[Coquet]

Originally Posted by hollydog

Very interesting to see maps like this. I, for one, would like you to perhaps sometime produce an "idiots" guide to mining at Whittle as most people have no comprehension of what the mining at Shilbottle and Whittle entailed and how the coal was won.
That would keep you busy for a while!

It would be quite a challenge, with my memory too!

I have a small number of cuttings relating to the final year of Whittle; this one from the Coal News July 1986. Y332 is Y32 on the plan above, Y333 would be the next face west, but the place was closed before work on that one was completed. There's some mining speak in there but you can get the general idea that the guys are doing the very best they can:

SUPER SYSTEM OPENS FACE FASTER
by Chris Crouch

NORTHUMBERLAND pitmen working by the old Great North Road have achieved an Al performance to drive a new face in record time — and help repay a multi-thousand-pound investment in their future.

A new mining system for 65-year-old Whittle drift enabled development men to complete a 275-metres drivage and equip Y332 in only 11 weeks — a job that would have taken twice as long in the past.
"Some people said it was an unrealistic target, but we achieved it a week ahead of schedule through tremendous team work," says manager George Heydon. "The men's attitude was a deciding factor — and we now need the same effort to get 333s ready by the end of the year." Face teams who work some of the thinnest seams in the country - — taking only 28 inches of coal — saw a down turn in production when one of their two faces ran into a further series of geological problems.
With the mine averaging 1,400 tonnes saleable a day, it became vital for Y332s face — planned as their first 2,000-tonnes-a-day unit — to be ready as soon as possible to improve output.
"We were running two shortened mechanised faces which were in trouble with both geology and water," says Mr Heydon. "It was imperative we develop a replacement face in three months because all the indications were that faulting would bring Y66s to an end around the end of May — and we've been very accurate in our forecast."

Launched

The new development technique involved advancing a completed AFC systematically with every metre driven. Both ends of the face were equipped with pan launchers which pushed the completed face conveyor on by one pan at a time.
"The old system, driving separately, would have taken 15 weeks for the same distance — then to equip the conveyor another two weeks," adds Mr Heydon.
Helping the pace-setting pitmen into the twin advancing headings were 23-feet-long Dosco MkIIA Roadheaders. In the maingate the 100-metre stage loader — carrying all services required for the face — was moved by UMM roll rammers, a new system for the region.
Capable of pushing 180 tonnes, the rammers first lift then move the loader forward, saving time and cutting out all the major operations of moving equipment.
In the tailgate, a hydraulic bunkering technique immediately behind the Dosco machine was planned instead of building a conventional bunker. It was backed by a crush-and-blow stower which put debris from the heading direct into the packs.
The new face, 5,000 metres from the drift top in the Third West district and supported by 267 Dowty 5 by 150 chocks, uses an Eickhoff in-web shearer with the latest 60mm picks which can go down to a 33-inch section, necessary for quality control.
"In the last 15 months we've had an intense programme of development and re-mechanisation," adds Mr Heydon.