A TRIVIAL QUIZ

[dazb]

A TRIVIAL QUIZ……………well, a list of questions really that I haven’t got the answers to, but I bet someone has !!
1) What is the depth of the deepest coal mine shaft (in any country)?
2) The farthest extending workings from a shaft?
3) The thinnest seams worked?
4) The thickest seams worked?
5) The oldest coal mine still being worked?
6) Highest production figures; per shift, day, week, month, year?
7) Steepest inclined coal seam workings?
8) At which pit did the noisiest under-manager work?
9) Which colliery worked the largest number of different coal seams?
10) The wettest mine?
11) Any other questions?

[Clive]

cum on Daz lets have some answers?

Oldest mining co in this contry is at present Flacks at Hay roydds but I think the pits ave moved round a bit.
As for oldest it must be one of the Nottingham pits and deepest maybe near Donny.

Thimnest officualy will be Ayle as it still has a licence but is not working 18". Billy has 4'6" at Hill Top. Not sure but dont think Hay Royyds is much over a yard to 4 foot.
Dont know about noisiest undermanager but nosyest owner must be Billy especialy when he has his lads working for him.

As for wet? well thats relative. You can pump millions of Gallons an hour and it not bother you much. You lie in a puddle for seven hours with your tee shirt growing ever baggier and clartier whilst you get colder and more skin chaffed off shoulders and Ill tell you for nowt a bucket fulls enough water. Worst is when a film of dust settles on canch over night and it looks dead dry in morning till you dive on canch and get wet through in puddle that wernt there last night.

[John]

Wasn't the deepest in or near Manchester??
Reputed deepest shafts at any mine in Europe is Cleveland Potash's Boulby Mine in North Yorks.

Don't know about noisiest Undermanager, but I think Bill Clements was the noisiest Manager when I was at Clifton, years back..

[John]

I'd say the wettest would have to be either in Durham or Northumberland as the water table flows west east.

[John]

I recall from blokes I've worked with over the years that some had worked down to 16 inches, don't know the seams though, farthest out, bloody hell, now thats a question, we were about six miles out from pit bottom at Clifton in 1965!
41's face was only a few yards from Cotgrave's boundary.

[Ragger]

Don't know if any of you read about this disaster but if mentions the deepest coal mine in the world.

Melissa Fay Greene's book, Last Man Out, recreates the Springhill, Nova Scotia mine disaster of 1958. Of the 174 men who entered the mine on the afternoon shift of October 23, 74 never left. Last Man Out is the story of two small groups among the 99 survivors who lasted more than a week in the bowels of the deepest coal mine in the world after its sudden collapse.

And mentions also :-
trapped in a gaseous, crumbling coal mine two miles beneath the earth's surface.

[John]

Bill, I don't think you will find it's two miles down, more like two miles in from the drift! Thats a little bit before the carboniferous geological period mate.

I have noticed with none mining types when they write books or articles, they tend to say one, two or three miles beneath the surface, when they actually mean from the drift or shaft bottom.
From what I read of the Nova Scotia collieries, they were pretty shallow compared to European Collieries Bill.

I think Germany has or had the worlds deepest coal seams, followed by South Africa.
The deepest mine workings in the world are at the Western Deep Levels near Johanasberg, South Africa at two and a half miles deep, and thats gold.

Now in retrospect, I'd say when Clifton Colliery had it's fire in 10's m/g around 1963, the Nottingham Evening Post would have said Clifton had a fire underground and it's 5 miles underground. In actual fact it was only around 2000 feet underground and about five miles inbye.

[Ragger]

Hi. John, I gathered they were talking about the deeps (drifts) but I seem to remember the shaft was mentioned as 14,000ft. But this may also have been a drift.

Anyway it's good to mention these things as the truth will be found eventually by someone.
(s).

[Ragger]

More info I found surfing around the world. Here again it might not be a vertical shaft.

The deepest coal mine known is near Tournay, Belgium, extending 3,542 feet into the earth.

This one was vertical (I think).
The deepest coal shaft in England is in the Dunkirk mine, of Lancashire, which is 2,824 feet deep.

Does Daz know what he has started here?

[John]

He sure has started something Bill!!!

I did a search of Guinness Book of Records and found an exploratory shaft in the Donbas Field in the Ukraine as 6700 feet deep!!! I'd say they must have passed the last coal seam by at least a 1000 feet

[Wheldale]

I think the deepest coal mine in the Uk was Bickershaw. It worked the plodder seam at a depth of 1300 metres. I worked on the West Driefontein mine in South AFrica, i used to work two miles underground as a shot firer, it took 3 shafts to get to that level, the other chap is correct, western deep levels is the deepest mine in the world.

[dazb]

Yes Bill I had a good idea at least about the likely outcome of the Trivial Question posting, you see for the last five years or so (or maybe that should be fifty, or then again it might be just five weeks) I have been the duly elected quizmaster and question setter for my local charity foundation; ENEMAS………….the honourable society of Eccentrically Nutty Ex Mining Alzheimer Sufferers. These ENEMAS quizzes tend to be quite exciting and fairly easy to organise, the questions ranging through a wide diversity of topics are often of “University Challenge” standards whilst most of the answers provided rarely reach the standard of Albert Hurst’s Gold Medal winning pork pies, however it matters little, owing to the fact that at the time of marking the papers none of the entrants can remember the original questions or their own answers anyway. It is a tradition that the winner of the quiz has to buy every one of the other twenty three ENEMAS members a pint of Samuel Smithingtons Best Slape Ale and by sheer coincidence the prize is always three gallons of the stuff.
Obviously the standard of answers on this Coal Mine Forum will be of a much higher intellectual standard, although the questions were constructed without the Quizmaster knowing the answers in much the same way as the ENEMAS’are.
P.S. I do appreciate that Alzheimer’s is a terrible debility which causes distress to so many people in this world, as my wife constantly reminds me each time I question if she is a neighbour or someone from the Social Services.

[Ragger]

ENEMAS.

What a wonderful name for your charity Daz.ENEMAS that would allow the flow of so much verbosity, didn't want to say s***.

As far back as man has used tools to make his life and health better there is evidence that healers sought to unplug and let flow the waste from their patients.
Giving enemas dates back to a time before writing. Water flowed from the gourds of medicine men and women into the bowels of the ancients as it still does today.
The euphoria that commonly follows a good enema and the level of health that accompanies good elimination is known now as then.

May your charity be flushed with success.

[Ragger]

Don't know if what the steepest incline is but Ifton Colliery is in Shropshire geologically on the southern edge of the North Wales Coalfield is pretty steep.

Coal faces were inclined by as much as 1 in 3.

[John]

There's a picture of a coalface at Kingshill Colliery in Yorks taken in 1928 in The British Coalmining History by AR Griffin thats a pretty steep face, from gob to face that is about 30 degrees tilt on the seam at a guess.

Some years back I was surfing the net looking up coal sites, and not dead sure about the locality, but I found a colliery with a vertical coal seam, I'm sure it was Nova Scotia. Now that would be a pig to mechanise ;D

Isn't there a vertical coal seam in north Scotland?

That Kinhshill pit, one would need one leg longer than tother to crawl through comfortably

[dazb]

Thank you Bill, I will pass on your good wishes to the lads. Rarely in life have I had the pleasure to converse with so elequently spoken an expert on any subject let alone such a delicate pastime, it is obviously something that is close to your heart (well near enough anyway). I never realised that you had a medical background either.
Quick notes;-
I am reliably informed that crushed garlic leaves can help to mask the resultant euphoria by the way.
B&Q have a half price sale on the 13mm bore Flexi-Garden Hose at the moment.
Halfords have recently introduced a Duplex Stirrup Pump which provides twice the volumetric displacent with very little extra effort.
Well thanks again Tom.

[dazb]

Seafield worked a mechanised longwall face at 1/0.9 gradient. Vertical coal seams are worked in many countries (or at least were), China, Hungary and Spain for example.

[John]

I should have stated "on the dip" rather than steep, shouldn't I?
Was Kingshill still working when you started in the industry Daz?? If so, what seam was on a dip/rise?? any idea?

[Ragger]

John, did you know A. R. Griffin used to be NCB Head of Industrial Relations at Edwinstowe?
At one time he was Chairman of the Labour Party Area Executive Committee (Bolsover District) of which I was at a member (long time ago).

More useless information from me.

[dazb]

Sorry John don't know anything about Kingshill, I only worked at the following pits ("worked" being in inverted commas by the way, but I did go underground at all these);-ACTON HALL
AGECROFT
ALLERTON BY WATER
ANNESLEY
ASKERN
BARNBROUGH
BARNSLEY MAIN
BARROW
BENTLY
BETTESHANGER
BETWS
BILSTHORPE
BLAENANT
BRODSWORTH
BULLCLIFFE WOOD
CAEDBY
CALDER DRIFT
CAPHOUSE
CASTLEBRIDGE
CLIPSTONE
CRIGGLESTON
CYNHEIDRE
DARFIELD
DAW MILL
DAWDON
DEARNE VALLEY
DINNINGTON
DODWORTH
ELLINGTON
ELSECAR
EPPLETON
FERRYMOOR
FLORENCE
FRICKLEY
GEDLING
GLASSHOUGHTON
GRIMETHORPE
HARWORTH
HATFIELD
HEM HEATH
HEMSWORTH
HERRINGTON
HICKLETON
HOUGHTON
IRELAND
KELLINGLEY
KILNHURST
KINSLEY DRIFT
KIVETON
LITTLETON
MALTBY
MANOR (WAKEFIELD)
MANSFIELD
MANTON
MANVERS
MARKHAM
MARKHAM MAIN
MONK BRETTON
MONKTON 1,2&6
MONKTON 3&4
MONKTON HALL
NEWMARKET SILKSTONE
NORTH GAWBER
NORTH SELBY
NOSTELL
O CHINA CURRA
O DATONG 1
O DATONG 13
O DATONG 2
O DATONG 6
O DATONG 7
O DHEMOMAIN
O ELLALONG
O HULLERA VASCONA LEONOSA
O KOTTAGUDAM
O MID CONTINENT
O MINE ANNA
O MOONHIDI
O PATHERKHERA
O RAMAGUDAM
O SUNNYSIDE BRASHTA?
O WYEE
O YORK CANYON
PARKMILL
PARKSIDE
PECKFIELD
PLATTS COMMON
PLEASLEY
PRINCE OF WALES
RENISHAW PARK
RIDDINGS DRIFT
ROSSINGTON
ROTHWELL
ROYSTON DRIFT
SEAFIELD
SHARLSTON
SHERWOOD / BESTWOOD
SHIREBROOK
SILVERHILL
SILVERWOOD
SILVERWOOD
SOLSGIRTH
SOUTH ELMSALL
SOUTH KIRKBY
SPRING WOOD
STILLINGFLEET
SUTTON
SUTTON MANOR
THORESBY
THORPE HESLEY
THURCROFT
WALTON
WARSOP
WATH MAIN
WELBECK
WHARNCLIFFE WOODMOOR 1,2&6
WHARNCLIFFE WOODMOOR 4&5
WHELDALE
WHITWELL
WOOLLEY
YORKSHIRE MAIN
and probably a few more..............
This isn't an invitation to open questioning by the way.......lol.

[Ragger]

My medical qualifications are wide and varied Daz. I have been a patient all my life and my knowledge has been enriched by many life-threatening situations.

I was awarded the S.E.N. qualification 20 years ago, since then I have been awarded several more qualifications.

Dip. Bsc. B.A. Dr. Prof. are just a few.

Note:-

S.E.N. (Seriously Endangered Nerd).
Dip. (Danger in Pit).
Bsc. (Bloody Stupid c***). (clot) (s).
B.A. (Biologically Ape-like).
Dr. (Drunken ripper).
Prof. (Public risk on fridays).

[dazb]

In a feeble sort of way I would like to divert the thoughts of enemas, whether considered unpleasant or pleasant dependant on your personal bent, back to one of culture ........................
A Prima Donna ballerina attends her GP and explains that she has an extremely embarrassing problem, in so much as each time she performs a pirouette she uncontrollably breaks wind, she explained that this was ruining her career. “The very act of breaking wind produces an awful noise that can be heard by at least the first five rows of the audience; it’s not that they smell, it’s just the terrible sound”.
“Would you mind showing me?” asks the doctor.
“Not at all” the ballerina replied and immediately rose to her toes and began to pirouette in front of the doctors desk, sure enough there was a loud rasping sound on her having completed the first 180 degrees of rotation.
“Ok” says the doctor “Please take a seat” as he scribbles notes.
“Can you do anything to help me?” asks the ballerina.
“Yes I believe it is possible that a small operation would help you a great deal” says he.
“What an operation on my rectum?” she asks
“No, no not at all, I believe that your biggest problem is with your nose if you really believe that didn’t smell”.

[dazb]

I must say Bill that I always did think that you were special, I sensed all along that you were a lot smarter than the average deputy. I now hold you in similar esteem to that of my own GP a lovely man, Dr SriRamalu who started his working life in the collieries of Andra Pradesh as a timber lad but showing promise quickly worked his way up to Longwall Chock Operator Wallah and then with further schooling became a Baggin Lad and eventually a Chock Doctor, obviously with these qualifications he was able to transfer to the UK and became a GP.
P.S. My GP is from India and I love him to bits, the best doctor I have ever had experience of.

[Ragger]

Talking of deputies Daz,

Deputy went to one of his men after an accident, the injured man said, 'my leg, arm, head really hurt when I touch them.'
The deputy started feeling the mans leg, arm and head, 'Does this hurt? or this? or this hurt?'
'No' the man said.
Deputy, 'You fool! You've broken your fingers.'

Man fell down pit-shaft.
Deputy 'Have you broken anything?'
Man 'No, there's not much to break down here!'

[dazb]

I think it might well have been the thoughts of yesterdays discussion of irrigational values, but I seem to recollect that Wath Main Colliery (South Yorkshire) lifted 3 tons of water for every ton of drawn coal. I am not suggesting that this was the wettest pit by the way, just thought it might be of interest. It is of course all relative to the rate of production, perhaps if the pit had produced more coal then the ratio would have have been reduced, plus the fact that had they not been "Pillar Pinching" then they would not have cracked the "Oaks Borehole" that had previously provided the local area with domestic water, rather than flooding into the workings.

[John]

From what I was told, Bevercoates in Notts was the "oiliest" pit in the UK.
Jerry Meades worked there as a Deputy, he told me it was hot, humid and oily from the seepage from the Eakring Oilfield. He told me they used to have a barrel of handcleaner in the main gates so as when the blokes came off the face, they could clean the oil off their bodies before leaving the district.
Now that adds another page to "grease money"!

[Sam from Kent]

Tilmanstone in Kent's shaft was 3033' deep. We pumped out 2.500.000 gallons of water per night.

I don't know about the noisest undermanager, but the vainest must have been Arthur Hockley (nicknamned Danny LaRue) who carried a comb underground with him!

[John]

I never knew anyone as vain as that "dahn pit", but there was this middle aged black feller at Clifton who was a bit "shy". He'd wait until everyone had showered and left from the nightshift before having his.
My Chargehand said "I'm determined to find out why he's shy!!
Took him a few mornings of "spying" to find out, as everytime he walked in the showers, the black feller would hear him and turn his back on him.
Ken's moment of glory came one morning when the black feller was washing his face, Ken quietly positioned himself so he'd see what the secret was!
When Ken was telling us all, he said the feller never realised I was there and turned around, God!! Ken said, If I were the black feller, I'd have been showering when everyone was there showing off my magnificent manhood.
Needless to say, the black feller waited as usual, this time to make sure Ken had had his shower. ;D

[John]

One of the things that always struck me, having my back washed then turning around and seeing a back the size of a huge barn to wash in return, usually so big one had to borrow the bath attendants step ladder to reach the shoulders!

[Sam from Kent]

Talking about washing backs, as a naieve apprentice, I had my back washed by one of the pipemen, did'nt know that they used the "sponge" that they used to clean the pipes out with, which was like a Brillo pad!!!!

One Undermanager we had, Mr. Bland (and it had to be MISTER) when he came up to the face, the first person to see him said "76" over the tannoy. One dfay he crept in quietly and got straight on to the tannoy to say" The first man to say 76 is sacked!!!!

With regards to the title MISTER, you could argue and call him all the Bxxxxxxx under the sun, but woe betide you if you forgot to say MISTER