PERSONAL CALL: 3. WE VISIT THRISLINGTON

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 5th Year

Issue

Issue No.

7

Date Released

Mar 1952

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1LEARNER DRIVER
2. 2THE JACKPOT
3. 3PERSONAL CALL: 3. WE VISIT THRISLINGTON

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 3

Section Title

PERSONAL CALL

Summary

BFI synopsis: a German coal plough working in 2’3" seams, with John Slater.
NCB Commentary - Thrislington Colliery, in County Durham, is the scene of another new development in continuous mining - a German coal plough, seen here in model form, whose teeth bite into a seam of coal and shear off a cascade of it straight onto the conveyor all the way down a longwall face.
I was the monkey, as usual, sent down to show you what it’s all about. By now I know enough to remember about ‘No Smoking’. Manager Fletcher pointed it out all the same.
About fifteen minutes from pit bottom we came to the power winches which haul the plough up the face. This is a compressed air winch; there’s an electric capstan in front of it.
And here’s the tail gate. Do you want me to get in there, I said? Two foot six, said manager Fletcher, plenty of room for you - get in. In I went. I was lucky, because the plough was just on the way up, grunting and groaning as it sheared into the coal. I went in for a closer look.
The plough runs along over 200 yards of face, and it’s all at a pretty steep angle. The next bloke I knocked into, almost, was Tom MacDonald, the fore overman, who showed me the compressed air rams anchored to the roof that shove the steel conveyor tight up against the plough, and keep it tearing into the face.
Off again downhill. I wanted to know what George Storer was doing up against the waste. Withdrawing a prop, he said: better keep clear, get back out of it. As the coal is won and the face advances, they take out the rear props and the roof falls into the waste. You’ve got to be good at your job ...
These props and roof bars are German, too, and I can tell you they’re plenty solid. Specially when you don’t look where you’re going. Jack Garrow was setting another one: he told me a supported bar will hold up 35 tons. The props work like a wedge.
Here’s the bottom end of the face, with Tom Sewell and Bob Evans working in the stall where the plough returns to start its fresh out. They keep the stall six feet in advance of the face, and about 20 feet long.
And here’s the plough back again, ready to start a fresh run. I tried to scrape off some of the coal so that you could see the teeth, but there was a bit too much for me. I’m not a miner yet. Off she goes again, with the cut coal bumping down onto the scraper conveyor - which is an English one - on the way out of the face to the gate conveyor.
And this is John Slater bumping down out of the face on the way to a cup of tea. You try spending a day under the kitchen table and see how you feel.
Last stop was the winch that hauls the plough downhill when it’s flitting. It looks as is I said something funny to the winchman, but I think it must have been rude. Still, can you imagine trying to get coal out of that seam the old fashioned pick and shovel way?

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed from the 27th to the 31st January 1952. The budget was £234 3s 2d. Commentary recorded 4 February 1952.

Keywords

Mining

Locations

England; County Durham

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.6 No.74 December 1952, p651.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Camera

Charles Wilford Smith

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Director

Francis Gysin

Commentator

John Slater

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Support services

Stanley Goulder

Camera

Wolfgang Suschitzky