Old Fire Engine Colliery (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, August 06, 2011, 15:15 (4862 days ago) @ unknown

Hi Mike,
I didnt realise that site was the Pope's handiwork, although I'm not surprised. I think my dad knew Alec back when I were a lad, in Cinderford, or am I confused ?.

Thanks for your expert input which I for one hope does remain on the thread. But to briefly answer my unexpert question if you could, on the basis this seam has the same rather odd(?) name in two different parts of the area, how did the miners of old know it was the same seam, or was it just an educated guess ?.
Is it normal for a seam to be so long, or is this a short one ?.
Can you moreorless identify its the same seam by it's physical appearance/makeup ?

Re cost effectiveness of coal, while an apprentice at Ranks Mitcheldean in abt 1983 I was heavily involved in the rebuilding of one of the site's two boiler houses. We replaced the wornout oil burners with a stateofthe art automated coalfired system. A lot of people were surprised at this seeming retrograde step, but the result was a completely clean system (smallcoal fed automatically from a silo topped up by a tanker, low emissions, etc) and all cost effectives altho I know it was helped with governmnnt grants etc. I wouldnt be surprised if its still working ?. In those days every day about 1pm a RAF trainer plane would fly up the valley enroute to mid Wales ranges I guess, we're sure they used our new chimney as a routeplot as they banked tightly around it.

Cheers Jeff