Skiers Spring Drift Mine

[Granite-Yorkie]

Hi,

 

I'm planning on building a layout of a drift mine and have decided to use Skiers Spring as the basis for this project- having seen photographs in Tom Heavyside's album Yorkshire's Last Days of Colliery Steam. Does anybody have any maps or photographs of the colliery site, together with any statistics regarding output of coal? Any help would be gratefully received.

[Respite]

I would try the library at the National Mining Museum for plans and records of output, there is a webpage at http://.www.ncm.org.uk/library

 

The main libray in Barnsley should have the large scale maps you want. Of the two Hudswell locos there one didn't move for many years and HC1891 of 1961 seemed to do the shunting handling two loaded MGR hoppers at a time from the headshunt and then setting them back in to the exchange sidings. The colliery was used in the film Kes for a scene of miners going to work and the loco was in the shot.

 

There is a photo of the locos which I suspect you will have found already on Geoffs Railway pages

 

[Guest stuartp]

I should have a 1988-ish photo of the signal box somewhere if it's any use, before its ordeal by fire. LNWR pattern box on a Midland line. Some of the colliery buildings were still there last time I went past, in use by either a haulier or a scrap yard, it was difficult to tell.

 

This site states that there were two mines, Skiers Spring Colliery and Skiers Spring (Adamsons) Drift Mine. That's news to me but this certainly isn't a drift mine and it wouldn't be the only example of similar names on nearby sites.

 

EDIT: It gets more complicated. I presume you've seen this seeing as it's the first hit on Google but there are some maps on here for Lidget Colliery (Skiers Spring Colliery) and Adamsons Drift (Skiers Spring Drift, I think). The buildings I referred to are are the Lidgett Colliery power house, in use by a garage.

 

http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/54/Lidgett.htm

[Respite]

There is little on the web as you have no doubt already discovered. Skiers Spring Drift was a new development on an old colliery site and you have to be careful of name changes. The plan attached shows the 1926 layout. I suspect the Skiers Spring drift wasnt much more complicated. I am adding here some personal observations from a friend who used to visit Skiers Spring when it was open.

 

"Went a few times - Two grimy HC 0-4-0ST's, at least one of which was

pretty modern. Crew were friendly enough (footplate trips no problem)

though engine work was hardly wall-to-wall thrash. The colliery was

easy to get into but you had to set out to go there as once you were

there was little else around to go for, though I remember I did go to

British Oak on the way at least once for the Jinty. As you know though,

the Jinty wasn't usual power for a while and they were diesel instead

until that broke and the Jinty came out to play again. A saving grace

for Skiers Spring is that they did a full-day shift on the Saturday

(most collieries knocked off mid-day)so you could go on there after you

had spent the morning at (say) Bowers Row or North Gawber.

 

Not a lot of action but the one engine in use was

kept fairly busy as it was only a small set-up and one of the roads had

only a short-run-round to propel up onto the BR despatch siding (may

well be why they only did the MGR runs in two's). One of the times I

visited to save time the 0-4-0ST dragged the MGR's and the 37 at the

train-end out all the way onto the BR line so as the diesel didn't have

to run-round.

 

I saw some of the colliery output sheets a while ago and it suggested

they should have been a lot busier but I think by the time I visited

(1969-1972) most the housecoal had probably gone over to lorries. I

can't remember many trains of 16 tonners. It kept steam until late on

didn't it (1974/1975).

 

So at least you have a licence to use an NCB loco dragging BR MGRs and Class 37s around! Prototype for everything! The Hudswells they had at Skiers Spring were very powerful 16" 0-4-0Sts and must have been beefy to be shifting complete MGR trains about. They were the last batch of steam locos to be built by Hudswell Clarke.

[Granite-Yorkie]

Thanks guys, this is really great stuff- most helpful. Does anybody have any photographs of the site?

[Ruston]

The Industrial Railway Society have a couple of photos of Hudswells at the site listed in the Jim Peden collection. http://www.irsociety...hoto/JPC-07.pdf

[Respite]

Skiers Spring got brand new HC1891 in Jan 1961 they had Peckett 1627 of 1924 at this time which was a 14" loco.

The Peckett was scrapped in 1966 and HC1891 was on its own until 18/11/1969 when HC1892 arrived. HC1892 did very little work there. However I suspect when it first came it was used whilst repairs to HC1891 were carried out, as a photo of HC1891 taken in 1970 and published in Backtrack shows it filthy but with a newly painted smokebox and clean wheels suggesting it had work done on it. There is a little footage on the Industry of Steam DVD Yorkshire volume showing HC1891 running light for the photographer on the headshunt. HC1891 and HC1892 had bigger cabs than the first two locos of the batch to make using fire irons easier.

 

Skiers got a Thomas Hill diesel in Jan 1973 which had been built on the frame of a steam loco. Skiers was a mine in its own right but a lot of the production from Rockingham drift was sent out from the site. I attach some pages from a book by Alan Hill called the South Yorkshire Coalfield, A History & Development. which mention Skiers Spring. I have also found out that the Coal Authority still exist and have plans of the surface arrangements at some collieries so they may be worth a try. For photos of the surface I would try the sources I've already mentioned in previous posts, the National Coal Mining Museum, Barnsley Central Library and the County Archive which was at Wakefield.

 

 

Rail traffic ceased at Skiers in Sept 1975 and it closed completely in November 1979. The attached pages show the reasons why and mention the extensive underground connections to other collieries.

[Granite-Yorkie]

Thanks, once again, guys- given me loads to go on. Whilst I'm here, does anybody know when Dave Alexander will bring out his J77 kit, as one worked at Skiers Spring and would be an interesting locomotive to put on this- or indeed any- layout.