catching the first draw

[aardvark]

I only managed to catch the first draw once when coming out on the time paddy it involved jumping o the paddy as soon as it came into the lighted section of the roadway about 200 yards from the station i got off on the blind side and had to run like mad to get in front of the paddy then cross the rails and the rope. I almost went down a couple of times but managed to keep my feet . on our chair you had to get on and then turn round, some of the old heads managed to time their runs so they were the last on and first off but i went for it and was first on when i realised how stupid I'd been i could have easy gone under the paddy my legs started shaking. oh and i still only managed to get on the same bus.
I remember one lad running off the he dropped something and stopped to pick it up and got stampeded when he came into the pit bottom he was covered in dust and footprints.
My brother , who also worked at Barrow once jumped off the paddy to find somebody had wrapped his lamp cable round the seat back he had to run alongside trying to release it

[John]

Best mine I worked at for getting first or before first draw was Boulby, when I was "C" shift shaft and ore handling electrician.
Many a shift I went up No1 shaft under a skip of rock before manriding started in No2 shaft.
BUT, on the downside, I had to be prepared to get the next ride back down if a breakdown occurred, and that did happen a few times, with a few cheers from the men getting off the chair in No2 shaft!

[aardvark]

when i was an apprentice fitter i once rode out with the fitter in a mine car ful of coal the banksman wasn't very impressed and we jumped off without throwing the toolbag off the fitter had a right panic trying to get it before it went through the tippler

[John]

I did travel at manriding speed, Banksman and winding engineman knew I was in the manriding deck. Shoot, that thing went through the shaft like a bullet at rock speed! I'm not that brave.. ;D

Loaing level was just below pitbottom, about 30 feet down, by the time it reached the pitbottom level it was tarvelling at full speed loaded with 20 tonnes of potash. If I remember right, was nearly 30 years ago now, it took 2.5 minutes from stopping, load the bottom, discharge at the top and travel through the shaft to do the same! Those shafts are three quarters of a mile deep too.