Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 07 June 1924
The Wembley Coal Mine.
“Surely you haven’t come all the way from Conisborough to look at a coal mine.”
This was the remark addressed to the writer by a representative of the Denaby and Cadeby Collieries, who, a few days back was doing duty at the model coal mine in the grounds of the British Empire Exhibition. It was a very pleasant surprise to me to find two representatives from the Conisbrough district on duty, one of whom, Mr. Burden, was an old acquaintance, and I appreciated the opportunity of a chat about “home” affairs.
Having paid 1s. 3d. for a ticket (for the coal mine is not a show one proceeds to inspect the winding apparatus, and various other exhibits, and then we ascend to the cages which are “twins,” one going down and the other coming up. The lowering is done at a rate which would bring to a collier’s face, a derisive smile, for the “mine” is not many feet deep, and the time occupied I should judge—in the descent is about the same as would be taken by the Cadeby pit cage, to travel from the surface to the shaft bottom.
At the bottom I became one of a party; and our guide appearing from some mysterious recess, we commenced the exploration. As soon as the guide began his explanations I thought to myself “thy speech betrayeth thee.” I felt sure he hailed from the South Yorkshire coal field, and subsequent inquiries revealed the fact that he worked at Manvers Main, and lived at Wath.
The underground portion of this wonderful exhibit consists of a winding road along which visitors are conducted, with a series of dummies, not “living,” but all the model workers are life-sized, and shown performing the typical operation of coal-getting. The hewer is seen at work in a crouching position, undercutting the seam, the props are set, and the guide explains how, when the props are removed the coal usually falls, and if it refuses, the various methods adopted for assisting the fall are shown, and the use of explosives is explained.
The method of removal of the coal thus won is illustrated; the filler is seen at work, and the various methods of haulage are fully illustrated. I don’t know whether coal-cutting machinery is as freely employed in mines as the casual observer would be led to infer from the Wembley mine, at any rate the coal cutters were rather a prominent feature of the exhibit.
The manner of supporting the roof of the mine is exhibited, and one can see strong pieces of timber broken across the middle as cross pieces, and crushed at the ends of uprights.
The method of supervision is shown and an underground official’s cubby hole, with its telephones, first-aid box, and all the other details, is on view. Our guide agreed to me suggestion that this place is more often termed “cubby boil.” An odour of free ammonia indicated that we were approaching the stables, and here we saw two beautifully groomed ponies, one black and one white, both had done many years’ duty in the mine, the former having 25 years’ service to its credit, and our guide showed us the ponies’ time book in which are recorded the precise times at which each animal leaves and is returned to the stable, and the name of its driver. He claimed that a pony’s life underground is not necessarily a hard one, and that the two ponies on view were living testimonies to this fact.
There was a very fine display of rescue apparatus of various types, and the method of their employ was carefully and fully explained by our genial guide, who also was very clear in his explanations of the method of ventilation of mines.
In the “mine” itself there was, when I visited it, no illustration of stone-dusting as a preventative against explosions, but a question to our guide elicited the fact that this point had not been overlooked, and that a section of the “mine” would later be arranged to exhibit this modern method of guarding against explosions.
In one place the layer depicting coal comes abruptly to an end, and at this point our guide explained very carefully the nature of a “fault,” and the methods adopted in mining practice to find the coal seam.
Taking leave of our friend from Manvers Main we passed out of the mine, walked not as a matter of fact, and entered a large room full of exhibits connected with mining.
There were models of pit-heads; a very interesting exhibit of early methods of drawing coal up the shaft by means of horses which walked round in a circle thus causing the winding drum to rotate; apparatus used in testing explosive coal dust and descriptions of the results obtained; various forms of rescue apparatus; and scores of other interesting features over which, if time was of no consequence, one could linger very profitably for hours.
It is stated that £100,000 has been spent in constructing the Wembley mine, and though it would be impossible to get an accurate impression of a coal mine in any other way than by going down a real mine, still, a visitor by a visit to this model of a mine, will have, at the close of his inspection, a very fair idea of the conditions under which coal is won.