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Post by John on Jan 9, 2005 9:21:04 GMT -5
I'm John Waudby, ex pit electrician, served my apprenticeship in the 1960's at Clifton and Cotgrave Collieries in Nottinghamshire. Worked at British Gypsum's Marblaegis Mine at East Leake, Nottinghamshire, Cleveland Potash's Boulby Mine in North Yorks for a few years then migrated to Oz. Where I worked as an electrician at Rennison Bell Tin mine in Tasmania, Wongawilli Colliery near Wollongong in NSW and finally ending up at Angus Place Colliery near Lithgow NSW. Been retired for a number of years, if any such animal exists!
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Post by Polly on Jan 25, 2005 22:00:27 GMT -5
Well, I feel like the odd ball. I'm not a miner. I'm a girl!
But, might as well dive in and introduce myself.
Polly isn't my real name, it's my alter-ego.
I was brought up in Kent, near Betteshanger. Got to know a few miners through my political interests. My family were originally from South Wales, so, I got to know Wales as well.
My interests in mining tend to run on the historical side. I've been interested in the working conditions/social conditions of miners since I was young. This developed when I came to live in Pennsylvania, and I became interested in how the women of the mine patches coped with their lives. (Not so much American Dream..more American nightmare)
My interest grew over the years into a deep respect for the folk of the "anthracite region."
I now take educational programmes into schools and museums etc, to talk of the daily lives of ordinary men and women, specifically miners, through my character "Polly Jenkins". I collect stories, poetry, anecdotes, songs, and whatever else comes my way, of the men and women of the anthracite region, Specifically the Welsh and English immigrant to Pa.
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Post by dazb on Jan 26, 2005 3:12:21 GMT -5
Welcome Polly a great introduction to yourself and your interests. (reads a little more like a potential latter day Mary Harris Jones than a Polly perhaps). I know that back in the 1980's there were quite a few women coal miners in America, is this still the case? It sounds like a great thing you are doing keeping the reality of coal mining history alive, something that I suspect is missing in the UK although I know that the National Mining Museum in Yorkshire provides a (hopefully) lasting record of at least some of the local heritage. www.ncm.org.uk/ |
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Post by John on Jan 26, 2005 11:27:44 GMT -5
Welcome Polly, I'll bet a fair number of the members are not ex mining types. The aim is to share memories, history etc of mining.
I'm hoping as time goes on that more and more ex mining types find the site and add interesting material.
If the site does attract a lot more members and is active most of the day, I'll be moving the site to a more permanent home.
I'm a little to the south and west of you Polly, down in south central Missouri, almost on the Arkansas State line.
John
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Post by chuddles48 on Mar 1, 2005 7:55:51 GMT -5
I started at Wongawilli myself as a lecky in the 80's and now am at Appin as a weekend warrior(NSW coal fields).24 years in the pits and feeling every bit of it.  |
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Post by John on Mar 1, 2005 8:02:32 GMT -5
I started at Wongawilli myself as a lecky in the 80's and now am at Appin as a weekend warrior(NSW coal fields).24 years in the pits and feeling every bit of it. I worked at Wonga for a couple of years on Doggy and Swing shifts as an electrician in what was then East then renamed "Green" panel. Late 79 until after the big strike of 81, then moved on to Angus Place near Lithgow. |
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Post by John on Mar 1, 2005 8:06:20 GMT -5
Tony Sellers was the Manager while I was there and an old mate Gerry Meades was the U/M in charge.
You don't know what happened to Gerry do you?? I lost contact with him years back now and would like to find him again.
John
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Post by John on Mar 1, 2005 8:09:02 GMT -5
I started at Wongawilli myself as a lecky in the 80's and now am at Appin as a weekend warrior(NSW coal fields).24 years in the pits and feeling every bit of it. Remember "Wacker" at Wonga??? And there was a little Scots Engineer on swingy, I can't recall his name, but got on very well with him, he even arranged for me to leave real early on my last shift. |
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Post by chuddles48 on Mar 2, 2005 23:03:10 GMT -5
Started at Wonga in 81 retrenched in 83 back again in 86 till 89.Wacker was my boss on Doggy.Good bloke he is.
Im a lecky aswell.
No idea about Gerry but will ask a friend about him who also worked there.
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Post by John on Mar 3, 2005 11:42:46 GMT -5
You must have started just after I'd left then....The swingy elec engineer was Duncan I think his last name was McPherson, been a long time now.
John was Doggy leading hand and his Dad was a Deputy on Swingy by the name of Clarrie, both Poms.
My fitter on Swingy was a Pole by the name of Dick, nice bloke pretty quiet too. The Deputy was another Pommie, trying to think of his name ..
They called me UK, maybe you heard the nickname dropped a time or two, more often than not "Oi Pom" LOL
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Post by chuddles48 on Mar 7, 2005 2:10:47 GMT -5
Duncan has retired now. Johns name is Malcolm....he is a mate of mine and Clarrie died recently.Dick has been retired for several years now...lives near me and still going strong. |
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Post by John on Mar 7, 2005 7:52:12 GMT -5
Thats right Mal and Clarrie Beresford....Don't know how I could not recall Mals name! Sorry to hear Clarrie has gone, very nice bloke! Give Dick my regards, he'll remember me, just say UK sends his regards!!
I completed my apprenticeship at the same pit as Mal and his Dad Clarrie. Mal and I are the same age and do you know I never met either at Cotgrave, had to go half way round the world to meet them! Mind you Cotgrave had well over a 1000 men working there.
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Post by John on Mar 12, 2005 9:28:48 GMT -5
Another name I recall from Wonga, Mick Ramsey. He was on Doggy when I worked with him, on production he'd drive the heliminer. He became a Deputy after I left. I'm a ham radio operator, one night when I lived in California several years back now, I'd just finished chatting with a bloke in Oz and was just about to close down, when someone shouted me, "hey John howya going mate" then his call, Vk2VZQ, so I returned with my call KM6MB, and he said it's Mike here, we used to work together at Wonga! Mike I thought, don't know any Mike from Wonga, then I clicked Mick Ramsey! He'd always been Mick to us there... I know he's at Eluara now, which was an amalgamation of Wonga and another pit.
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Post by chuddles48 on Mar 16, 2005 0:44:52 GMT -5
Gerry Meade is living up north but thats as much as i know and Tony Sellers from what ive been told has a job ironing pool tables. There is a life after mining. |
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gaz
Trainee
Posts: 15
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Post by gaz on Aug 9, 2009 14:36:47 GMT -5
Gaz, Gary Roe, started Moorgreen TC in 1971 at 15yrs of age, then Newstead Colliery Mining apprentice , ganger , coal face worker then Deputy in 83, left Newstead when it closed in 87 , six months at Bilsthorpe then back home to Annesley until its closure in 94.
Shame about the split in the unions it ended really good cameraderie not found in my workplace today (warehouse)
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Post by John on Aug 10, 2009 6:17:50 GMT -5
Thinking back, I was pretty lucky to obtain a craft apprenticeship, though didn't give it much thought at the time. I was pretty close to 17 years of age when I was signed on. I had to make up the lost tech college time plus take in what was being taught. All my class mates were 15 year olds, save one, Dave Blake, who was retaking his first year because he got thrown out during that year.
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Post by cornirog on Jul 31, 2010 19:10:25 GMT -5
Started work age 16 at Whitwick Colliery Leicestershire in 1974. Transferred to Ellistown colliery in 1985/6 then on to Asfordby 1987. Became a Deputy in 1996 on what must have been one of the last deputies courses. That was at Doncaster Bessecar college with some great lads from Yorkshire, Selby and Prince of Wales Colliery and Kellingly.
I miss the camaraderie and the crack. Great people and some great laughs..... Now work in Manufacturing, had nowhere to go after Asfordby shut, although the lads that hung on got One-for-One transfers to Daw Mill.
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Post by John on Jan 24, 2011 8:54:18 GMT -5
Welcome aboard Billy, try to remember names 30 plus years back, or better still 40 years back!!!
I worked at Boulby from shortly after it had been sunk, early 1975, left for the colonies after the missus and I broke up in 79. I lived down there!! I used to say the only thing at Boulby with more time in than me was the winding engines, and they were bolted to the floor!
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dean
Trainee
Posts: 6
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Post by dean on Feb 12, 2011 22:17:27 GMT -5
I'm Dean Grant an ex pit underground electrician, I worked at Betteshanger Colliery Kent as did much of my family at the time. I started at Betteshanger in 1972 as an apprentice and left in 1982 when I emigrated to Australia. In Australia I decided to take a different career path to mining. I did visit,Caphouse Colliery UK a few years back , which brought back many memories. Funny how after all these long years, I can still remember the control circuit for a AB 16 Shearer.  |
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Post by John on Feb 13, 2011 8:57:53 GMT -5
I'm Dean Grant an ex pit underground electrician, I worked at Betteshanger Colliery Kent as did much of my family at the time. I started at Betteshanger in 1972 as an apprentice and left in 1982 when I emigrated to Australia. In Australia I decided to take a different career path to mining. I did visit,Caphouse Colliery UK a few years back , which brought back many memories. Funny how after all these long years, I can still remember the control circuit for a AB 16 Shearer. I don't think the AB16 circuit ever altered Dean, simple but worked well. Welcome aboard. |
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Post by Sam from Kent on Feb 13, 2011 13:42:08 GMT -5
Hi, Dean,
I was at Tilmanstone. It was all very well knowing the circuit of the AB16, but when it was buried it wasn't much use to you!
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dean
Trainee
Posts: 6
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Post by dean on Feb 15, 2011 3:25:49 GMT -5
Hi Sam, Pleased to meet you, I spent a week at Tilmanstone during training. I went on a Face called 5s or 7s , not sure as my memory is not too good these days. PS. It s not a Pit Electricans job to dig out Shearers, but I was a good loop man and chocker. Dean |
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Post by pitsparky on Mar 21, 2011 16:05:33 GMT -5
Hi, My name is Malcolm Common an ex pit electrician.
I served my time from 1962 to 1967, first 18 months at Seaton Delaval workshops and then onto Burradon Coliery which was a mile to the North of Gosforth Park racecourse Newcastle upon Tyne.
I worked on handfiling faces in the Beaumont seam with AB 16's, and power loading faces in the Bensham seam, all of the Faces in the Bensham had an AB 16 to cut out the band of stone in the middle and a BJD shearer to cut the coal.
all of the switch gear was Reyrolle ranging from F type switches in the substations and sga 3, sga 9, sga 8, etc + 300 kva air cooled transformers for lying on top of and keeping warm.
we also had a few wecol gate end boxes but we didn't think much of them, they kept freezing on and if you were using them for a conveyor gearhead you would end up with an enormous pile of coal when the sequence switch had stopped but the gearhead didn't.
I left the NCB in 1969 and went to work as a service engineer for Rank Xerox for 38 years ( most of that time was spent on my knees as well) so as you can imagine what with the NCB and Xerox my knees are rather delicate to say the least.
John, I worked with a guy at Xerox called Kevin Harrison who was ex Boulby potash mine. I think he was a surveyor.
I also have rellies in wollengong called Woodhouse who worked in the mines in that area,
Have you ever looked at the mining machinery that is on display in wollengong university, compared to the mining machinary I had my hands on these are MEGA, how thick are the seams of coal down in OZ.
Malcolm.
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Post by John on Mar 21, 2011 16:47:49 GMT -5
I'm retired stateside now Malcom, I worked at Wongawilli in bord and pillar and at Angus Place in the Western NSW coalfield. Wonga was getting coal from the Wongawill seam, which is over 20 feet thick, but we left a lot of tops as it was poor quality coal, so only cut about 10-12 feet.
Angus Place was using one retreat longwall, when I started it had an AM400 shearer, changed out for an AM500 shearer cutting between 12 and 14 feet from the Lithgow seam. They now have a much larger Joy shearer and cutting in excess of 2 million tonnes per year.
The only problems I had with Wecol GEB's was the ones using their own vacuum interrupters, the Vacutac. They were the 1100 volt A67 and A69 boxes, all solid state with SEL. Pain in the butt! The large size of the contactor coil led to it getting very hot and unable to get rid of the heat, that was at Boulby, they used to burn out regularly.
I also worked with the P70 GEB's of theirs and the old P455 boxes, all pretty reliable, but not designed for easy maintenance.
I much preferred the B&F range of GEB's.
The only Kevin's I remember were on the electrical staff, one was a shift foreman, the other a shift electrician at Boulby. Can't say I had much to do with any of the Surveying Staff being on shifts Malcom.
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Post by pitsparky on Mar 22, 2011 5:27:21 GMT -5
Hi John,
It's difficult for me to imagine coal seams of 14ft high as the highest I worked on were 5ft in the Bensham.
the lowest one I had to work on was 18 inches high and 110 yards long, a handfilling face and a real pain in the ass.
I couldnt crawl down the face with my lamp battery in the small of my back, it had to be at my side.
regards Malcolm.
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Post by John on Mar 22, 2011 7:10:45 GMT -5
Hi John, It's difficult for me to imagine coal seams of 14ft high as the highest I worked on were 5ft in the Bensham. the lowest one I had to work on was 18 inches high and 110 yards long, a handfilling face and a real pain in the ass. I couldnt crawl down the face with my lamp battery in the small of my back, it had to be at my side. regards Malcolm. I've never worked on 18 inches, but the lowest I worked on was around 36 inches and towards it's end it was a pig, weighted and with gob flushing in might as well have been 18 inches! Most of the old faces I worked on during the 60's were 42, 48 and 66 inches, although the 66 inch face you couldn't walk down, we used Dowty Roofmasters so it was still a crawl job unless you went down the face side before it was pushed over. John (Womble) Sinclair, one of my colleagues on C shift at Boulby said he worked on 18 inches in Durham, he was built for it though, short and thin.... Even if I was fit and willing to go back down, I doubt you'd ever get me on low faces again after being spoilt with working with high roofs. Boulby was 15 feet!! |
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Post by wardy on Mar 3, 2012 21:10:26 GMT -5
Hello
I'm John Ward, I am not into mining, I am a traction engineer involved in the design of elevators 'Lifts' all over the world.
I am originally from S.Wales where I was surrounded with pits,
ands all of my family was 'underground'.
I was a mechanical eng.apprentice and because of my exposure
to hi-rise elevator shafts (over 100 floors) I have become intrigued with the parallel interest of mine shafts in rlation to lift shafts and their different technologies.
A brief message to explain who I am and what I am.
John Ward
Staten Island
New York City
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Post by John on Mar 3, 2012 21:56:15 GMT -5
Hello I'm John Ward, I am not into mining, I am a traction engineer involved in the design of elevators 'Lifts' all over the world. I am originally from S.Wales where I was surrounded with pits, ands all of my family was 'underground'. I was a mechanical eng.apprentice and because of my exposure to hi-rise elevator shafts (over 100 floors) I have become intrigued with the parallel interest of mine shafts in rlation to lift shafts and their different technologies. A brief message to explain who I am and what I am. John Ward Staten Island New York City
Mine shafts carry the supply cables for powering the mine, water for dust suppression and fire fighting, pump ranges for dewatering the workings, plus men and materials and minerals.
South African gold mines have very deep single lift shafts, many times deeper than any elevator shaft is high.
Mineral winding now is usually fully automatic, once the initial first wind is completed, whereas manriding is still full manual in most western countries, ie done by an engineman.
Our biggest safety device was highly qualified craftsmen, both mech and elec engineering staff plus the highly qualified ropemen who capped the ropes that we relied on for our rides up and down the shafts.
Most devices were fail to safety, overspeed, overwind, slack rope and power failure. |
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Post by jakeofwinterhill on Mar 26, 2012 14:28:23 GMT -5
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Post by andyf64 on Aug 8, 2012 4:36:59 GMT -5
name here is andrew fletcher
worked at maltby pit from 1980 till 1993
trained at manvers pit then did my cps at maltby with a bloke called ted fells big bloke hands like a pit shovel too and a big gob lol
i then moved onto 27s tail gate to work on supplies with me dad as he was on the tail gate rip , i was glad to move to loader gate were i worked on supplies then moved up to pantec job stayed with the team till moved on to 26s face then moved again to development team driveing heading down to new seam park gate , then moved about doing odd jobs under ground till i had a small accident that caused me to take a job on pit top in coal prep plant for the last few years before reduant took in
best 13 years of my working life from school great set of lads miss them work was hard but well paid
andy
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