Model coal mine - 3d print

[Hobb0]

Hi I’m looking to 3d print a model coal mine - wheel / gantry/ wheel house etc in sections. Thingverse doesn’t seem to have one - does anyone know a location of stl files for me to use. Many thnx 

[br2975]

Are you using the correct 'terminology' in your search ?

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The structure we associate with collieries is generally  called the 'headframe' and the winding wheels are 'sheaves'

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By far the best model of a British (well Welsh) headframe was in etched brass by "Wrightscale" and available in both 2mm and 4mm scales.

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Not sure if it's still available though.

[Hobb0]

Many thnx for reply 

[smokebox]

Headstocks in this area.   Near to the site of the old Babbington colliery in Nottingham is a pub called The Headstocks.

 

Many headstocks are quite tall but there are some very "dumpy" ones, as modelled by Hornby

Edited January 24, 2022 by smokebox
Second paragraph added.

[njee20]

Good time to learn to design! Then you’re not limited at all. 

[Hobb0]

Thanks for all the comments - shame no one has uploaded a stl file ready for 3 d printing - 

 

[br2975]

Accurately modelling a pit takes a lot of research, two headframes -  'downcast' and an 'upcast' - then to get the buildings correct, and sited properly etc -

Oh ! and a very large space to build it in

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One reason why my 'NCB Twll Cach' is going to me a drift mine.

[The Johnster]

A little research shows that no two collieries looked the same, some even had different looking upcast and downcast headframes (legal requirement in UK and most other countries as well for ventilation reasons).  Size, types of buildings, layout of buildings, layout of sidings, all varied enormously even before the local geography is considered.  Some were small enough to be represemted by the rather diminutive RTP headframes and buildings available, and some were massive industrial complexes employing thousands. 
 

As modellers, we are mostly concerned with procedures and processes at the surface rather than underground. 
 

There were general similarities common to most pits, though.  The headframes of course, but which was upcast and which dowcast?  I’m never sure about this, though given that my maternal grandfather was a collier at Tylorstown (died 15 years before I came along, silicosis, the black lung, those from mining areas will understand), I should be, but IIRC the upshaft headframe was the one shuttered in around the actual pit head.  
 

Somewhere usually between the road entrance gat and the headframes was an office, where the men clocked in or out, after which they passed through the locker, lamp, and battery rooms, often parts of the same long single storey building.  The pithead baths snd canteen would be in this vicinity when they came back up.  They then gathered at the headframe to board the cage that would take them to pit bottom or whatever level of galleries they were working. 
 

Attached to the sheaves by the main cables that made it obvious what they were were the winding rooms, and very close by, sometimes the same building, were the boiler rooms, identified by tall factory chimneys and lagged steam pipes emerging from them distributing steam to wherever it was needed on site.  Many pits but by no means all in later years used electricity for the winding drums, and in these cased there’d be a generating room or transfomers taking power from the grid.  Then there will be a fan room driving the ventilation, again steam or electrically powered.

 

The coal, when it is wound to the surface, is usually still in the tramway tubs, or drams as they were known in South Wales, that it had been loaded into underground; some modern pits used conveyor belts underground, and often on the surface as well.  Whichever method is used, it is taken to the screens, where it is graded for size and the spoil removed.  Spoil emerges from the side of this building by conveyor, or in South Wales commonly overhead cableway buckets because of the geography, and is tipped at whatever passes for a suitable location such as on a steep slope with a spring halfway up it overlooking a Junior School, what could possibly go wrong?

 

THE coal, meantime, proceeds by dram or conveyor to the final stage, the washery, where it is washed to remove as much dust as practicable from it before it is put into the loading hoppers that will deliver it to the waiting railway wagons.  Washeries are two, three or more storeys, head water tank at the top, washing grids next down, and then the hoppers.  The distance above the ground of the hopper bottom determines the height of the wagons that can be used, and the side screen walls of the building are set to this level at the bottom.  They are commonly steel or timber framed buildings with brick,  corrugated iron sheet, planking or even concrete screens down to the appropriate level but open beneath that, bit like a dutch barn. 
 

There will be alternative loading methods, belts or chutes, for wagons that might turn up that can’t use the main washery because they are too high or long; such wagons shouldn’t have been sent here but mistakes happen.  
 

What we are most interested in are the buildings involved in the railway operations, and while we will tend to concentrate on loco shed/workshop and the coaling stage and water column, by far the most important, indeed, pivotal to the running of the pit, is the weighbridge.  All incoming empty wagons pass over this, as do all outgoing loadeds, the difference between the weights for each wagon number being the basis of invoicing and advising the customer of the amount to expect. 
 

On top of this will be a pitprop store, general equipment store, small gunpowder shed a bit away from everything else, and possibly a landsale site with a little office and a road weighbridge.  These give an indication of incoming rail traffic; as well as a constant supply of empties, there will be pitprops stacked in 5-plankers, cable drums in similar wagons, 3-plankers, lowfits  or even a weltrol for a big’un, general machinery in vans, and if the pit is not producing house coal, a 7-planker or two occasionally of this for landsale.  The NCB’s concession coal contributed to much of this. 
 

The general appearance of these buildings was pretty variable as well, ranging from what looked like ramshackle semi-derelict rusting corrugated iron shanties to quite sophisticated matching brick sheds.  Mining is a speculative business, with profit often dependent on avoiding costs, that’s why it’s safety record is so dire, and many pits developed piecemeal so that few buildings look as if they belong together.  This also explains the housekeeping attitude; nobody expected them to be clean, but many, especially the smaller ones, carried untidiness and decrepitude to the point where you suspected they took pride in it; surely nothing got that messy without a deliberate, concerted, and organised effort!  
 

How much of this you can model depends on how much room you’ve got, but not all collieries were massive superpits, and in some cases you’ll get away with the exchange sidings with the pit as a backdrop. If you are going as far as a washery, and there were places with single road washeries that loaded 4 or 5 wagons at a time, you will need siding space to store loaded wagons awaiting the next clearance as well as a healthy supply of empties, while maintaining a clear road into the washery. This is the primary challenge of colliery shunting. 
 

Running out of empties is serious, and a colliery surface manager’s worst nightmare, because if there are no empties to place under the washery hoppers, the washery cannot accept loaded drams from the screens, which in turn cannot accept them from the headframe, which cannot wind them from pit bottom, which means the men at the coal face can’t cut coal, and everybody starts shouting at each other, And, trust me, miners are as good as sailors at swearing…

 

 

 

 

[Hobb0]

Wow very extensive reply- thnx 

[wagonman]

I don't know what period you are intending to model but washers, and even pithead baths, are relatively recent additions – often post nationalisation. Also the area has a bearing: the Somerset pits were usually small and undercapitalised – with buildings to match – whereas the North East and Yorkshire pits were much larger and better equipped.

 

Up- and down-cast shafts were determined by the layout underground, and their designation could be changed if necessary. No fixed rules, except in the very early days (1800s) when the draught for the upcast was created by having a fire at the bottom of the shaft so obviously then the winding shaft would also be the downcast!.

[wagonman]

This is a photo of the screens at Timsbury Colliery in Somerset in c1910 – gives an idea of the ramshackle nature of many of the mines in this coalfield, but also an indication how much space they took.

 

 

[CEINEWYDD]

There are two books out there by Rob Johnson, published by Book Law, with loads of detail on coal mines.  They are called "Modelling Aspects of the Coal Industry" and something like "Modelling Further aspects etc".   I have only the first one, and can thoroughly recommend it. 

 I would support the earlier comments that the scale of the coal mine varied considerably.  My late dad, in his days as a Vet for the N.C.B.  used to call at a private (i.e. non NCB but licenced by them) mine known locally as 'Dan's muck hole', which was so shallow, the winding gear was signalled by whistles up and down rather than bells.  I seem to recall that this was somewhere near Pontypridd.   I suspect that there were no exchange sidings. 

 

Just looked on ebay.  Prices range from £17 per vol. to about £35.    

Edited January 27, 2022 by CEINEWYDD
More information.

[Hobb0]

Again great ideas and info. Cheers guys

[doilum]

Just to clarify. The terms "upcast" and "downcast" are purely linked to ventilation. The upcast was sheaved in brick, timber, or steel and was connected to the adjacent fan house which extracted air from the mine thus drawing fresh air into the workings via the downcast shaft. The sheaving was to prevent the ingress of fresh air which would have completed a very short circuit through the extractor fans this defeating the object of the exercise.

One alternative on a medium /  large colliery would be to model a Koepe winder. In these the winding drum was mounted a in a large box directly above the shaft. A Google search for Fryston or Kellingley collieries will illustrate. This could be modelled in half relief on the back scene.

Edited January 30, 2022 by doilum
Additional information

[meil]

I suggest you get hold of the 3 volumes of "The Seven and Wye railway" published by Wild Swan. Many photos and plans of collieries in the forest of Dean.

[The Johnster]

Thank you Dollum, for the clarification that the shuttering was provided around the upcast shaft and that the ventilation worked by extraction of air from the mine rather than by forcing air into it.  As the shaft modelled on Dimbath Main No.1 is the one that coal is wound from, I will need to know if this is up or downcast so as to provide shuttering and a fan house if needed.

 

I realise that 'upcast' and 'downcast' are intended to describe the pit's ventilation system, but am unsure of what, if any, bearing this had on which shaft was used for winding coal or men and which for general maintenance, or did this also vary from pit to pit.  I know that in some cases coal and men were handled in different shafts and sometimes even different collieries where underground workings had connected with those of other pits.  Moving coal underground to another colliery for winding became more common in South Wales after the railway increased it's rates in the 60s, and I assume this happened in other coalfields as well.

 

The original method of ventilating a mine was to light a fire at the bottom of the shaft (what could possibly go wrong?), and the upcast/downcast requirement was brought in after a 19th century disaster in which men had been trapped and suffocated by a conflagration in the only shaft of the pit.  Upcast and downcast gave you a second shaft should escape be necessary.

[The Johnster]

On 27/01/2022 at 18:55, wagonman said:

I don't know what period you are intending to model but washers, and even pithead baths, are relatively recent additions – often post nationalisation.

 

I'm modelling South Wales in the 1948-58 period, Richard.  The NCB, founded in 1947, promised pithead baths at all pits but of course took about a decade to deliver what was a major change in the lives of the miners and their families, mother no longer having to spend hours every day heating gallons of water.  This is an excuse on my layout for wagons of building materials, pipes for the shower block, vans of canteen equipment, and so on to be delivered to the exchange siding by the pickup; there are also regular deliveries of pit props and occasional cable drums as well.

 

Some collieries began to introduce baths and canteens in the 30s, but given the general economic situation and the risible level of interest in the men's welfare that was the tradition in the industry, inevitable with what was very much a speculative capital venture, they were few and far between.  Pithead baths brought about another change, signalling the demise of workmen's trains of coaches reserved for that use, often older stock that had had the upholstery removed so that the bare wooden benches could be hosed down for cleanig.  Many of these trains had specified 'clean' compartments that retained the upholstery, for the use of office and clerical staff on shifts.  Coal mining was not the cleanest of ways to make a living even at the surface, and these trains were usually distinguished by a layer of caked filth serving as a livery.  A few workmen's services survived the pithead baths, but ordinary stock could be used as the men went to and came from work clean.  Most were replaced by hired buses, though.

 

Worth mentioning that a miner's workmen's train is not a 'paddy train'.  Paddy trains ran on internal NCB systems and were not braked; the one at Blaenserchan in the Eastern Valley at Talywaun consisted of old, mostly ex GW, goods vans with benches around the sides and the doors removed on one side, in a plain black livery, propelled up the steep branch by the locomotive.  I rode on this one several times.  A main line workmen's may have looked rough and ready, but it was a passenger train in every respect when it came to operation; lamped and signalled as Class B Ordinary Passenger, fully vacuum braked, steam heated in winter, and running on lines with full block signalling over facing points with locking mechanisms in place and in use.

[br2975]

NCB Coegnant, showing both headframes, 

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The upcast shaft is the furthest away, and the air tight cladding is clearly visible.

 

 

An aerial view of NCB Wyndham or Wyndham Western.

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The upcast shaft is on the right, it's cladding can just be made out.

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To the right of the 'upcast' can be seen two black squares, like short, fat chimnies

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These are known as evasees and are where the air that was drawn down the 'downcast' then circulated around the mine was dispersed to the atmosphere after being drawn up the 'upcast'

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The last photo shows a very common layout for South Wales pits.

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This is Llanhilleth aka 'The Muck Hole' located in the Western Valley between Crumlin and Aberbeeg.

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Many pits in South wales were built like this, almost on the valley floor, but not quite.

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Notice on the right of the GWR / BR (WR) line the one shaft and other pithead buildings are built on a stone wall, or revettment, above the railway. 

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South Wales pits were revetted in order that the drams ( the name by which mine tubs were known in South Wales, and when coupled together they formed a 'journey').

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The drams could come out of the shaft, and be tipped, graded and if needs be washed, above the height of the railway wagons into which the prepared coal would then be loaded via the 'screens'

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Edited January 30, 2022 by br2975

[Wheatley]

Coal and men in different shafts was often a function of whether the coal was brought up in tubs/drams or in skips. Men and tubs used the same cages, sometimes double decked. But a skip was exactly that- a huge box filled with coal and unloaded from the  bottom. There was usually a handrail around the top so it could wind men in an emergency but the men would otherwise go up and down the other shaft. Skip winding usually went hand in hand with mechanisation of faces, conveyors and modernisation, theres no point being able to get coal out of the pit faster than the men can hew it. At all the local pits I can think of where I actually know the arrangements the men used the upcast. 

 

Where men and coal used the same shaft it would wind either or, not both at the said time. Men went up and down a lot slower than the coal did !

[doilum]

This one might be a bit more complicated. The building in the immediate foreground is the fan house. The adjacent shaft is partially sheaved and may well be also another upcast. In this case there will be a third shaft or drift acting as the downcast. It wasn't uncommon for mines to be connected concentrating the extraction of coal at a single point. It was also common for old collieries s to be retained as ventilation and man riding shafts. It was more efficient for miners to travel on the surface than make long journies underground. One day I will get round to a model of Dom Pedro where coal was brought up from Whitwood to fire the boilers and manure was wound to the  surface from the underground stables.

[phil_sutters]

5 hours ago, meil said:

I suggest you get hold of the 3 volumes of "The Seven and Wye railway" published by Wild Swan. Many photos and plans of collieries in the forest of Dean.

These are a couple of scans of small yellowing prints from my family's albums. Some of my ancestors came from the area around English Bicknor. There are no railways to be seen in these shots, the fairly primitive structures and general clutter are very atmospheric though.

There is also Chris Handley's book Radstock Coal and Steam, if the Somerset coalfield is of interest.

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by phil_sutters

[br2975]

Another shot of Coegnant Colliery (Maesteg), this time from above.

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The fan house, evasee and concrete ventilation duct can clearly be seen.

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Again, the heapstead or bank, the covered area around the top of the shafts is revetted.

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Also visible is part of the 2'10" gauge surface stockyard network, which employed a Ruston & Hornsby diesel shunter until around 1973.

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Coegnant, was one of several pits, St. Johns and caerau being others, all served by the famous NCB Maesteg  railway network that fed the washery at Maesteg and which was connected to the BR network at Llynfi Junction and Caerau.

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Coegnant was closed in 1981.

[Hobb0]

I’ve found a generic coal mine stl 3d printer model. I saw this awhile ago but I’ve now checked it out. It has a number of separate parts in a zipped file. 
Web site :- thingyverse , search for file called :- ho scale coal pit head.