Hello all; can you identify this?

[welderpaul]

[img src="farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/6978977222_0ef460ece5.jpg"
$(KGrHqZ,!o4E9c)ePfMkBPnVkRV5Sg~~60_12 by vic1856, on Flickr][/img]

Hello everyone, i've never been a miner but have a big interest in mining history, i have lurked on here for a long time, and find the posts on here very interesting. I can loose too many hours reading the posts and following the links!

I've attached (hopefully) a picture out of a copy of the NCB Firefighting handbook. Can anyone identify what the white 'box' on the wall is? Why were some areas underground lined in brick? Was it limited to the fire points or was it pretty common to line out pit bottoms like this?

Cheers, Paul.

[John]

The pictures not clear enough to make out what it is Paul.

Not many places were bricked, pit bottom's usually were bricked, old roadways dating back 100 years sometimes were brick arched with several layers of bricks, some permanent substations had brick walls and some haulage houses were bricked, but most of the time it was steelwork and lagging boards between that were the norm.

Loco maintenance/refueling stations and battery loco recharging stations were normally bricked too for fire purposes.

[Mick]

John could it be a switch panel for lighting ?
Mick.

[John]

Apr 29, 2012 13:14:57 GMT -5 Mick said:

John could it be a switch panel for lighting ?
Mick.

I doubt it Mick, lighting was taken from flameproof lighting transformers in similar carcasses as flameproof gate end boxes, ie motor starters, usually in switchboards. We did have a smaller lighting transformer that was busbar chamber mounted to a gate end box, but usually for face use.
My first thought was a battery charger for loco batteries, if so, that lot could be part of an battery loco charging station.

[rac]

Apr 29, 2012 12:37:33 GMT -5 John said:

The pictures not clear enough to make out what it is Paul.

Not many places were bricked, pit bottom's usually were bricked, old roadways dating back 100 years sometimes were brick arched with several layers of bricks, some permanent substations had brick walls and some haulage houses were bricked, but most of the time it was steelwork and lagging boards between that were the norm.

Loco maintenance/refueling stations and battery loco recharging stations were normally bricked too for fire purposes.

regarding bricked areas ,pits that i worked at i found overcasts/under casts were bricked i would think to minimise air leakage, breeze blocks were also used.
for pauls benefit an overcast /undercast is where one roadway goes either over or under another---one carrying intake air the other return air so air crossover needed to be minimal.hope this helps.
regarding the white box in the photo i agree, hard to make out but looks like some sort of electrical box--maybe telephone junc box.

[John]

There's one thing that sticks out in that picture, the box is mounted over a hydrant, so I doubt it is any electrical equipment, we rarely if ever placed elec equipment near a hydrant for obvious reasons.
I wonder if its foam making equipment for fire fighting??

[John]

Apr 29, 2012 13:41:02 GMT -5 rac said:

Apr 29, 2012 12:37:33 GMT -5 John said:

The pictures not clear enough to make out what it is Paul.

Not many places were bricked, pit bottom's usually were bricked, old roadways dating back 100 years sometimes were brick arched with several layers of bricks, some permanent substations had brick walls and some haulage houses were bricked, but most of the time it was steelwork and lagging boards between that were the norm.

Loco maintenance/refueling stations and battery loco recharging stations were normally bricked too for fire purposes.

regarding bricked areas ,pits that i worked at i found overcasts/under casts were bricked i would think to minimise air leakage, breeze blocks were also used.
for pauls benefit an overcast /undercast is where one roadway goes either over or under another---one carrying intake air the other return air so air crossover needed to be minimal.hope this helps.
regarding the white box in the photo i agree, hard to make out but looks like some sort of electrical box--maybe telephone junc box.

I forgot about air crossings.....
Nothing like the telephone junction boxes I've worked on underground, they were usually about 6 inches deep, by 14 inches wide by 24 inches high, depending on how many pairs/lines the box carried. Some pits used "pots" to joint the lines out.

[rac]

Apr 29, 2012 13:43:43 GMT -5 John said:

There's one thing that sticks out in that picture, the box is mounted over a hydrant, so I doubt it is any electrical equipment, we rarely if ever placed elec equipment near a hydrant for obvious reasons.
I wonder if its foam making equipment for fire fighting??

maybe foam making equipment but the type i came across always sat on the floor in metal boxes containing 5 gall drums of fluid with the nozzles attatched to the box.first aid box perhaps?

[John]

Apr 29, 2012 13:55:49 GMT -5 rac said:

Apr 29, 2012 13:43:43 GMT -5 John said:

There's one thing that sticks out in that picture, the box is mounted over a hydrant, so I doubt it is any electrical equipment, we rarely if ever placed elec equipment near a hydrant for obvious reasons.
I wonder if its foam making equipment for fire fighting??

maybe foam making equipment but the type i came across always sat on the floor in metal boxes containing 5 gall drums of fluid with the nozzles attatched to the box.first aid box perhaps?

Nothing like any first aid box I've seen underground, it's hard to tell what it is really..

[John]

I've used some photo editing software to enlarge it and lighten it up, and I still can't make out what it is.