SHORT LEASE

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 8th Year

Issue

Issue No.

6

Date Released

Feb 1955

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1ART
2. 2SHORT LEASE
3. 3TOP BRASS

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 3

Summary

BFI synopsis: Coal won from Wentworth drift
NCB Summary - At Wentworth Drift coal is being got cheaply and quickly until the big new collieries now being sunk are in producion.
NCB Commentary - Still in Yorkshire, the village of Wentworth lies surrounded by open-cast coal workings. But on the fields outside the village lies a drift mine which developed from an open-cast site. It’s one of the many short-term collieries established to get badly needed coal in a hurry.
Manager Catcheside works this pit on a modest scale but exploits the natural conditions to give high output from a small labout force - only sixty men.
This is a colliery without a shaft. Instead of going downstairs you just walk along the leveluntil you come to the coal. Down the main drift the coal goes in for about a third of a mile, collecting and draining off water from the workings in-bye.
The whole idea behind a pit like this is to win coal cheaply and quickly while the big new collieries are being sunk and developed. Remember, it may take ten years to hit top output from a big new mine. So at Wentworth no time or money has been wasted on frills.
At the loading point the output flows steadily into 22 cwt. tubs which are filled on the move and hauled out by a Diesel Loco.
Three tons a man a day comes out of Wentworth Drift in this way, ready to be shunted in to a travelling tippler - another temporary piece of equipment. Every year Wentworth has been working production has gone up 20 per cent. In 1954 they knocked out twice what they won in 1949.
The scraper grades the coal into sizes over and under 3" and it falls down into waiting lorries which will take it on to the consumer.
Soon Wentworth will be worked out, but the pit will die with its boots on.

Researcher Comments

Commentary recorded 10 January 1955.

Keywords

Mining

Locations

Yorkshire; England; Wentworth

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Sponsor

National Coal Board