Quote:
Originally Posted by Coquet
Hey I can remember setting 'steel planks' on the face - you had to balance this thing,a corrugated heavy steel plank about 6 foot long on your shoulder then arch your back up against the roof so the plank was forced up against it, then somehow in this position you had to get a timber prop and an axe/mel and hammer the prop up tight between the floor and the plank forcing it tight against the roof. Fun and games at the start and a laugh for the old hands but you soon got the hang of it.
I (we) must be among the youngest people around that have done this 'old' type mining. It was pretty much finished at Whittle and Shilbottle straight after this as they mechanised. I'm glad in a sense I did get the chance to do it as I feel I have a better understanding of what went at the old collieries we mention.
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I was a timber laddie at Broomhill Colliery. The title says it all - every support, props, planks and caps, were all wood. Reading your update on Whittle Coquet I am delighted that I didn't have to throw steel planks around. I worked with ponies and they were a godsend but often the rails on the tramway in the tailgate ended some 25 yds short of the face. I could throw wood but I think steel would be a different matter. The times I cursed coming back to the mouth of the tailgate for another tram load, dripping with sweat, and see timber I had just thrown onto the face conveyor for the fillers going past me on the maingate conveyor on a journey back to bank!!! Like everyone else I spoke fluent Pitmatic!