In the same year, construction was started on a private railway line running from the mine to Pinnox. Construction was completed in , and transportation costs for the ever-increasing output of the mine were drastically reduced.
Unfortunately, by this time, the company was in financial difficulties due to earlier capital investments and a downturn in trade. In an effort to save the company, various smaller mines were closed. There were several fatalities. Some shafts were destroyed, others had to be filled to contain the fire. In , the company was in such dire straits that it applied to the court for the closure of the mine. Instead, the mine was placed in the hands of three liquidators who helped it weather the storm.
In , the mine was transferred to a new owner, and Chatterley Whitfield Collieries Limited was born. Under this new direction, the mine was producing over , tons of coal by In the early s, another explosion occurred, fortunately without resulting in casualties.
Following this, a decision was made to provide additional ventilation, and work at the mine continued successfully. In the years that followed, various modernizations were made. For example, underground transportation was mechanized, traditional wooden supports were replaced with steel ones, and electrically driven coal cutters were installed. The s and s were the most challenging years due to the Great Depression.
Many workers were laid off. In , the Chatterley mine became the first mine in the UK to produce one million tons of coal in one year, an event that was repeated in During the Second World War, the mine continued to function, and in it was nationalized. In the late s, the coal industry began to decline. In , only , tons of coal were recorded per year. Eventually, in March , Chatterley Whitfield ceased operations when it was realized that coal could be more profitably worked at the nearby Wolstanton Colliery.
The external buildings and the shafts were made safe for visitors, and the mining equipment was restored to its original working condition. In , the former mine was opened as the Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum, allowing visitors access to underground workings.
The museum went on to become the most famous mining museum in the country. Many of the surface buildings were renovated and machinery was restored in its original working condition to show in great realism the life and working conditions of local miners. In May , the nearby Wolstanton colliery was closed, from where water was pumped out of the workings. This lead to fears that the underground mining experience at Chatterley Whitfield would flood and there would be a build up of gas.
A new experience was constructed using shallow workings and a railway cutting. This enabled underground tours to continue until the museum was put into liquidation in and subsequently closed on 9th August that year.
Operational from , the Hesketh power house contained compressor pumps and electrical generating equipment. Air was pushed into compressed air receivers to maintain pressure before being pumped down the pit where it would be used to power the machinery such as coal cutters, boring engines, jigger picks and conveyors.
Adjoined to the power house, the Hesketh winding house contains a horsepower steam winding engine, made by Worsley Mesnes lromnakers, Wigan in A bank of 10 Lancashire boilers were erected in to supply steam for the winding engines, pithead baths, canteen, compressors and to heat the offices. The roof was removed, but before the boilers were scrapped they were saved, however the roof was not replaced which has had a big effect of the derelict state they are now in.
Situated between the Institute and Platt shafts the fan extracted some 43, cubic metres of air per minute, which entered the mine via the Hesketh and Winstanley shafts and exited through the Evasee up the Platt and Institute shafts. The Institute Winding House was installed in and was fitted with a single horsepower electric drum winder. The system had one cage functioning as an upcast. The lamp house was added in , after the older lamp house was deemed too small owing to an increase in manpower and the introduction of electric lamps.
Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, Staffordshire. Locomotive Shed and workshops — Dominion drill press.
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