Victorian Engineering Structures

[Marauder]

1 hour ago, Robin Evans said:

I thought donnisthorpe was converted in the 80s? Have I got that wrong?

I

47 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

It would have been at least 6ft by Thorne anyway wouldn't it??

My last job in the coal board was at the pfbc project at grimey..... clean coal tech.... the last bit of that project cost 22m..... for just the last two years

We mined the Barnsley  seam at Hatfield it could be between 10 foot and 16 foot depending on which direction you travelled,

When B30'S (Coalface)  turned coal the rest of the pit had to be stood down because we couldn't get the coal out of the pit quick enough, there was a link road between Hatfield and Thorne colliery that was in the planning stage to be back ripped so coal could be stored in bunkers before going out at Thorne

 

[Marauder]

31 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

It would have been at least 6ft by Thorne anyway wouldn't it??

My last job in the coal board was at the pfbc project at grimey..... clean coal tech.... the last bit of that project cost 22m..... for just the last two years

I got a start at Grimethorpe as a contractor, the job entailed us to back rip and widen the roadway for the installation of a new conveyor drive, we’d been given the basic Power loading agreement with a bonus that was based on ring advance (1 x ring was one metre) We got to the job on the afternoon shift met the day shift and had a quick look at the job. It was the easiest job I’d ever got as a contractor until the day shift told us they hadn’t been paid any bonus for 3 weeks and the supplies to do the job was basically non-existent, at that it was a big drink of water and went out of the pit never to return.

[Marauder]

This may give you a better idea of the actual size of the headgear at Thorne

[Red Willow]

Engineering marvels include Barton swing bridge and the viaduct. The Anderton Boat lift in Northwich

[tonyXIII]

2 hours ago, Marauder said:

Is there an old railway tunnel between Huddersfield and Manchester that's sealed ?

There is. The Standedge Tunnel is actually 3 (or possibly 4, I can't remember exactly) separate tunnels.

The first, and lowest, is the canal tunnel which still operates. Then there is the current railway tunnel. Finally, there is one (or 2?) disused railway tunnel(s). I believe they are officially closed, but some intrepid urban explorer types have been in and videoed their exploration. If you want the full gen, check out the YouTube channel of Martin Zero. There is a full episode on the Standedge Tunnel. It is very informative.

[tonyXIII]

12 minutes ago, Red Willow said:

Engineering marvels include Barton swing bridge and the viaduct. The Anderton Boat lift in Northwich

My own favourite is the Barton swing aqueduct. I believe it is the only one of its kind in the world and it worked perfectly, first time. They couldn't test it before demolishing the original aqueduct and, once the original (built by Brindley) was gone, there was no going back.

[Trojan]

1 hour ago, Robin Evans said:

The centralised washers at woolley grimey and South kirby cost zillions and only washed coal for a few years. Hardly a good return on the capital outlay.

Similarly the barnsley main refurb.... the colliery closed in 66 and reopened 85 as it took over access the coal barrow colliery was mining. It closed 6 years later.

A former customer of mine, washed coal at Pinxton, and moved on to Rossington, but the price per tonne offered for the next contract would have seen them losing money, so they closed the business.  Kellingley couldn't produce coal cheap enough for Ferrybridge and Eggborough - on their doorsteps.  How it was cheaper to bring it from Russian and Australia I'll never know.

[Robin Evans]

3 minutes ago, Trojan said:

A former customer of mine, washed coal at Pinxton, and moved on to Rossington, but the price per tonne offered for the next contract would have seen them losing money, so they closed the business.  Kellingley couldn't produce coal cheap enough for Ferrybridge and Eggborough - on their doorsteps.  How it was cheaper to bring it from Russian and Australia I'll never know.

The aussies were mining opencast coal from 20m thick seams close to the surface. Very low production costs. In 1991 they well selling ex Immingham at £29/tonne. We couldn't get anywhere near that

[Ullman]

12 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

The aussies were mining opencast coal from 20m thick seams close to the surface. Very low production costs. In 1991 they well selling ex Immingham at £29/tonne. We couldn't get anywhere near that

Aye, it might seem like a nonsense to transport it from the other side of the world but sea freight is so cost efficient it costs less to bring a TV from China than it does to get it from the dealer to your house.

[Robin Evans]

1 hour ago, Marauder said:

I

We mined the Barnsley  seam at Hatfield it could be between 10 foot and 16 foot depending on which direction you travelled,

 

do you miss the job and the whole culture that went with it?

[Red Willow]

3 hours ago, tonyXIII said:

My own favourite is the Barton swing aqueduct. I believe it is the only one of its kind in the world and it worked perfectly, first time. They couldn't test it before demolishing the original aqueduct and, once the original (built by Brindley) was gone, there was no going back.

Many years ago, my Dad was looking after my children  and took them for a walk. They went up to the bridge just as it was opening, my dad knew the operator and Dad and the kids went up into the cab . My son got to close the viaduct after the ship went through. At my Dad's funeral some 20 years on the same bloke asked my son if he recalled it Son said it was one of the big moments in his childhood.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

9 hours ago, SSoutherner said:

Another good TV series on currently is "building britains canals", until i watched that i had never realised crofton pumping station at the highest point of the kennett & avon is the oldest working steam beam engine in the world still in it's original location. It is a genuine Boulton & Watt installed in 1812

I agree, SS.  The canals have plenty of fine structures, though some (including, to be pedantic, Crofton Pumping Station and its fine beam engine) are actually pre-Victorian.  I am delighted that the Anderton Boat Lift, which facilitates boat movements between the River Weaver and the Trent & Mersey Canal, was restored and celebrated, rather than be left to rust away.

[Marauder]

4 hours ago, Trojan said:

A former customer of mine, washed coal at Pinxton, and moved on to Rossington, but the price per tonne offered for the next contract would have seen them losing money, so they closed the business.  Kellingley couldn't produce coal cheap enough for Ferrybridge and Eggborough - on their doorsteps.  How it was cheaper to bring it from Russian and Australia I'll never know.

Government subsidiaries & UK pits paid rental on all the mining equipment at the mine even though it was already owned by the coal board, so our pits had a double whammy before a cobble was turned.

[Marauder]

4 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

do you miss the job and the whole culture that went with it?

The comradery is brilliant and equal to the military and I enjoyed the job immensely.

[Robin Evans]

9 minutes ago, Marauder said:

The comradery is brilliant and equal to the military and I enjoyed the job immensely.

I was an accountant for the coal board in those days. Whilst I don't miss finance one iota, I do miss the rest of it.

As you say, the comradeship, the welfare, the community, the whole ethos of it....watching a bloke's back... a bloke you might not like that much.... but doing so with confidence that he was watching yours.

Life has moved on so much. Life, communities and people are built of different stuff now. 

 

[Bob8]

On 27/06/2020 at 18:22, Ullman said:

Aye, they did an' all.

Even as an engineer working a couple of years ago, we would look at the original workings of people from a few decades ago and it felt like people from the dark ages looking at the works of the Roman Empire.

[Marauder]

4 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

I was an accountant for the coal board in those days. Whilst I don't miss finance one iota, I do miss the rest of it.

As you say, the comradeship, the welfare, the community, the whole ethos of it....watching a bloke's back... a bloke you might not like that much.... but doing so with confidence that he was watching yours.

Life has moved on so much. Life, communities and people are built of different stuff now. 

 

I work in construction now and daily you'll see guys watching other guys struggle to lift something heavy, If I see guys struggling I automatically give them a lift and so do my lads.

[CanaBull]

Lister's Mill was always a feature of growing up in Bradford.  Have to admit I love the Victorian aesthetics as well as functionality, even down to the cast iron handwheels on fairly ordinary machinery.  A certain pride in making things look good for the sake of looking good.

Amazed Fred Dibnah hasn't been brought up yet lol.

[Red Willow]

I always think the town halls the Victorians built are wonderful buildings. Whenever you see a fine building on the news it makes me smile

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

On 28/06/2020 at 19:39, Marauder said:

The comradery is brilliant and equal to the military and I enjoyed the job immensely.

Mate of mine's a fireman, before that he was a miner, he tells me that while the comradery in the fire service is great it isn't a patch on when he was a miner. Said he still be doing it today if he could