seen to be investing in new coal. Others have touted plans for CCS projects but when it has came to the point where they had to get serious they've had an attack of cold feet. Full size production CCS only really makes sense for a new build plant or a plant being re-engineered to reset its life. Coal just isn't attractive in the UK anymore for a number of reasons. If there was a real economic case for continuing coal then I think we'd see more serious interest in CCS. And despite the claims of some promoting particular CCS technologies there are still huge technical issues to resolve before scaling it up to full size plants and actually knocking out most of the CO2 (for example the land foot print, parasitic load and safety), this is an example of the smart money wanting to be first to be third or fourth and leaving it to somebody else to go through all the pain of finding out what works. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catkins Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I was working on the waste tips for a week before Christmas, and there was plenty of rail traffic there. I don't think Big K will disappear overnight though, just with the amount of waste to tip. I understand that the miners memorial will be moved to the museum nearby, but I think it should be left where it is to remind future generations that Big K was there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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