Daw Mill Colliery

Just been on the local news here that Daw Mill Colliery is under threat beacuse allegedly it isn't profitable despite sitting on an excellent seam that should last well into the 2020's.

Reason I've put this here is I know a number of Mainline Groups and Preserved Railways happen to use or have previously used Daw Mill Coal so i'd imagine a number might have to examine looking at new suppliers.

 

I thought Tyseley are one operator that used or even favoured Daw Mill coal? When I was an engineering trainee with the NCB I had a visit underground at Daw Mill, around about 1986. Everything was state of the art and I think it was a million tonner even then. I think its output is maybe double that now. As I recall , two seams came together to make the Warwickshire thick seam. Coming from the South Wales collieries, the coal face appeared collosal:-at least a 12 foot high section, huge roof supports, an AM500 double drum shearer, flourescent lighting throughout. It seemed a world away from what I had experienced prior to that.With a shrinking domestic market and competition from abroad and other energy sources, you could see the writing on the wall for the industry.Maybe 20-25 ,2 million tonner "super pits". But I never thought it would be decimated to its current level.
I hope for those employed there they can turn it around. Hard to believe that when I started there was something like 200,000 employed in the industry. Just as thought provoking is wondering how much of the mining machinery industries still survive. We were world leaders in mining technology.
I am sure a day will come, if it already hasn't , when this country will regret the loss of so much of its engineering and manufacturing industry. And for turning its back on a huge ,strategic ,indigenous source of energy.
Bit off topic, nostalgic rant over.
I thought there was an opencast near Merthyr that recently opened up and professed to provide good quality steam coal??

 

Yes, the Brecon Mountain Railway wanted to buy a few lorry loads from them but couldn't because of the rules on coal leaving by rail. Locals weren't prepared to budge - 'thin end of the wedge' and all that. As it is, I believe the BMR has its coal shipped in from Russia!

 

6024 has used Ffos-y-Fran opencast steam coal on the mainline and on the WSR, although I am not sure what the transport arrangements were. It burns well but the lump size was rather small. Like traditional Welsh steam coal it is rather friable and doesn't take kindly to lots of handling.

 

Last week 5627 & 5628 both passed their 10-yearly UAT and are in use 'twixt the depot and West Yard.

Pete S.

C&W Dept.,
GWS.

 

Seems there is another opencast mine due to open at Nant Llesg close to Ffos-y-Fran.
From what I remember Welsh steam coal is often slack and lumps, as David says it does not take well to handling.
London Midland firemen who got a tender of it called it Welsh blind.

Cheers Dave

 

I used to live in Burton Green to the west of Coventry. There was proposed to be a new mine at Hawkhurst Moor close to the proposed route of HS2.
This new mine was to access the Warwickshire seam to the west of Coventry as access from Daw Mill was really too far, probably 20-25 miles underground.
The seam under this area was said to be 20 feet thick under this area.
Perhaps the gent JMR could confirm the truth of this.

Cheers Dave

 

Sorry, I can't confirm that from any experience. I left the industry in 1989 and my only experience of the midlands collieries were visits to Daw Mill and Coventry, as part of a 2 week stint at Bretby. The link below has a lot of info in it regarding many coalfields, some I wasn't even aware of (Clee Hill outcrops!!!). It mentions Hawkhurst moor and desribes the Warwickshire seam as 6.6 to 7.5m thick. So, on that basis , a 20foot section sounds feasible.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file19153.pdf

 

JMR
thanks for the info. This issue is actually of great concern to us as we use lots of Daw Mill coal here at Tyseley and have found it to be generally the best coal available for our purposes, certainly Earl of Mout Edgcumbe and Rood Ashton Hall seem to go well on it. Living on the northen edge of the North warwicks coal field (about half a mile up the A5 from the level crossing where the Baddesley Garratt used to cross) it is difficult not to pick up various facts from locals who were or are still involved in the mining industry. I have always been told that the warwickshire thick was around 7 metres deep so what you say ties in with that. In recent times Daw Mill has had issues with geological faults and a couple of years ago they had run into a belt of mudstone I believe which meant that whilst they were still getting coal out, the screens were apparently no longer able to deal with large cobbles and so most of the output was being crushed to sweeten the inferior stuff in power station supplies. At that time we were heading towards running the non stop Bristolians with 5043 and obviously wanted supplies of coal that was decent and which we were familiar with. Having explained the problem, the colliery went out of its way to help and managed to find us a lorry load of washed cobbles which got us by on the Bristolian. In between I gather from the local press that they had almost turned 3 million tons in one recent year. I think that there are around 800 people employed there, and when you add all the transport staff, railway staff, support industries and the like it is obvious that this is going to put over a thousand people on the streets so it is a mjor issue for the North warwickshire area. Worse than that it is probably the biggest deep mine still open and any closure is just about going to put the final nail in the coffin as far as any significant mining experience in the UK is concerned. You are right to comment on the demise of industry in general too. If any of you is sufficiently concerned, maybe you could put pen to paper and write to Dan Byles who is the MP for North Warwickshire and express your views and support for Daw Mill. Just think of the amount of dole that the Goverment is going to have to find to support everyone who loses their job. What is wrong with a subsidy to keep something worth having? The problem may be that the owners don't see the finances that way. But it is an inescapable fact that the closure of this pit is just another step in neutering the UK's ability to stand on its own feet.

Regards
Bob

 

It's good to know that there's another ex NCB engineering Trainee on here. I never got to visit Daw Mill or Coventry Colliery (which had some of the largest steam winders in the country) so I've no real knowledge of the Warwickshire thick seam. However, I did get involved in some preliminary design work for the Hawkhurst Moor project in the early 1980's. From memory, there were to be two shafts, each serviced by 4-rope ground mounted friction winders, which I personally thought was an awful proposal. At that time the coal mining industry was still on the up following the 1974 Plan for Coal. The Selby project was well on its way to production start and the Snaith coalfield was being actively planned, as well. There were even whispers of a start on the Oxfodshire coalfield being on the cards. They were good times but how things changed in such a short space of time. Happy memories......