Mexborough and Swinton Times December 17, 1897

The Stoppage at Denaby Main.
Remarkable Engineering Feat
A Great Task Accomplished In Record Time.
A Fire at Cadeby Colliery
More Men Wanted

The Denaby Main pit of the Denaby and Cadeby Collieries Ltd, resumed work on Wednesday, after a stop about nine days caused by a breakage of the drum shaft, connected with the main winding gear. The magnitude of the breakage and the rapidity with which the repairs were affected probably constitutes a record in colliery history.

The previous existing winding gear, which had been in regular use since the colliery was opened in 1964, a period of 33 years, worked satisfactorily until 2 p.m. on Monday the sixth instant.

The engineer had only just finished running the workmen up and down the shaft, and the change from the morning to the afternoon shift, when the peculiar smell heated metal and oil warned him that some part of his machinery was getting hot.

After an examination he found the friction had occurred in the bearings of the drum shaft and on investigating to ascertain the cause found the shaft to be broken and twisted out of shape. A terrible accident had been by a miracle averted, for at any moment the shaft might have broken, and the drum refused to wind, and had this occurred when men were being conveyed up and down the shaft imagination only can supply the details of what might have happened .

The discovery, of course, caused the pit to be set down at once. and the men who had descended to their work were brought up by the No. 2 or cupola shaft. The management, realising that the accident occurring so near the Christmas holidays could not have happened more unluckily for their employees, strained every nerve to repair the damage, and get the pit to work again. The order for the-new shaft was placed with Messrs. Chas, Cammell, and Co., Ltd., of Sheffield, and although the ponderous piece of machinery is about 20ft. long, with a diameter of 14 inches and weighs nine tons and required to be made of the most carefully tempered steel, it was cast, forged, turned, and planed within a week after the breakage was discovered, being, in fact, actually delivered at Denaby Colliery on the 13th inst. at 3 p.m.

Preparations for fitting the shaft had been madeand the drum was winding again at 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday, the 14th or scarcely eight and a half days after the breakage. The credit of this is due chiefly so the Sheffield engineering firm, who turned out the shaft as true as could be desired, and to Mr. Rose, the surface manager, who spared no exertions to get the repairs completed.

The engines began drawing coal again the first thing on Wednesday morning, and everything has worked satisfactorily since, a remarkably good job having been made of the repair to the shaft, while the time occupied in making good the damage was exceptionally short  for a task of that character.

During the stoppage some of the men thrown out of work at Denaby asked leave to go to work at Cadeby, where it was known there was room for further hands. Permission was given, and some of the Denaby men did work during the time, but the officials of the Cadeby branch of the Yorkshire Miners Association met a number of these men on their way to work, and objected to what they called an encroachment. This led to some unpleasantness between the management and the officials, but as work has now been resumed at Denaby it is probable the disagreement will go no further.

For the week ending Wednesday over 7,000 tons were drawn at the Cadebv colliery, which is a record output for the pit. This output could, however, be increased, as in consequence of the developments in the eastern district there is now room for 50 more colliers and a proportionate number of fillers and boys, about 200 hands all told.

A slight outbreak of fire has occurred in the Cadeby Colliery but it was fortunately nothing serious. It was discovered on Friday, the 3rd inst., and was completely extinguished by Sunday night, the 5th inst., having been tackled before it assumed a serious aspect. It occurred in the western district but the statement contained in a contemporary that it broke out in “a section leading to the Denaby Main Pit, where a fire has existed for years, caused by spontaneous combustion.” is ridiculous, there being’, no section of the Cadeby pit leading to Denaby Main. The fire occurred in the Barnsley seam, as at Denaby, but 126 yards below the level of the fire which broke out some years ago, and separated from it by a huge bed of rock, the “fault” which caused Cadeby Main to be sunk some 250 yards deeper than Denaby Main.