Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: mine

Like many of the South Wales coal mines the Big Pit at Blaenavon was located high up on the valley side above the village. What's missing at what is now a museum is the huge spoil tip that loomed behind the site when it was active. HFF to everyone. Have a great weekend.

It's difficult to capture the depth of the "Big Hole" in Kimberley but the height of the buildings give an idea of the scale. It's a real vertical wall of rock. Kimberlite, an ultramafic igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite, is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after Kimberley where diamonds were mined from this hole. Kimberlite occurs in the Earth's crust in vertical structures known as kimberlite pipes, as well as igneous dykes and can also occur as horizontal sills. The consensus on kimberlites is that they are formed deep within the mantle, hence at high temperatures and pressures. HWW to everyone. Have a great day!

Inside the engine house which once housed a typical Cornish beam engine. Magpie Mine was the last working lead mine in the Derbyshire orefield and is one of the best surviving examples in the UK of a 19th century lead mine. HWW to everyone.

Now all the deep coal mines in the UK are closed the only way to go underground today is in a museum like The Big Pit National Museum at Blaenavon. The Big Pit used to be connected to the LNWR line to Pontypool by a steeply graded mineral line. Today Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST (Works No 544 1900) NCB No 10 stands on the truncated remains by the pit head coupled to a rail-mounted crane.

Thorne colliery, opened in 1926, was the deepest & furthest east mine in the South Yorkshire coalfield. This changed the small market town of Thorne into an industrial centre although the pit village of Moorends (where I was born) was built a discreet distance from the old town. In 1956 the colliery closed temporarily for repairs to the shaft to stop the influx of water. Although millions of pounds were spent the mine never opened again and today all trace of the original colliery seen here was erased & even the later 1980s winding gear has now been demolished. HFF everyone & have a great weekend.

Levant Mine and steam-driven Beam Engine at Trewellard, Pendeen near St Just in the far west of Cornwall. This historic tin mine is preserved by the National Trust and visits to see the engine and go underground are by appointment. Unfortunately we hadn't made one but the whole surface site was of interest including the lighthouse in the distance at Pendeen and the weather was perfect. HFF. Have a great & peaceful weekend.

Ex-Chinese Railways JS 2-8-2 8173 curves out of the open cast pit at Sandaoling with its 13 wagon train of coal. I learnt recently that the last great steam show in the world is no more and all the coal from the pit is now transported to the washeries by truck. The end of an era

Fighting against the fierce gradient and the curvature JS 2-8-2 8167 pulls its load of side-tippler coal trucks out of the deep open cast pit at Sandaoling.

In 1982 the Eschweiler Bergwerks Verein (EBV) Alsdorf coke ovens and Grube-Anna mine (off right) north of Aachen were a hive of activity as was the DB main line in the foreground. The green-liveried steam engine is almost certainly Anna no 14 (later renumbered to Anna no 6) built by Krupp in 1940 for Dynamit Nobel. It has been preserved at the Westfälisches Industriemuseum in Dortmund. Unbelievably, gone today are the DB exchange sidings, the coke ovens and all the industrial plant of EBV Grube Anna. The mine closed in 1983 and the coking plant in 1987. The main line survives as does the signal box just seen top left.

An unidentified Sandaoling coal railway JS 2-8-2 waits to enter the loading area with its train of empty wagons.

A classic front three-quarter shot as another load of coal is effortlessly drawn out of the open cast pit by JS 2-8-2 8173. The gradient can be appreciated from the level siding on the right and the actual depth of the pit from the cliffs.

Dwarfed by the size of the open cast pit JS 2--8-2 8167 pounds out of the mine with a full load of coal.

Riding the caboose out of the open cast coal mine at sunrise.

Catching the rising sun the 08.35am workers passenger train departs from the small platform at Dongbolizhan propelled by JS 2-8-2 8081.

The crew of JS 2-8-2 8366 look back to check if the crossing is clear at the eastern end of Nanzhan yard during a shunting move. Note the twin air horns on the cab roof.

Another full trainload of coal heads out of the open cast pit behind JS 2-8-2 8167.

JS 2-8-2 8053 heads away to Nanzhan yard with a trainload of coal from the Shibanzi deep mine west of Sandaoling.

It's the pre-dawn shift change at Dongbolizhan and 2 JS 2-8-2s simmer in the semi-darkness.