Learning on ScreenDiesel Locos
Series
- Series Name
- Mining Review 1st Year
Issue
Story
- Story No. within this Issue
- 1 / 3
- Summary
- BFI synopsis: The Hunslet locomotive used underground.
COI Commentary - Here, in the making, is one of the answers to our coal problem. Our worst bottleneck is haulage - we need ten men to do the work that one man does in America. This casting will take shape as a diesel locomotive, to draw a train of coal trucks from the face to the shaft.
In the Leeds works of the Hunslet Engineering Company, the rough casting is first planed down to the smoothness of glass, and then holes are bored on this machine. It looks cumbersome, but it can be operated to fractions of a thousandth of an inch.
Some of the components are burnt out by this flame cutter, which eats through solid steel as if it was cheese.
The patent exhaust box is one of the most important parts of the engine. Exhaust fumes are very unpleasant and may be dangerous in a confined space, so the exhaust is forced through a tortuous channel full of water, which dissolves all the harmful gases.
Plates of high grade stainless steel are prepared for the flame trap, Anything that’s going underground in British mines must be a hundred per cent safe; if a spark should get through he exhaust box, it is quenched by passing through the plates, less than a millimetre apart, which are here being fitted on to the exhaust outlet.
The engine itself must be sturdy and reliable. It’s designed for rough work and a long life, and everything must be foolproof. If a loco goes wrong on the surface, it can be shunted on to a siding for repairs, but a breakdown in a mine would mean a complete holdup, so no chance can be taken.
If anything needs adjusting, the whole engine can be got at easily by lifting off the side.
All the works of this loco are packed into the minimum space and neatly enclosed. It’s complete now, and goes through its paces on the track in the factory. Before it goes underground, it will have to pass stiff tests for safety and efficiency.
The loco is 100 horse power with four speeds, and can haul on a level track in first gear about 300 tons, but the weight and load depends on the track conditions.
As more are made suitable for Diesel Locos, production will be speeded up! - Keywords
- Railways; Mining
- Written sources
- The National Archives INF 6 /391
British Film Institute Databases Used for synopsis
Hogenkamp, A. P., unpublished DPhil thesis pxv.
- Credits:
-
- Production Co.
- Crown Film Unit
- Director
- Graham Wallace
- Camera
- J. Jones
- Cutter
- Jocelyn Jackson
- Cutter
- John Legard
- Producer
- John Taylor
- Commentator
- Maurice Denham
- Sponsor
- Ministry of Fuel and Power
This series is held by:
Film Archive
- Name
- British Film Institute (BFI)
- For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk - Web
- http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web
- Phone
- 020 7255 1444
- Fax
- 020 7580 7503
- Address
- 21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN - Notes
- The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).
- Series held
- View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)
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