Images of Industry

Heading leading onto a coal face at Six Bells Colliery

DAVIES, William John 'Chopper' ( - 2006)

Heading leading onto a coal face at Six Bells Colliery

Date: 20th century

Media: crayon on paper

Size: 580 x 683 mm

Acquired: 2010; Purchase

Accession Number: 2010.40/1

Comments (2)

Comments are currently unavailable. We apologise for the inconvenience.
Ceri Thompson Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales Staff
22 February 2021, 10:27

Hi Alcwyn

Thanks for your comment.

Chopper Davies was a haulage engine driver at 6 Bells (he took part in the rescue effort following the disaster) and drew what he saw underground, so I would trust him to get things correct. As I'm working from home at the moment I can't check my manuals, but I think that he's showing a 1960s type 'mother gate' cleared by hand.

If you'd like to Email me using

this form
we can have a further chat about this.

Best wishes

Ceri Thompson, Curator.

Alcwyn ELLIOTT
19 February 2021, 22:04
Nice drawing but all of the advance faces in South Wales that I have been on including Six Bells had the roadway in advance of the face.
No disrespect, but all of the equipment in the roadway is missing and access to the face is restricted.
As part of my initial training I spent time in a roadway and carried the steel rings for installation , compressed air Eimco shovels were used to throw the rock and coal onto the end of the Stage Loader called BSL (Beam Stage Loader)
This was in the 60s..
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