IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Blackshale Road, MANSFIELD, NG19 7GE

This was the smaller of the two winding engines and was a horizontal duplex built in 1902 by Fraser & Chalmers of Erith. The Corliss valve cylinders were 26 x 54" and fitted with Seymour's patent valve gear (the only example I ever saw) under governor control. The parallel drum was 11' diameter. The engine was scrapped in 1983 but one cylinder was taken to the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall. This museum is long since closed and the fate of the cylinder is not known. The colliery was demolished many years ago. This view is from the crank end on the driver's side. The circular dial with a bell on top is the indicator to show the driver where the cages are in the shaft. This winder was hauling men and materials and was smaller than the monster on the other shaft that was hauling coal. The operation was 24 hours per day and we were kindly allowed in to see these lovely machines. For our part we kept out of the way and did not distract the drivers.

Now long gone. This shows the upcast shaft and clouds of steam winder exhaust. Despite attempts at silencing this still had quite an exciting bark and was not popular with the neighbours.

A complete view and worthy of a geograph. The pit is long gone and after 26 years I have no idea which way I was pointing.

Winding engine house for the big Fraser & Chalmers cross compound steam winding engine that was used for "coal-pulling". This is visible through the hole in the wall. It was still in use as evidenced by the exhaust steam at the top of the image. It was however in the throes of conversion to electric power. The drum was being retained and a big motor was ready for coupling up. In a few day's time the big steam engine was to be broken up and unceremoniously despatched through the big hole in the wall. One of the engine drivers had written a poignant poem but I was unable to get a copy of it (pity). The 1980s marked the final knockings of the steam winding engine in the UK and I'm glad I was there to see it.

Sherwood had a pair of Fraser & Chalmers winding engines. This is the large 1903 built cross compound with cylinders 32" & 53" bores x 66" stroke and rated at 2800 horsepower. It was stopped and scrapped in 1982.

This was the smaller of the two winding engines and was a horizontal duplex built in 1902 by Fraser & Chalmers of Erith. The Corliss valve cylinders were 26 x 54" and fitted with Seymour's patent valve gear (the only example I ever saw) under governor control. The parallel drum was 11' diameter. The engine was scrapped in 1983 but one cylinder was taken to the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall. This museum is long since closed and the fate of the cylinder is not known. The colliery was demolished many years ago.

This was the smaller of the two winding engines and was a horizontal duplex built in 1902 by Fraser & Chalmers of Erith. The Corliss valve cylinders were 26 x 54" and fitted with Seymour's patent valve gear (the only example I ever saw) under governor control. The parallel drum was 11' diameter. The engine was scrapped in 1983 but one cylinder was taken to the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall. This museum is long since closed and the fate of the cylinder is not known. The colliery was demolished many years ago. The photograph includes the Allan link motion reversing gear and the complex linkages of the Seymour valve gear.

This was the smaller of the two winding engines and was a horizontal duplex built in 1902 by Fraser & Chalmers of Erith. The Corliss valve cylinders were 26 x 54" and fitted with Seymour's patent valve gear (the only example I ever saw) under governor control. The parallel drum was 11' diameter. The engine was scrapped in 1983 but one cylinder was taken to the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall. This museum is long since closed and the fate of the cylinder is not known. The colliery was demolished many years ago.

This was the smaller of the two winding engines and was a horizontal duplex built in 1902 by Fraser & Chalmers of Erith. The Corliss valve cylinders were 26 x 54" and fitted with Seymour's patent valve gear (the only example I ever saw) under governor control. The parallel drum was 11' diameter. The engine was scrapped in 1983 but one cylinder was taken to the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall. This museum is long since closed and the fate of the cylinder is not known. The colliery was demolished many years ago. This view shows a close-up of the Corliss valves with Seymour's gear. The steam (inlet) valves are in the top corners with variable cut-off under governor control and the exhaust valves are out of sight in the bottom corners. The vertical rod on the extreme right is oscillated by a separate eccentric and carries a cam at the top. The timing of this cam is varied by the governor. The cam bears on a pin that passes through the carrier oscillated by the wristplate (bottom centre) and pushes apart the trip dies to release the valve to be closed by a spring and dashpot assembly. The pin that pushes the dies apart is barely visible (I can see it, just). All this complexity is to allow for a later cut-off than is possible with more conventional Corliss gears and allows the engine to develop maximum power (up to 95% cut-off) while accelerating the cages and then let the governor shorten the cut-off and reduce the power during the constant speed phase of the wind.

This was the smaller of the two winding engines and was a horizontal duplex built in 1902 by Fraser & Chalmers of Erith. The Corliss valve cylinders were 26 x 54" and fitted with Seymour's patent valve gear (the only example I ever saw) under governor control. The parallel drum was 11' diameter. The engine was scrapped in 1983 but one cylinder was taken to the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall. This museum is long since closed and the fate of the cylinder is not known. The colliery was demolished many years ago. This shows one of the cylinders with the Corliss valve gear including Seymour's trip gear. The steam (inlet) valves with the trip gear are at the top and the spring loaded dashpots to close them when tripped are down at floor level. The exhaust valves are in the bottom corners. The valves are operated from a central wristplate that is driven via Allan straight link reversing motion from two eccentrics on the crankshaft.