Wheldale Colliery 1987/88 part 1

© P.Wormstone 1987 Feel free to view and share this work but any copying or use for financial gain is strictly prohibited without consent. I worked at Wheldale from 1980 to 88, I started as an apprentice Electrician in Sept 80 and became the last Electrician at the mine as I volunteered to stay and oversee demolition during 87/88. Wheldale Colliery was situated on Wheldon Rd in Castleford, just a bit further up the road than the Cas Tigers ground. The shafts were sunk in 1868 and the pit was owned by the Airedale Collieries Company (including Allerton Bywater and Fryston). It was originally nicknamed the Doctors' Pit; as a Doctor Holt was one of the original business partners. In 1948 Wheldale had the longest single conveyor belt in the world at a length of 1 mile long, installed by Sutcliffe mine engineers based at Universal Works, Horbury, Wakefield. Wheldale was the last mine in Yorkshire to use pit ponies, they eventually came out of the mine at the start of the 1972 strike. Wheldale was also the last mine to operate a steam locomotive, during 1981/82. The mine was eventually closed by 'Thatcher' in Oct 1987 a very sad day for all of us that worked there. Part 1 Includes the car park, Time office, Baths and lamp room. I filmed this movie on a shoulder mounted, VHS video camera which was very heavy so apologies for the dodgy camera work. Apologies also for the poor film quality and the odd 'pit language', also ignore the dates on the film, most of them are wrong. Enjoy Please visit : The Coal,Colliery and Mining Forum http://coalmine.proboards.com The National Coalmining Museum http://www.ncm.org.uk