CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 246)
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Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 12:57:37 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: Dilys Xavier <Dilys(a)dilys.greatxscape.net>
To: <GLAMORGAN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 6:14 AM
Subject: Stationary engine driver
For Kim, especially.
I well remember, as a teenager, deliberately spending hours watching a
stationary
engine driver - because it was so fascinating. Those engines were
steam driven, and the pistons driving it were gigantic, and the loud hiss of
steam was frightening to pass when the engine was being started for a
journey down the shaft.
The driver was officially a 'colliery winding engine-man'. It
was one of
the choice jobs on the pit top, and often ran in families, as it did in
mine.
The driver had to keep his eyes fixed on a huge clock in front of
him,
carefully watching the enormous pointer as it travelled from level to level,
whichever was the destination of that batch of miners going down. When the
hand came close to the level wanted, the driver would slow down, with a loud
hiss of steam from the giant engine, and deposit the cage as gently as he
could.
Some drivers were a bit rough, and the miners were always keen to
know who
was working the shift; it meant being lowered carefully, or with a nasty
jiggle and bump, on landing. A 'smooth' ride was what they all wanted, and
there were those winders who always gave them that. Some, who never did.
There are no steam driven engines like that today; any that survive
are
electric now. In those days, when I was willing and eager to give my
youthful time to this exciting (!) hobby, I was allowed to go down in the
company of a banksman. It was an odd experience. When I reached half way, I
distinctly felt as though I was on the return journey to the top; this was
quite normal, apparently.
This job carried very high responsibility; the driver had many lives
at
stake, and accidents could happen. Even though there was a great strain put
on the engine-man, he was expected to work, and concentrate the while, for
very long shifts. In the 1930's, I remember that there were no holidays
arranged for them, despite it being such an exacting job; the 3 regular
'winders', as they were termed, used to arrange time off between themselves.
If one wanted a day off, the other two shared his shift.
There were three shifts a day, so the engine worked all day and all
night,
at the recognised shift intervals. Signals from the banksman indicating some
were ready to be raised to the top, or go down.
It was quite a nerve-racking job, very well paid, for those days,
and a
job that was coveted. Remembering this has taken me way back, but, here
endeth my story.
Dilys, Essex
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