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Photos of Wigan
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Wigan Album

Gullick Dobson

5 Comments

Gullick Roof Supports 1970
Gullick Roof Supports 1970
Photo: Alf Smith
Views: 2,852
Item #: 23421
Starting the Assembling Of Roof Supports here at the Outside Workshop.Supports are to be transported fully assembled to the Bulli Coalmine Wollongong,NSW Australia, 1970

Comment by: stan on 6th May 2013 at 16:46

When my late dad worked at Gullicks up to 1970, he used to tell us they made "Pit Props" would that be these, or something else?

Comment by: Rev David Long on 6th May 2013 at 21:28

Pit props were single supports for the roof above coal workings. When I was in training for underground work we were shown how to place a piece of timber as a prop - and then how to place a single hydraulic prop. Not that we were ever allowed to do so - the real miners did that. Hydraulic props were used to secure the haulage motors (Pickroses) that we used to haul timber blocks and 9-foots up to the face - but on the face itself the Gullick-Dobson self-advancing pit-props did the real work of keeping the face safe and enabling the cutters and the haulage pans to work effectively.

Comment by: AP on 8th May 2013 at 11:35

Rev David:
In what respect were you an unreal miner?

Comment by: Rev David Long on 9th May 2013 at 20:32

AP - I was a mere timber boy, or conveyor-switch operator in my year underground. The real miners got the coal, drove the headings, set rings, or dinted the roadways - all of which required skills and experience I didn't possess. This included the skill of setting Dowty props safely and securely so that the haulage engine didn't shoot off down the gate, or pull a ring out of the roof, when it was operated.

Comment by: AP on 9th May 2013 at 21:23

Thank you Rev David, I asked, finding myself wondering if you had been a 'Bevin Boy': I did not want to ask directly as it would imply you were of a certain age, and I did not want to cause offence, as I had rather got the impression you were younger than would have been implied by that.

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