Photographs No. 2
Winding House
The winding house is of brick construction
with a slate roof, seven bays long by three bays wide. The two windows in the
centre bay of the end elevation are where the winding ropes formerly entered
the building.
No. 1 Winding Engine
This horizontal twin tandem-compound
engine was manufactured by Yates & Thom of Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1912.
It developed 3,300 horsepower and it is one of the largest steam winding
engines to survive. The maximum speed of the engine was 58 revolutions per
minute, which produced a mine cage speed of around 58 miles per hour. It was
designed to raise 8 tons of coal every two minutes from a depth of 872 yards.
The high pressure cylinders are 35 inches in diameter, the low pressure
cylinders are 60 inches in diameter and the stroke is 72 inches. The valve gear
consists of Corliss inlet and outlet valves, after American engineer, George H
Corliss (1817-88). The bi-cylindro-conical winding drum is 27 feet at the
largest diameter and 16 feet 8 inches at the smallest diameter. Its width is 17
feet 1 inch and it weighs 105 tons.
The wire winding rope was 2 3/16 inches in diameter and each one weighed 18 tons. The reversing and brake engines were manufactured by Worsley Mesnes.
The engine was last used in April 1970 when the colliery was closed by the National Coal Board (NCB). Restoration of the engine took almost 25 years to complete and it is hoped to run the engine with compressed air at a speed of two or three revolutions per minute.
No. 1 Winding Engine
This view shows one side of the engine
with the high pressure cylinder on the right and the low pressure cylinder on
the left. Exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder passed into a
calorifier situated below the floor, where it was used to heat water. The steam
then passed into the low pressure cylinder and from there it passed into a
condenser where it was liquefied before passing back to the boilers. Steam was
raised in a battery of coal-fired Lancashire boilers.
No. 1 Winding Engine
Detail of a high pressure cylinder with the engine control room behind.
No. 1 Winding Engine
Detail of the winding drum with a crank and connecting rod in the foreground.
No. 1 Winding Engine
Detail of the valve rods that operate the Corliss valves.
Astley Green
Colliery No. 1
