Hickleton Colliery - over the driver's head
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Hickleton Colliery - over the driver's head by Chris Allen as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Hickleton Colliery - over the driver's head
Image: © Chris Allen Taken: 6 May 1981
The top of the driver's head is visible in his padded settle as he operates this large steam winding engine. The dial showing the cage position (also known as a 'miniature') is visible as is one of the marks on the drum used for precisely positioning the cage. The drum is bicylindroconical with two flat sections linked by a spiral rising from 16' to 28' diameter. The Gooch link reversing link is also clearly seen. This photograph is taken from on top of one of the cylinders with a tripod arranged among the working drop valves etc. The engine was running and nobody told us that health and safety would prevent a shot like that - it probably would now. For the interested, the engine was a horizontal twin cylinder winding engine built in 1921 by Markham & Co Ltd, Chesterfield. The two cylinders were 38" bore x 84" stroke. It took steam at 140 psi but latterly ran on compressed air (it was on steam when I took this). It was finally scrapped in 1994.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.542292
Longitude
-1.299774