The second of the two winders to be installed at Wistow Mine was a tower mounted, six rope, friction winder (Koepe). This winder was installed over the downcast shaft and had a single cage with counter balance weights. The cage was designed to carry 170 men on two decks or 16 tonnes of materials. To give some idea how large the cage at Wistow Mine was, a complete Dosco Dintheader heading machine could be loaded and transported underground on the cage.
They were the largest cages in the UK and weighed nearly 24.7 tonnes.
Below is the pictorial history of the installation and commissioning of the No1 winder.
The cage had to be manufactured and transported in two parts due to its sheer size.
The final pictures are the fitting and commissioning of the six ropes on to the 24.7 tonne cage and counterweight.
The cages on the friction winders in the Selby Coalfield were all tilting deck type. The middle section of the cage has central pivot points on both sides of the deck. Two hydraulic rams are mounted to the lower and middle deck and when operated the middle section is tilted and the load is held at an angle in the cage. This allows loads of up to 8.2 metres long. This system allowed the long, square section girder work, used in the underground bunker areas to be transported safely within the cage without the need to sling underneath the cage as used at many collieries.
Many thanks to Lisa Butterworth, Marketing Manager and George Wild, Company Secretary at Qualter, Hall and Co Limited for their time and for the use of the amazing photographs from their archive.
Qualter, Hall and Co Ltd is a very famous and world renowned heavy and mining engineering company. When the Selby Coalfield project was started a huge amount of mining engineering expertise was needed to develop the coalfield. The five mines in the complex needed two winders per site to supply equipment and transport the men underground. Mine car handling plants to clear the coal and rock produced during the development phase were also needed at each mine to enable the underground developments to take place before the final connection to Gascoigne Wood Mine was completed. At this point all production came to the surface via the two huge trunk conveyors. Qualter, Hall was chosen to design, supply and install the new, state of the art winders and coal handling plants at each mine.
The first satellite mine to be sunk and equipment installed was Wistow Mine. This was the smallest site at only 29 acres and the shallowest mine in the Selby Coalfield. It was also the first mine to start production in July 1983.
Wistow was the only mine in the complex to use a tower mounted friction-winder (Koepe) on the No1 downcast shaft. All the other mines in the complex installed the friction winder on the No2 upcast shaft .
The winder installed on Wistow No2 upcast was a ground mounted, double parallel drum winding engine with twin cages. Each cage would carry 60 men or 8 tonnes of material. It was the first of the two winders to be installed at Wistow Mine. This shaft was used for the mine car handling plant during early development of the mine.
Below is a pictorial history of the manufacturing and the installation of Wistow Mine No2 winder and mine car handling plant.
During the installation of the No2 headgear the two cages were manufactured and transported from the works at Barnsley onto site for installation.
Each double deck cage weighed 4.5 tonnes and were made of aluminium.
Once the No2 upcast shaft headgear was operational in May 1981 the protective cladding was installed to allow the building of the airlock to progress.
With the cages installed and winder fully operational the winder was commissioned for man riding and use as part of the mine car handling plant.
During this period the surface mine car handling plant and outfeed conveyor system was installed to enable the development mineral to be processed. The double deck system, traversers, LOFCO mine car feeder chains and mine car ramming system enabled very efficient loading of empty, and disposal of full, mine cars to and from the shaft.
The underground coal clearance system to Gascoigne Wood Drift Mine was completed in January 1983 and the use of the surface mine car handling plant ceased and the equipment was removed.
Many thanks to Lisa Butterworth, Marketing Manager and George Wild, Company Secretary at Qualter, Hall and Co Limited for their time and for the use of the amazing photographs.
Due to the severe geological and water ingress problems encountered on the first two faces, H01AW and H02AWs at Wistow Mine the mine was totally re-planned. The entire development of Wistow Mine changed from mining longwall faces to a system of single entry coal faces taken from the west side of A Block area of the mine. As the mine developed shortwall and longwall faces were introduced at the east of the mine.
Above: A Block
Above: South West
Above: North East
Above: North East off North Trunk Road
Above: Black Fen No2 and No3 Return
Wistow Mine was the only mine in the Selby coalfield to have water problems and, due to the replanning and redesigning of the mine, full production was not achieved until early 1990. Wistow set many records during its life; it was the first mine in Europe to mine 100,000 tons in a week; it was the first mine to produce 2.5 million tons in less than one year and was the first mine to produce not only 200,000 tons in one week, but a record of nearly 116,000 tonnes from a single coalface in 1995. It also produced 3 million tons in 1994 along with Riccall Mine in the same year. Wistow overcame very difficult mining conditions and had to develop more roadways than any other mine in the complex due to the single entry face system. During its working life Wistow Mine produced not only outstanding production figure but amazing drivage rates to achieve these production figures.
Many thanks to my wife for her spreadsheet and data work on this post.
When the pit bottom area of Wistow Mine was established in August 1981 the main lateral headings to the production units started. North Return South West, South West Loco Road and South West Conveyor Road were driven to the West of the pit bottom. The headings were also driven to the east of the pit. These headings were called North Return North East, North East Loco Road, North East Conveyor Road and South Return North East. The headings were started with the intention of starting coal production in July 1983. The first group of faces were to be worked off the North Return South West. The first face to be developed was H01AWs, known as A1s. This unit was a 150 yard retreat face and started production on 4th July 1983. The face retreated 122 yards when water broke in on 23rd July. Pumping arrangements were quickly started to contain the massive water flows of over 90,000 litres/pm. This water was coming from the Basal Sands, with a fault on the face compounding the problem. It was quickly realised that due to the shallow depth of the workings in the Barnsley seam on A1s, at 330m, water bearing strata at 80m depth, and geological issues, the mine had to be re-planned.
A1s face was abandoned in March 1984 after 460m of retreat. The longwall face of HO2AWs, known as A2s, commenced production in 1984 but had similar problems to A1s and was abandoned after 230m of retreat. It was replaced with a single entry face H21AWs which was developed quickly to enable production to continue. The next four single entry faces working to the west were H31AWs, H32AWs, H41AWs and H42AWs. All the faces were 45m in length. These faces were developed side by side inside the width of the planned longwalls, with a coal panel left for support and were producing coal in 1985. A further single entry face, H02BWs was developed off the Main South Intake and South West Conveyor, also producing coal in 1985. Water was still an issue on the first 4 single entry faces although not on the scale of A1s and A2s. The next 14 single entry faces on A block were reduced in length to 38m and a reduction in seam section being cut. With a coal pillar of 55m left between faces they proved a success with the last face on A block H19AW starting production in 1988.
As shown on the plan below, B Trunk Road was developed as an extension of the North Return Roadway and was driven parallel to A Block Intake for a group of single entry faces. The first face on this block was H106s which started in 1988. H107s, H108s, H109s were worked between 1988 to 1989. A pillar of coal was left before the next group of coal faces started with H115s in 1990. This area of the mine was very shallow, at less than 285m depth, so a system of micro faces were used to control the strata and water from the Basal Sands above these units. Nine faces were worked starting with H115s to H123s which finished production in 1992.
Single entry coal faces on A Block and B Trunk Road.
Single entry coal faces on A Block and B Trunk Road showing shafts.
Single entry coal faces were a way of producing coal at Wistow Mine to minimise disruption to the overlying strata and by default the overlying water bearing strata. This system was used, with great success at Wistow Mine and produced millions of tonnes of coal.
I was lucky to have seen the single entry system of mining at South Kirkby Colliery in the early 1980s in the Newhill, known as the Castleford Four Foot Seam in North Yorkshire. The system was developed by working five, 35m long faces over a four year period. As the system developed improvements to production were achieved as new equipment was installed. They were discontinued in 1985.
The single entry faces were developed, as the name suggests, using one roadway. At the inbye end of the heading a short roadway is opened to either left or right. This is, in effect a short face creating an L shaped heading. Once the stub heading was created the coal face equipment was installed in this stub heading. The chocks and A.F.C were installed like a standard faceline, but were butted up to the fast end of heading. The ventilation system was installed as part of the pan sides and the air was forced out at the fast end of the face thereby ventilating the face and the supply gate. Once the chocks and A.F.C were installed the drive motor was installed at the supply gate end of the face. The shearer was a shortened version of a standard single ended machine. The face was ventilated by fan like a standard heading but worked under exemption from the Mines Inspectorate, due to the ventilation of the fast end of the face. Methane levels were closely monitored with detection monitors installed at various points on the face to ensure air flow was maintained. The face had a flexible system of hoses and cables supplying the face which included a ventilation system to allow the face to retreat as required with constant air flow being maintained.
As seen from the plan shown above, the South Return and South Intake roadways were developed to access the south of the mine. The North Return North East, North East Loco, North East Conveyor and South Return North East were developed to access the east and north of the Mine. When these headings reached 1500m two roadways were driven south called the ‘C’ Trunk Loco and ‘C’ Conveyor Road. The The North East Conveyor and North East Return Roadway continued east for a further 1800m. H03CWs, a single entry face, H04CWs, HO5CWs were shortwall H06CWs, H37s and H38s were longwall faces and were worked between 1986 and 1989 at around 500m depth. This was at the boundary of Wistow and Riccall Mine.
A roadway was driven north west from the ‘C’ Trunk Conveyor called C2s Trunk Road and three shortwall faces were worked between 1989 and 1990. These faces were H25s, H26s and H27s.
When the ‘C’ Trunk roads reached 2000m, two roadways were driven east towards the Riccall boundary called the North East Intake and Return. H42s, H44s, H45s and H46s longwall faces were worked between 1990 and 1993.
At 200m in the Main South Return, a roadway was driven north east called C1s Trunk Road and five single entry faces, H33s, H34s, H35s, H36s and H36As were worked between 1990 and 1991 at a depth of 380m.
When the south headings reached 1500m an heading called Black Fen No1 Lateral was driven East to join up with the ‘C’ Trunk Conveyor Road. Three shortwall faces, H50s, H52s and H53s along with a double single entry face , H51a and H51b were worked between 1991 and 1992.
One further face worked from the North Trunk Road was H720s. This was a single entry face worked in 1999.
The main lateral headings for the South Intake and Return progressed along with B South Intake and Trunk Road running parallel to the west of the mine to develop a series of single entry faces. Two roadway called South West No 2 Lateral and South West No 2 Return were driven towards the West and faces were developed to the north of these two roadways.
H56s, at the top left of the plan was the first face to be worked in 1992. The faces on the left of the plan were all single entry faces, gradually getting shorter due to geological issues and finished with H69s in 1995. The next group of faces to be worked were at the top right hand side of the plan. The first face was H139s which started in 1994 with the last face, H130s which finished in 1997.
The faces shown in the lower middle panel were worked from the South West No 2 Intake and were single entry faces with gradual reduction in face length known as micro faces. The first face to be worked in this panel was H147s in 1996 to H141s which finished production in 1998.
The decision was made in 1996 to work a panel of coal using the Room and Pillar or Pillar and Stall as it sometimes known. This district was called PE1As. It was mined as a series of 5x14ft headings with cross cuts. The continuous miners used were Joy CM11 and Joy CM15 along with three Joy shuttle cars for coal clearance to Stammler Bunkers. The headings were roof bolted using Fletcher Bolters with a place changing system. This was the only time this system of working was used in the Selby coalfield.
The series of twelve faces shown from H159s to H175s on the right hand side of the plan were worked from the Thorpe Hall Lateral and Extension roadways. These faces were between 1997 until 2003.
The final group of five faces were H154s to H151s worked from 1999 until 2002.
Joy 4LS Shearer at Wistow Mine
This section of the mine worked fifty single entry faces over a period of eleven years, and shows how impressive the Wistow heading teams were.
This was the south eastern area of Wistow Mine and bordered Riccall Mine on the top edge of the plan. The faces were worked from the Black Fen No2 and Black Fen No3 Return roadways. As seen on the plan, fifteen shortwall and longwall coal faces were worked. These types of faces were worked due to the depth of workings. H80s started production in 1992 and H93s finished production in 1998. H81s which was the final face at Wistow Mine is shown at the bottom of the plan.
Selby Superpit 