Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	19th September 1901
Colliery:	Margaret Pit, Newbottle
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1

No. 311 on the list occurred at the Margaret Pit of Newbottle Colliery, belonging to the Lambton Collieries, Ltd., on the 19th of September, and caused the death of an engine plane lad.

The deceased boy was employed hanging on and taking tubs off the endless rope in the crosscut way.

For a distance of eighty-one yards the engine plane dips at the rate of two inches per yard owing to its having passed, at this point, through a dip, hitch, or fault of 12 feet,

Two tubs are attached to the rope at a time; the distance between them and the next two being 80 to 85 yards.

On the day in question the deceased lad had attached six full tubs to the rope, and, instead of their travelling out-bye, as he expected, they had by some means got off the way at the top of the incline, and the two tubs following joined them, which caused the hauling rope to fly out of the forks and liberate the tubs; they ran back down the steep gradient, and, before he could get out of the way, caught and crushed him between them and two tubs he was in the act of attaching to the rope, causing such severe injuries that he died the same evening when being taken to the infirmary at Sunderland.

At the place he was caught there was a spring chock to prevent tubs running back in this way, but the speed in this instance had been so great that the tubs over ran it.

A runaway switch and another chock have since been put in, and I hope that they will prevent an accident of this kind in future.

The importance of adequate protection being given to men and lads working on engine planes, &c., by means of runaway switches and chocks cannot be over-rated, and it is most desirable that they should be provided and kept in working order.

Source:

1901 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 1062), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian

	Cain, Thomas, aged 16, Engine Plane Lad, he was hanging tubs on to an endless rope, when two tubs ran back down an incline and fatally crushed him between them and those he was hanging on to the rope
	All names found

 

 Return    Return to Top