Category: Wistow Surface Devt

Qualter, Hall Engineering and the Selby Coalfield: Wistow No. 1 Winder.

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 Engineering and the Selby Coalfield: Wistow No. 2 Winder.

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.