The Selby Coalfield Complex was a brand new mine sunk with the intention of mining 600 million tonnes of the Barnsley Bed coal seam only. It was conceived using a relatively new concept and design used in British mining. The entire coal production was to surface at a separate mine sited many kilometres away from the production coal faces. The concept was very similar to a complex of coal mines in the Fife Coalfield of Scotland called The Longannet Complex.
Map reproduced with kind permission of N.M.R.S. https://www.nmrs.org.uk/
3D Diagram of the Selby Coalfield.
The coal produced in the Selby Complex was delivered to the surface via two huge conveyor belts,12.2 kilometres in length in the two spine tunnels running 60m to 80m below the Barnsley Bed coal seam in the Lidgett coal seam horizon. This difference in depths between the production coal seam and the spine tunnel depth was designed to give North Selby and Stillingfleet, two staple shafts, each with 2000 tonnes of storage, Riccall and Whitemoor, two staple shafts, each with 2000 tonnes of storage and Wistow, three staple shafts each with 2000 tonnes of storage. The shafts were all 24 feet in diameter with loading rates all remotely operated and controlled from Gascoigne Wood Mine. This was designed to ensure full production could continue, if either of the spine tunnel conveyors stopped. Each staple shaft could load onto either of the spine conveyors via uni directional feeders called Westerland Feeders sited at the bottom of each staple shaft. The two spine tunnels were part of the Gascoigne Wood Drift Mine, where all the coal production was delivered to the surface via two, 1 in 4 incline, 800m long, sloping tunnels. The North Spine Tunnel was designed to deliver 2000 tonnes per hour and the South Spine Tunnel was designed to deliver 2200 tonnes per hour. The coal was processed and stored in the largest coal storage facility in Europe with a capacity of 43,000 tonnes, which is one day of production. It was then dispatched to Drax power station via a new rail link created for the Selby Coalfield by British Rail and paid for by the N.C.B.
Gascoigne Wood Drifts.
Gascoigne Wood coal train rapid loader
Gascoigne Wood coal storage and reclaimer facility.
The Barnsley Bed coal seam has a natural dip of 1 in 17 from West to North East so the shafts’ depths became deeper as the complex developed. Wistow Mine was the first mine to be sunk, starting in October 1976 and reached the Barnsley Bed Seam at 365m in March 1980 with a final shaft depth of 411.3m (No1) and 381.5m (No2). Gascoigne Wood Drift Mine was the second mine to be started in March 1978. The two, 800m drifts were sunk using modified Dosco S.B.600 with a shield to enable a circular lining to be installed due to huge ingress of water.
Plan of Gascoigne Wood Drift construction design.
This development continued until 22nd June 1987 in the South Spine Tunnel and 24th November 1991 in the North Spine Tunnel. The first connection to a production mine was made in 1982 at Wistow Mine where production started in January 1983.
The two Gascoigne Wood spine tunnels were driven by two totally different machines. The South Spine Tunnel was a 204 tonne, 900 H.P. Robbins 193-214 Tunnel Boring Machine ( TBM), only the second time a TBM had been used in a British mine, the first being a Thyssen FLP 35 at Dawdon Colliery in 1975/76.
900 H.P. Robbins 193-214 Tunnel Boring Machine ( TBM)
The tunnelling machine used in the North Spine Tunnel was initially a Dosco MK 3 roadheader until it was replaced with a 260 horsepower, heavy duty, Thyssen Meco Titan (Paurat) 132C
Dosco MK3 Roadheader.
Thyssen Meco (Paurat) Titan 132C.
The Selby Complex was designed in 1974 as the most modern mine in the world. The mining engineers intended to use the most modern mining techniques available. This was reflected in the development drivages at the individual mines, where many records were achieved using Dosco MK2A (revised hydraulics), MK2B, MK3 and Anderson Strathclyde RH series roadheading machines driving the main roadways. The roadways to access the coal faces were driven using BJD Heliminer, Lee Norse LN800 and JOY CM12 continuous miner machines. Clayton Pony and BoBo battery and Hunslet-G.M.T. diesel locomotives were used for the underground haulage with diesel Free Steered Vehicles used for delivering equipment in some of the gate roads developments. Whitemoor and Gascoigne Wood were the only mines to operate a wire rope haulage for manriding and equipment haulage.
The first coal face equipment used at Selby were either Gullick Dobson or Dowty Meco face supports with Anderson Strathclyde AM500 DERDS or BJD ACE DERDS shearers.
Shearer on coalface.
Three Dimensional Plan of the Selby Coalfield.
As you can see from the plan, the Selby Coalfield was a huge mining engineering project, which was the biggest and most complex ever undertaken in the world at the time.
Selby Superpit 