LEDSTONE LUCK

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 7th Year

Issue

Issue No.
10
Date Released
Jun 1954
Stories in this Issue:
  1. 1LEDSTONE LUCK
  2. 2MOTOR SHOW
  3. 3TAKING STOCK
  4. 4SADLERS WELSH

Story

Story No. within this Issue
1 / 4
Summary
BFI synopsis: re-organized haulage at Ledstone Luck colliery, Yorkshire.
NCB Commentary - Ledston Luck is a pit that’s been reborn. Closed down during the war, to-day it has been successfully reorganised and is helping to boost output in the Yorkshire field.
Most remarkable feature of the new Ledston is the haulage system emplying only ten men above and below ground, yet handling over 1,300 tons a day.
Trainloads of coal in big 3 1/2-ton mine cars are marshalled by a cunning combination of Diesel locomotives and the force of gravity.
From here they’re on their own. They roll into the cages kicking out the empties on the far side.
You won’t see many cleaner or brighter-lit pit bottoms than the one at Ledston.
On the surface one man loads the cages with the help of hydraulic rams. Full cars coast down, again by gravity, and are kicked back automatically to make up a train of 24 wagons.
Diesel locomotives on the surface haul these trains a mile and a half away to Peckfield Colliery where all Ledston coal is processed.
Here goes gravity again. Watch how the locomotive accelerates in front of the train to let the cars find their own way down to the tippler house. Here they’re tipped one by one and then shunted back to make a train of empies. The speed and efficiency of this way of handling coal is an example of imaginative engineering in action.
Researcher Comments
According to bfi records, this story was made from footage taken for the self-contained film ‘Haulage Reorganisation at Ledstone Luck’ (1953). An additional cameraman with the initials ‘GL’ was also responsible for the film. Commentary recorded 10 May 1954.
Keywords
Railways; Transport; Mining
Locations
Yorkshire; England
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for Synopsis
Film User   Vol.8 No.95 September 1954, p436.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956
Credits:
Production Co.
Documentary Technicians Alliance
Director
Francis Gysin
Camera
Kenneth Reeves
Sponsor
National Coal Board
Camera
Wolfgang Suschitzky

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