1994 - Page 2

Ollerton Was Closed 1994, After 69 Years

- Continued -

The Blacksmith’s, Joiners, Fitting and Electrical shops were all in one block 170 feet x 30 feet (51.8m x 9.14m). Other surface buildings sprang up - and further boilers, Powder magazine, Screens etc. A huge brick chimney at 8’ 7” (2.615m) dia and 169 feet (51.5m) high from the fire holes dominated the landscape along with the twin headstocks.

Water softener 40 ft x 12 ft x 10 ft (12.2m x 3.65m x 3.05m) was a Lassen Hjort automatic type built to give 10,000 gallons per hour capacity.

Stonedust Grinding Plant is of the Ball Mill type with a capacity of 3 to 4 cwts per hour to Home Office Specification manufactured by Messrs William Johnson and Sons Ltd, Leeds.

Turbines: One 5 stage, 1,500 Kw, 3 phase, 50 cycle, mixed pressure turbine, direct coupled to Alternator of 3,000 volts, running at 3,000 rpm built by the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd and fitted with a Mirrless Watson’s Condenser, capable of condensing 47,500 lbs of exhaust steam per hour when circulating 3,350 gallons of water per minute. Vacuum 27 “- baro 30”. This plant was used for sinking through the water-bearing measures. A second turbine was installed as a spare.

Waste heat accumulators: 3 were made at the colliery and were capable of storing sufficient heat from the winding engine exhaust to bridge a gap of 30/35 secs with a 1,500 Kw demand. One Bellis High Speed engine, coupled direct to 250 Kw Scott and Mountain Generator. This plant was used for sinking through the water-bearing measures.

Water tower: Visco Standard Natural Draft chimney type Cooling Tower capable of cooling 210,000 gallons of water per hour from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to 75 degrees. The air temperature was 55 degrees Fahrenheit. A second one was built later.

Heapsteads and Gantries and all creepers constructed by the Butterley Co Ltd.

Screens built by Messrs Plowright Bros Ltd of Chesterfield. The Screen house consists of H section girder framework filled in with reinforced brick panelling and reinforced concrete floors, the whole forming a fireproof building. Full use was made of gravity for the automatic circulation of the full and empty trams. There was a small plant to deal with 2“ “ coal.

Shaft equipment: The cages of 2 deck type, made by Butterley Co Ltd, each deck carrying 3 trams each of 14 cwts. There were 4 conductors to each cage fixed on the outer side of same. Size of conductors 1?” (0.03m) diameter constructed from 8 round wires and 8 shaped wires over 7 wires, made from special slow drawn toughened guide rod steel of 60 tons per sq in breaking strain. There were two 2” (0.05m) dia Rubbing ropes fitted between the cages and constructed from 9 round 6 round 1, made of mild steel rods, 25, 27 tons per sq inch. The sinking scaffold was raised and lowered using the large dia pulley wheels of 18 feet (5.5m) and the sinking hoppit or kibble was wound using 9 feet (2.74m) dia wheels slung underneath. The shafts were ventilated by a high pressure Keith Blackman blowing fan of 3’ 6” (1.07m) dia through pipes of 18” (0.45m) dia delivering 4,000 cu ft / min.

Compressors: One steam driven Ingersoll Rand Straight line 2-stage Air compressor, delivering 600 cu ft at 100 lbs pressure. One 2-stage Air compressor, delivering 1,000 cu ft at 100 lbs.

Compressors were put down for sinking purposes and were used for the drills in the shafts.

Capstans: One 40 ton double drum capstan, having drums 5 ft dia x 5 ft wide (1.52m x 1.52m) with cylinders 10” x 16” (0.25m x 0.40m) stroke, built by Messrs Markham and Co Ltd, Chesterfield. One double drum capstan having drums 5 ft dia x 3 ft (1.52m x 0.91m) wide with cylinders 11” x 16” (0.28m x 0.40m) stroke, built by Messrs Qualter, Hall and Co Ltd.

Main ventilation fan was a Waddle 15 ft (4.57m) dia Improved Self-contained type. Capacity of 300,000 cu ft of air per minute, against 4 water gauge at 215 rpm and could be driven by steam (Bellis) or electricity.

Boilers: A battery of 11 Lancashire Boilers each 30 ft x 9 ft (9.14m x 2.74m) at 160 lbs working pressure, 6 1.

Chimney was 180 feet (54.9m) high brick built with 8’ 7” (2.61m) internal diameter barrel.
A 5 ton Shunting Crane was built by Messrs Henry Coles and Co Ltd of Derby.

The Deputies for the sinking were Matt Godley and Arthur Eyre. Master Sinker was Jock Green, in charge of 86 others, including Len Smith (father of Trev Smith an ex linesman in the 1960s). The twelve hour man was Mark Green and the chargemen were Joe Gibbons and Jack Malone. Sinking pumps were by Sulzer Bros of London with 500 hp motors delivering 1,000 gals of water /min. The paddles of the pumps required replacing quite often as they wore out due to the coarse particles of rock, sand etc.

In June 1925 the 120 odd sinkers working on shifts sank and walled 73 yards (66.75m), quite a feat at the time. The brick walling was done in 23 lengths with 21 curbs.

On Saturday 1st August 1925 the Top Hard seam was reached at No1 shaft at 528 yds (483m) and was found to be 5’ 9” (1.75m) thick. A banquet for 200 was provided by the Company for the sinkers and other workers at the Plough Hotel. A 36 gallon barrel of beer was quaffed.

No2 shaft finished sinking on 10th October and coal was wound out after changing the hoppits for cages on 18th October at 6pm. No1 shaft was finished on 25th October 1925 at 546 yds (500m), passing through 125 different strata.

The first winder was Tom WS Caunt at 18 years of age and was the youngest winder in the Midlands at that time and continued in that capacity for many years (shown in photo about 1938). Other winders were George Hemingway and Wilf Eley, (Uncle of Bryan Eley, another friend of mine) originating from the Heanor district.

Roadways were driven from both pit bottoms and coupled up allowing the fan ducting to be taken out of the shafts.

Unfortunately after only heading out 10 yds (9m) from No2 shaft to the North side the large fault up to 50 feet (15m) which had been encountered in the shaft sinking was struck and the coal seam disappeared making progress very slow in the hard rock heading. This would necessitate the sinking of a staple pit to create a ventilation system. It was called Campbell’s air pit. Manpower at 13th Oct 1925, 17 coal headers, Elsewhere below Ground (EBG) 20, surface 163 and by 31st Dec 1925 had risen to 85 coal, EBG 54 and 154 surface men and boys. Men were attracted to the new opening from Staffordshire as well as Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Expenditure of the sinking was £489,922 and the estimated cost of the sinking and royalty payments for coal was £1,046,000 and housing was another £550,000 - over £1.59m, which after loan repayments rose to £1.96m.

The pit generally was to prove to be quite dry underground, only pumping less than 50 gals/min and the water was allowed to fill several old Top Hard dip side districts underground such as 3s, sooner than be pumped to the surface.

The first large fall of ground was experienced on 3rd Feb 1926, giving the first inclination that the immediate roof above the seam was not as good as first thought, and that care would be necessary. This however would not be heeded as will be noted by the number of serious and fatal accidents that would occur over the years following. Longwall advancing hand got stall working with pit ponies was the system of working from 1926 to about 1932 when face conveyors were installed. The stables were made off 400s Main in readiness for the introduction of 40 ponies for haulage work.

Ollerton Shunting Engine 1926

The village building was continuing and the infrastructure formed. Railway lines were laid in the streets to transport the materials. Forest Road, Walesby Lane, Poplar Street; Beech Avenue; Oak Avenue; Sycamore Road; Birch Road, Larch Road, Whinney Lane, Newark Road, Pine Avenue, Oak Avenue, Briar Road etc. Eventually there were 820 rented houses built with almost 4,000 men, women and children.

The Company policeman ‘Bobby Healey’ ex army man in the 17th Lancers was someone to be feared if anyone was awry, however he was fair but he stuck to the rules laid down. He visited every property and remarked on the tidiness of the large rear garden so that vegetables and flowers could be grown and a horticultural show held a yearly prize for the best vegetables and flowers, allotments being available for the enthusiastic. The front garden was lawned and kept in trim by the Company gardeners (to be paid for at 2d (app 1p) a week) and woe betide anyone walking on the grass, for there was a fine of 2s 6d (12p), stopped out of the following weeks wages. It was a way of teaching the young lads a lesson because after the stoppage from the pay, no doubt about it, the lad would get a hiding from his dad. He also visited inside every house to note the cleanliness, reported his findings to the ‘gaffer’. Continual adverse comments resulted in the sack and loss of house of course.

So as to ensure an equal pressure as near as possible of water for each house several circuits were made by pumping the water from a central position in the village (at the end of Poplar Street). A ring main was supplied direct from a pump at the colliery with hot water heated from the exhaust steam from the winders and maintained at a fixed pressure. From the ring main a single return pipe was connected to the calorifier at the colliery. Just a few houses down Whinney Lane were not on the circuit due to the distance away from the colliery.

The Royal Assent for the building of a railway to the colliery was granted in July 1926. The railway sidings were laid out for 610 empties and 800 full trucks. A Loco shed for 3 locos was 60 feet x 32 feet (18.3 x 9.75m) and had a sand drying furnace, sand bunker and cabin. LNER and Mid Nottinghamshire Joint Railways served the Colliery.

Surface locos from 1922 used over the years at 4’ 8“ (1.435m) gauge:

• No13 0-6-0 ST Butterley 1900
• B21C ST 0-6-0 Butterley 1907
• B22C 0-4-0 ST 1918
• Butterley No31 0-6-0 ST 1939
• Butterley No51 0-4-0 ST 1940, all ex Butterley
• Ollerton No5 0-6-0 ST 1954
• Diesel D1 No6 0-6-0 DM 1956 new
• No4 0-4-0 ST 1951 ex RSHD, to Clipstone
• David 0-4-0 DM 1939 ex Thos Ward Sheffield
• D8 0-6-0 DH 1966
• D15 0-6-0 DH 1967 both new
• D21 0-6-0 DH 1967
• D26 0-6-0 DH 1967
• D26 4w DH 1964 ex TH.