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Post by John on Sept 7, 2006 15:53:08 GMT -5
My first pit, Clifton, just south of Nottingham used to have a ski lift!
The ski lift used to take riders from pit bottom down the South Main returns drift.
I never saw it as it was removed when I went underground, but I have seen a picture of it and know someone who does recall it.
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Post by dazbt2 on Sept 8, 2006 4:13:30 GMT -5
Ski lifts were also in use at several other pits, Bullcliffe Wood and Walton being two where they were used in steep drifts. Great for traveling inbye but a bit unnerving when traveling up the drift and having to swing the chair out of the way as you passed the rippers going inbye with a ring crown on their lap, or a fitter with a 45 gallon oil drum. ;D
I think it was Hatfield that had an unusual device similar to the Funicular Cliff Railways in Scarborough that took men up and down a 1in 1 drift.
The most exciting manriding was always the illegal bits, coaling belts where the roof was so low that you had to take off your hat and battery, belts that lifted into the roof across swilleys where you either got off and walked or waited for another couple of riders so that the weight of three of you held the belt down onto the rollers. Riding the AFC on a 200 yard face in only 32" extraction with a tool bag strapped to your ankle, 5 men clinging onto the back of a loco, stood with one foot each on the coupling like ballerinas wafting in the wind. Sneaking a ride up the shaft on top of a full mine car at coaling speed. Standing on the return side of a paddy rope and balancing using your hands on the suspended cables and pipes, even riding the shearer Bretby Cable Carrier in the higher faces........... 'we' must have been stark staring mad, it makes me shudder just to think about the idiotic things'we' did rather than walk.
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Post by John on Sept 8, 2006 6:43:46 GMT -5
Some of those things bring back memories Daz, riding haulage ropes was tricky, damned things would twist around. Ridning the face chain, yeh we were kind of stupid doing that!! I got off 51's AFC at mid point once as the face overman and deputy were there chatting. As I climbed over the spill plates/cable carrier, I got a bollicking from both of them, summat like, "don't let us catch you riding the facechain again" only not so polite. I starts crawling down the face and who should go past riding the chain??? Yeh Overman and Deputy!! Screw this, I climbed back over and hopped on again!
The belt from that face up the maingate went up a steep incline to the main trunk belt, was alright as long as it kept going!! A pig if it stopped just short of the bottom! Chippy Lee, one of the unpopular electricians was riding it one shift when it stopped at the bottom... He didn't know it's peculiar habits when it started and was thrown off..
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Post by John on Sept 8, 2006 6:48:11 GMT -5
I've never rode a shaft at mineral speed Daz, but have ridden the skip at Boulby mine with 20 tonnes of mineral in the skip above me. There was a nine man deck underneath the skip and If my memory serves me, the top of the skip converted to a 40 man manriding deck.
Usually because of problems in the shaft and the other shaft was carrying supplies, but more often for an early ride....One of the perks of being the ore handling area electrician!
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Post by John on Sept 8, 2006 6:49:57 GMT -5
I think we made a record of ten blokes hanging off an electric battery loco too Daz!
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limey
Shotfirer.
Posts: 75
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Post by limey on Feb 5, 2007 16:20:07 GMT -5
I well remember riding a coal belt - where you had to throw your hat and snap-bag in front of you, wriggle down into the coal, and pull your battery down one side, and rescuer the other - even so I remember the rescuer of the chap in front of me going "ting" on every ring we went under!
Scariest was riding the cable-belt up the drift at Snibston - it was very fast, and you had to vault off. If you wrapped your fingers around the edge of the belt, you would have them chopped off at the next roller!
I also remember riding the cage at Donisthorpe (Steam winder). Officially 7 men per deck - on the last shift before the summer holiday I remember having 9 in there - including one who dived in across our shoulders!
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Post by John on Feb 5, 2007 22:12:47 GMT -5
I well remember riding a coal belt - where you had to throw your hat and snap-bag in front of you, wriggle down into the coal, and pull your battery down one side, and rescuer the other - even so I remember the rescuer of the chap in front of me going "ting" on every ring we went under! Scariest was riding the cable-belt up the drift at Snibston - it was very fast, and you had to vault off. If you wrapped your fingers around the edge of the belt, you would have them chopped off at the next roller! I also remember riding the cage at Donisthorpe (Steam winder). Officially 7 men per deck - on the last shift before the summer holiday I remember having 9 in there - including one who dived in across our shoulders! We had an exemption to ride the belts at Clifton in Nottingham, so we had plenty of clearance, but we rode on mineral, which was against the rules, 12 yards of clear belt front and back was laid down. It was nice and warm coming out off a nightshift on top of fresh cut coal! Yep, we had a Cable Belt too up the Stone Head drift to pit bottom, many a black nail was given to new blokes on that one! Cotgrave, my second pit, it was against the rules to ride the belts, so we jumped on behind the Deputies and Overmen, high speed belts too! Took a little getting used to. |
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Post by lance on Feb 8, 2007 17:36:14 GMT -5
I remember doin a night shift at Rufford Colliery puttin a new jib end in, we realised after the 12 hour shift that it was now running a lot faster than it had. We decided to walk outby which turned out to be a good idea as the deputy and three of the heading crew came screaming past all shouting instructions to each other as to where to jump off. At that point we had also lifted the structure so it was now 5 feet off the ground, it was a sight to see lamps and and snap bags whirling around slings only for all of them to end up in a heap on the wide side. It took ages for the dust to settle and didn't we chuckle as we walked past. ;D
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Post by John on Feb 8, 2007 17:42:01 GMT -5
I remember doin a night shift at Rufford Colliery puttin a new jib end in, we realised after the 12 hour shift that it was now running a lot faster than it had. We decided to walk outby which turned out to be a good idea as the deputy and three of the heading crew came screaming past all shouting instructions to each other as to where to jump off. At that point we had also lifted the structure so it was now 5 feet off the ground, it was a sight to see lamps and and snap bags whirling around slings only for all of them to end up in a heap on the wide side. It took ages for the dust to settle and didn't we chuckle as we walked past. ;D Thats made my day Lance, welcome aboard! We used to have an obnoxious electrician, and he'd been on a district called 51's on nights. The M/G belt went up a drift to the main belt road, of course at the bottom of the drift it kind of rode high if it was empty. Anroads, it stopped when he was on it and it was empty, you guessed, right at the bottom, leaving him several feet in the air. He didn't know what it did when it started... ;D ;D It threw him off big time.. ;D ;D He never lived that one down.. |
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Post by aardvark on Jan 30, 2008 15:05:23 GMT -5
remember a belt at barrow colliery , it started on the level and then went up a drift, you had to ride on the coal or the belt lifted up. I was working with the belt fitters i was an apprentice fitter and the told me about their foreman who couldn't resist stopping to talk to anybody they passed they jumped on the belt and rode to the top off the drift, Pete stopped to talk by the time he went to jump on the belt the coal had stopped , he jumped on anyway. John and Alvin were wating at the next transfer, when Pete didn't turn up they shouted down on the tannoy to the other buttonman he told them he'd set off they walked back don the drift and found him in the ring bottom he'd hit every ring for about twenty yards, his helmet was split and his nose was bust
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Post by John on Jan 30, 2008 17:16:25 GMT -5
Sounds a little like a belt we had at Clifton, when it was empty. It went up a drift to the main trunk conveyor road and if you got caught out at the bottom when the belt stopped, it was then a juggling act to stay on when she started. I only ever heard of one bloke getting thrown off though, was a laugh, I'd never have admitted it if it were me. ;D Needless to say that bloke wasn't the most popular at the pit.
I've been on a belt when it broke, very odd feeling when it stopped dead then I started sinking between the rollers.
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Post by columbo on May 26, 2008 14:01:59 GMT -5
Some of the tricks we used to get up to down there were completely mad, it gives me the ebby jeebys just thinking about it now. The first unusual manriding I did down the pit was as a trainee and it was when I simply and accidentally stepped on the manrider rope as it flashed along on the ground; a quick trip up in the air with my legs whipped from under me and landed flat on my back, who ain’t done that too? At least once.
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Post by John on May 29, 2008 10:03:51 GMT -5
I get the shivers thinking about when I used to ride the face chain! God how stupid it was, one slip and I could have lost fingers or a hand, or worse my life either at the drivehead or under the shearer. It always looked more inviting at the T/G end than a crawl through the face, especially with a heavy toolbag to drag through the face.
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Post by Ragger on May 29, 2008 13:13:40 GMT -5
Hiya John me old mate. I think this last post should be in the Tall stories section.
(lol)
Who ever heard of a leckie with a heavy tool bag? (s)
How you keeping now John? I hope things are picking up.
Take care mate.
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Post by John on May 29, 2008 15:15:16 GMT -5
Hiya John me old mate. I think this last post should be in the Tall stories section. (lol) Who ever heard of a leckie with a heavy tool bag? (s) How you keeping now John? I hope things are picking up. Take care mate. Well it felt heavy at the time Bill!! When I was at Boulby, I had a large curtain ring I carried assorted ring spanners and a 10 inch shifter on, my pockets bulged with some sockets and a short extension, on my belt was a ratchet handle and pliars, then in a tin in my top pocket was my allen keys, plus rule pocket carried a couple of screwdrivers. If I had a major breakdown, I'd send my labourer back to the U/G workshops for my bag of tools. Generally, I carried a "first aid" tool kit around with me. On the old coal face though, the bag had a shortened strap, so when I went up the face, I hung it round my neck. God knows how the fitters went on though, their bags weighed a tonne and a half! Starting to get better again Bill, had a relapse in January and it's held me up, but getting stronger once more thanks. |
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Post by colly0410 on Feb 20, 2020 13:37:36 GMT -5
Was on a face visit to 66's face when I was at Moorgreen training center: The instructor was telling us about the dangers of riding the chain. As he was yabbering away a deputy & overman sailed by riding the chain, he was speechless, lol. Never rode a chain myself, rode plenty of belts as nearly all down Hucknall were legal manriders/coal belts..
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Post by John on Feb 21, 2020 7:11:53 GMT -5
Was on a face visit to 66's face when I was at Moorgreen training center: The instructor was telling us about the dangers of riding the chain. As he was yabbering away a deputy & overman sailed by riding the chain, he was speechless, lol. Never rode a chain myself, rode plenty of belts as nearly all down Hucknall were legal manriders/coal belts..
I cringe today even thinking of riding those deadly things, it was damned stupid. |
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Post by maverick on Apr 23, 2020 21:01:57 GMT -5
Was on a face visit to 66's face when I was at Moorgreen training center: The instructor was telling us about the dangers of riding the chain. As he was yabbering away a deputy & overman sailed by riding the chain, he was speechless, lol. Never rode a chain myself, rode plenty of belts as nearly all down Hucknall were legal manriders/coal belts.. Actuallt Colly, they lifted the structure on a lot of the belts at Moorgreen and put in manriding platforms for getting on and off to give the appearance of them being manriding belts, it was only when they announced the closure of Moorgreen that I found the paperwork and found that NONE of the supposed manriding belts were actually manriders. |
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merlin
Shotfirer.
prop and lid
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Post by merlin on May 16, 2021 8:00:10 GMT -5
Some of those things bring back memories Daz, riding haulage ropes was tricky, damned things would twist around. Ridning the face chain, yeh we were kind of stupid doing that!! I got off 51's AFC at mid point once as the face overman and deputy were there chatting. As I climbed over the spill plates/cable carrier, I got a bollicking from both of them, summat like, "don't let us catch you riding the facechain again" only not so polite. I starts crawling down the face and who should go past riding the chain??? Yeh Overman and Deputy!! Screw this, I climbed back over and hopped on again! The belt from that face up the maingate went up a steep incline to the main trunk belt, was alright as long as it kept going!! A pig if it stopped just short of the bottom! Chippy Lee, one of the unpopular electricians was riding it one shift when it stopped at the bottom... He didn't know it's peculiar habits when it started and was thrown off.. a man got killed when he was crossing the panzer he was drawn undera Samson sripper in the early 50s I would never ride a panzer |
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Post by John on May 16, 2021 14:58:33 GMT -5
Some of those things bring back memories Daz, riding haulage ropes was tricky, damned things would twist around. Ridning the face chain, yeh we were kind of stupid doing that!! I got off 51's AFC at mid point once as the face overman and deputy were there chatting. As I climbed over the spill plates/cable carrier, I got a bollicking from both of them, summat like, "don't let us catch you riding the facechain again" only not so polite. I starts crawling down the face and who should go past riding the chain??? Yeh Overman and Deputy!! Screw this, I climbed back over and hopped on again! The belt from that face up the maingate went up a steep incline to the main trunk belt, was alright as long as it kept going!! A pig if it stopped just short of the bottom! Chippy Lee, one of the unpopular electricians was riding it one shift when it stopped at the bottom... He didn't know it's peculiar habits when it started and was thrown off.. a man got killed when he was crossing the panzer he was drawn undera Samson sripper in the early 50s I would never ride a panzer
I came pretty close to going under a shearer on a low face one night, AND I wasn't riding the AFC either, how I managed to clear the pan sides and supports, I don't know to this day!!, had I not made it, then I wouldn't have been around to this day. All happened due to an intermittent fault on the signals that I was on my way up the face to trace out.
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Post by maverick on Jun 13, 2021 20:48:42 GMT -5
Was on a face visit to 66's face when I was at Moorgreen training center: The instructor was telling us about the dangers of riding the chain. As he was yabbering away a deputy & overman sailed by riding the chain, he was speechless, lol. Never rode a chain myself, rode plenty of belts as nearly all down Hucknall were legal manriders/coal belts.. Actuallt Colly, they lifted the structure on a lot of the belts at Moorgreen and put in manriding platforms for getting on and off to give the appearance of them being manriding belts, it was only when they announced the closure of Moorgreen that I found the paperwork and found that NONE of the supposed manriding belts were actually manriders. Correct and I found the paperwork for this. Best one was 70's scour when you got off the M1 manrider and jumped on the scour belt, it was a long belt and many men fell asleep and woke up just in time to get off at the manriding platform and some didn;t and got scooped off the belt by the plough and were thrown right into the roadway.
Moorgreen belts were illegal because they didn't have brakes and when you hit the stop bar it cut the power, but, the belt didn't stop quickly enough without brakes and you could end up going for a ride around the return drum.
When you went to 66's was 70's scour extension being driven? I ask because this was the only belt with brakes and never used officially as a manrider.
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Post by John on Jun 14, 2021 6:17:07 GMT -5
Thruster brakes weren't common on belts in the 60's, in fact the only belt I recall at Clifton that had a couple of thrusters on it was the Cable Belt, and it was on the drift to bit bottom. None of the other belts had a thruster brake in them. And all our belts at closing were authorised for manriding. When I started in 64, there was one forbidden for riding, but that didn't stop us.
When Clifton closed, I like many others was transferred to Cotgrave, where if you were caught riding the belts a fare was charged of five quid...LOL So at the end of shift, everyone waited until the Deputy and Overman jumped on the gate belt to ride out.
I can see the safety issue with bottom belt riding without a thruster brake.
All the Huwood belts at Boulby had brakes.
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gaz
Trainee
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Post by gaz on Jun 17, 2021 1:39:34 GMT -5
I remember riding on a flat (tub) with a board for a brake between the wheel and frame. Three of us used to do it but had to bale out as brakeman wasn't too good. As they say:- A third class ride is better than a first class walk !
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gaz
Trainee
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Post by gaz on Jun 17, 2021 1:40:12 GMT -5
I remember riding on a flat (tub) with a board for a brake between the wheel and frame. Three of us used to do it but had to bale out as brakeman wasn't too good. As they say:- A third class ride is better than a first class walk !
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Post by colly0410 on Jun 29, 2021 8:34:23 GMT -5
Actuallt Colly, they lifted the structure on a lot of the belts at Moorgreen and put in manriding platforms for getting on and off to give the appearance of them being manriding belts, it was only when they announced the closure of Moorgreen that I found the paperwork and found that NONE of the supposed manriding belts were actually manriders. Correct and I found the paperwork for this. Best one was 70's scour when you got off the M1 manrider and jumped on the scour belt, it was a long belt and many men fell asleep and woke up just in time to get off at the manriding platform and some didn;t and got scooped off the belt by the plough and were thrown right into the roadway. Moorgreen belts were illegal because they didn't have brakes and when you hit the stop bar it cut the power, but, the belt didn't stop quickly enough without brakes and you could end up going for a ride around the return drum. When you went to 66's was 70's scour extension being driven? I ask because this was the only belt with brakes and never used officially as a manrider.
Can't remember 70's being mentioned, went up a heading somewhere near 66's & the bottom belt was on the floor & some blokes were riding it, not us trainees though. Only belt I remember riding was the one from Piper inset pit bottom to Waterloo drift bottom... |
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Post by maverick on Oct 15, 2021 22:30:21 GMT -5
Did you ride the drift belts and adit belt? that was fun.
Derek was the adit deputy and used to stand at the adit top and look for lamps coming up, if he saw a lamp he hid behind the brick wall and jumped out just as men jumped off the adit belt as it turned over the crest, slam dunk.
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Post by John on Oct 16, 2021 6:42:09 GMT -5
Did you ride the drift belts and adit belt? that was fun. Derek was the adit deputy and used to stand at the adit top and look for lamps coming up, if he saw a lamp he hid behind the brick wall and jumped out just as men jumped off the adit belt as it turned over the crest, slam dunk.
Clifton Colliery, Nottm had a Cable Belt from the Deep hard seam to pit bottom, around 3/4 mile, 1:4 to 1:6 which was designated as a manriding belt.
Cotgrave, you had to be very careful riding the belts, fine if caught was a fiver, so in the districts we'd wait at the end of the shift for the Overman, Deputy and Shotfirers to get on first, then jump on the gate belts behind them.....LOL |
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Post by colly0410 on Oct 22, 2021 15:11:11 GMT -5
iv]When you went to 66's was 70's scour extension being driven? I ask because this was the only belt with brakes and never used officially as a manrider. [/div][/quote] Went up a heading near 66's, not sure if it was 70's scour though... Sorry for late reply, been feeling a bit grob just lately... Edit.. Just noticed I've already replied to you, my brains turned to mush since my prostate cancer diagnosis, must be the hormone drugs I'm on... |
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Post by maverick on Apr 10, 2022 20:33:35 GMT -5
Yes Colly you went out of the pit bottom at Blackshale level and on the manriding belt out of the pit bottom and at the end you could get onto another left belt and ride down to the Knife Edge manriding station or is it wasn't manriding time you went straight across to the manrider cars and rode down on them.
During manriding times the manrider went from the bottom station to just above the Knife Edge and you got on it and rode over the knife edge to the bottom station, from here you walked the manrider extension and turned right and over the overcast to the air doors and throuigh them, you walked across to the manrider station and turned right through the air doors and down the M1 motorway manrider to the North side or straight on at the manrider to the East side and as you travelled down the M1 Motorway manrider you gor off at the bottom and turned left and you had the shunts ans main switchgear for the North side.
At the end you were on 70's scour and if you went left you were going outbye or right and it was inbye, 70's scour belt was turned into a manrider and you could ride the length of 70's scour and you had 62's, 64's, and 66's faces then 70's and 70's scour was stopped as it was prone to terrible floor lift as were all the faces return gates and it was driven in coal and this was perceived as the problem so they drifted up above the coal and drove the 70's scour extension above the coal and it was decided to drive this right to the boundary with Hucknall colliery so they did and 72's, 74's, 76's, 78's, 80's, 82's, and 84's were driven off it and it didn't suffer from floorlift but you started each face with a drift back down to coal and 84's face was the last coaling face Moorgreen had and this was directly under Hucknall market and that is how close they were to Hucknall pit and its shafts and it was an inbye trip of 6.5 miles to this final face.
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Post by maverick on Apr 10, 2022 20:37:08 GMT -5
Did you ride the drift belts and adit belt? that was fun. Derek was the adit deputy and used to stand at the adit top and look for lamps coming up, if he saw a lamp he hid behind the brick wall and jumped out just as men jumped off the adit belt as it turned over the crest, slam dunk.
Clifton Colliery, Nottm had a Cable Belt from the Deep hard seam to pit bottom, around 3/4 mile, 1:4 to 1:6 which was designated as a manriding belt.
Cotgrave, you had to be very careful riding the belts, fine if caught was a fiver, so in the districts we'd wait at the end of the shift for the Overman, Deputy and Shotfirers to get on first, then jump on the gate belts behind them.....LOLDerek Bishop was his name and he lived in a nice house at the side of Ilkeston Hospital and I regularly passed him and pipped, unfortunately he passed away at New Year well into his 90's and right up to his death he would be seen gardening or doing DIY work, often up a ladder, and he never wore glasses or had sight detrioration. |
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