EPPLETON. Hetton-le-Hole, Durham. 6th. July, 1951.

The colliery was sunk in 1825 and was an extensively worked mine. It was situated near the village of Hetton-le-Hole in East Durham about six miles North West of Durham and south of Sunderland. It was in the Group “C” of the No. 2 Area, Durham Division of the National Coal Board. The seams that were worked at the colliery were the Five Quarter, Main Coal, Maudlin, Low Main and Busty. The Hutton Seam which lay between the two last named had been worked out.

The mine had three winding shafts. The Jane Pit was 12 feet in diameter and went to the Busty Seam at 434 yards. The Caroline Pit was 11 feet in diameter and went to the Hutton Seam and the Lindsay or New Pit was 16 feet in diameter to and 10 feet diameter from, the Hutton seam down to the Busty Seam. The Jane and Caroline shafts were downcasts and the Lindsay was the upcast shaft. The coal from the Busty Seam, in which the explosion took place, was wound up the Jane shaft. The ventilation was by an electrically driven double inlet Sirocco fan, 154 inches in diameter with a capacity of 287,000 cubic feet per minute at a water gauge of 2.3 inches.

During 1939 in order to develop the Busty Seam and to balance the relatively high water gauge required to overcome the extra resistance due to the small shaft area and the extensive workings, a large booster fan was installed in the seam near the upcast shaft. This was an electrically driven Sirocco fan, 120 inches in diameter with a capacity of 130,000 cubic feet at a water gauge of four inches. This was kept running constantly to serve the whole of the Busty workings.

A total of 1,689 persons were employed underground and 403 at the surface and the daily average output of the mine was 2,300 tons, half of which was obtained from the Busty Seam. The Area General Manager was Mr. A.H. Kellett with Mr. J.N.O. Rogers as the Area Production Manager. The Group Agent was Mr. W. Stokoe. The Manager of the colliery was Mr. W.C. Elliott and the Undermanager of the Busty Seam, Mr. S.B. Martyn. The Undermanagers on the other seams were Messrs. T.W. Stout and Mr. A.K. Nutman.

The seams were not particularly gassy but firedamp was a hazard in all of them and safety lamps had been used throughout the mine for many years. The lamps in general use for the workmen and deputies were the Oldham G.W. electric cap lamps (self servicing) and Patterson hp. flame lamps. The deputies also carried Patterson G.T.L.9 flame lamps and senior officials Patterson G.T. re-lighter lamps for gas testing purposes. Automatic firedamp detectors were not required by the regulations but they were available if they were required. Selected workmen carried the Patterson Type A.1 flame lamps as gas detectors.

The Busty seam at the colliery ranged between 5 feet and 6 feet thick in a full section with a varying middle band of stone which was very thick in some places. The seam was overlaid with a strong sandstone about 30 feet thick and in some areas, this formed the roof. The floor was of dark shale 6 to 15 inches thick underlain by grey metal. The coal had a volatile content of 36 per cent and gave a good gas coal. The some had been extensively worked for 25 years, mainly by bord and pillar mining using pneumatic picks and loaded into tubs but in an area that had recently been acquired of the defunct Hetton Colliery, which lay to the south of the Eppleton shafts and below a 48 feet drop fault, it was decided in 1945 to adopt American machinery and British arcwall machines to form pillars for later extraction where the question of surface support permitted. The district was developed in 1946 from the South Main Plane to work the seam in a trough area, 200 yards wide, lying between two large faults running in a westerly direction, by forming pillars 37 yards by 17 yards with headings five yards wide to give 33 per cent extraction.

From the beginning, the district was worked by arcwall cutters, Joy loaders and shuttle cars which transported the coal to the No.4 main Board where they discharged on to a Huwood 30-inch belt conveyor feeding a short scraper-chain conveyor loading into tubs which were hauled in sets of 30 by main and tail haulage to the pit bottom. The district was advanced to the working boundary, a distance of about 1,300 yards from the Main South Plane. Support had to be left for a surface property on the inbye length and the workings were stepped back for extraction of the pillars, by “brokens” working which commenced in September 1950. At the time of the explosion about 300 yards had been retreated and some 12 acres of goaf laid down. The loading point was stationed about 350 yards from the main line of extraction at the time of the explosion and about 400 yards from the Main South Plane or half a mile from the Jane shaft.

At the face of the section of the seam included a top coal 1 foot 8 inches, a dirt band and coal 1 foot 1 inch and a bottom coal of 2 feet 6 inches, totalling 5 feet 3 inches working height with a bedded sandstone roof. The arcwall machine normally cut in the dirt band to a depth of 7 feet. The band was then loaded by a Joy loader into a shuttle car which discharged into stowbords which were completed or disused headings, but this practice was rather difficult during extraction working and the dirt occasionally was loaded out on to the conveyor belt. The holed faces were broken down by separate rounds each of four shots in the top and the bottom coal, and the coal was then loaded out and conveyed mechanically.

At the time of the explosion, the electric machinery installed at the face consisted of one A.B. Universal arcwall coal-cutter, two Joy loaders, two shuttle cars and two portable drilling machines. Electric power was supplied from a sub-station in the district transforming from 5,500 to 500 volts A.C. and battery-operated shuttle cars were served by an outbye charging station by two 7.5 K.V.A. rectifiers. All the electrical equipment was to British flameproof standards except the Joy loader and the shuttle cars which carried the overall Permissible Certificate of the U.S.A. Bureau of Mines.

The mine produced about 150 tons per day and the work was organised on three shifts. The first or fore shift descended at 12.22 a.m. and came up at 8 a.m., the second or Backshift descended at 8 a.m. and came up at 3.34 p.m. and the Third shift descended at 3.34 p.m. and came up at 11.24 p.m. Each shift was in the charge of a deputy, under the general supervision of an overman for the whole of the South Side of the Busty. The deputy in charge at the time of the explosion was N. Holmes and those on the second and third shifts were J. Burrows and G., Lumley. The overman on duty at the time was M. Brown. The normal complement of persons employed in the district on each of the three shifts was 12 and a deputy, which included one shotfirer, one driller, two cutter-men, two Joy loader operators, two shuttle car drivers, and one machinery maintenance man, with one conveyor loader attendant and two haulage hands outbye.

The deputy on the for shift made his own pre-shift inspection before passing his men inbye the meeting station, which he could carry out in half an hour, but those for the other two shifts were made by the deputy of the previous shift. The deputy of the third shift, the one prior to the explosion, G. Lumley, made his second and last inspection between 9 and 10 p.m. before his shift finished at 11.10 p.m. The various canvas sheets and brattices were then in position and the ventilation was taking its proper course. During his shift, he made frequent tests for gas at the goaf edges and in the working places but found none. Both the lift in the No.8 Left and the “Jenkin” (bord lift) in No 8 Right had been cut during the latter part of the shift but in neither face had the band been cleaned of the coal drilled. The arcwall coal-cutter had been brought back to the outbye side of the No.8 Right turn, one Joy loader was back from the face of the No.5 Skirting. Both shuttle cars were back at the charging station ready for the batteries to be charged.

Lumley met his successor, the deceased deputy, N. Holmes at the surface at 12 midnight and informed him of the position in the 69A District. Holmes went underground at 12.22 a.m. with his shift and probably started his inspection about 12.45 a.m. The last few pages of the Deputies report book, which were blown out from the meeting station, were found torn and illegible and showed signs of burning. There was no legible entry for the last per-shift inspection by deputy Holmes but his inspection of the previous day, the 5th June, was timed to commence at 12.45 a.m. and was completed by 1.30 a.m.

The amount of work done by the new shift certainly pointed to one of two things. First that Holmes completed his per-shift inspection well before 1.30 a.m. or that he admitted his men piece-meal prior to a full inspection being completed. There was visual evidence in the form of chalked initials and date to indicate that he had inspected all the working places. According to R.W. Evans, the haulage engineman, two shuttle carloads of stone and coal had been discharged to the conveyor belt, one loaded by 1.25 a.m. and it could be assumed these loads came from the No.8 Right face which was found cleaned ready for drilling and charging shot holes. A third shuttle carload was being obtained in No.8 Left face at the time of the explosion. This meant that the Joy loader had first been taken into the No.8 Right face and then to the No.8 Left face and that both the shuttle cars had been moved from the charging stations to these places. No loading had been done with the other Joy loader in the No.6 Skirting but the coal cutting machine had been moved during this shift from outbye of the No.8 Right turn to the junction of the No.6 Bord with No.6 Right Cross-cut. The moving of the machinery would entail passing through the canvas sheets and may have caused an undetected interruption in the ventilation.

The explosion occurred at 1.50 a.m. on Friday 6th July 1951 during the second hour of the first shift while the full complement of 13 men was at work. All nine men on the working face were killed. Seven of them died in the explosion and two died later from their injuries but four others who were outbye at the time escaped without injury. None of the 348 persons at work in other parts of the mine including 39 in the other South Busty workings were affected.

The alarm was raised by the engineman, Evans, who was on the landing at the tub loading point when he felt a sudden rush of air outbye followed by a thick cloud of dust. He telephoned the shaft bottom and the shift overman, M. Brown, who was in the adjourning district at the time. On reaching the district, he went inbye after testing the ventilation. He found the conveyor belt dislodged and lying across N. Holmes, the deputy and near him was Hicks, the shuttle car driver. Both men were alive but badly injured and he arranged to get them to the surface.

Shortly before 3 a.m. the first rescue team arrived on the scene and explored most of the district before turning back in the return airway owing to thick smoke and fumes. About this time, the undermanager, Mr. Martyn, discovered that the two doors leading to the main return airway for the South Side had been blown open by the blast. This was completely short-circuiting the air in the district but the doors were not damaged and they were quickly restored. The rescue teams replaced the canvas sheets inbye which had been destroyed by the explosion and by 3.30 a.m. the ventilation began to take its normal course. All the bodies were out of the mine by 6.30 a.m. and it was possible by 7 a.m. to explore the whole district without breathing apparatus.

At the face of the No.8 Left, the body of T. Box, the operator was found lying alongside his Joy loader and R. Foster, the driver was in a sitting position facing outbye in the driving seat of the shuttle car. R. Parker, shotfirer and A. Patterson, driller, were found on the No.4 Main Bord between Nos. 7 and 8 Right Cross-cuts. J. Walker and A. Hunter, cuttermen were found at their arcwall machine at the junction of the return airway with No.6 Right Cross-cut. R. Tait, the other Joy loader operator was found on the main bord between Nos. 5 and 6 Right Cross-cuts.

The men who lost their lives were:

  • Thomas Laverick Box aged 54 years, joy loader attendant. Died from a fractured skull.
  • Ronald Foster aged 25 years, shuttle car driver. Died from carbon monoxide poisoning and burns.
  • Richard Parkin aged 32 years, shotfirer. Died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Albert Patterson aged 40 years, driller. Died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • James Walker aged 44 years, cutterman. Died from carbon monoxide poisoning and extensive burns.
  • Allan Hunter aged 38 years, cutterman. Died from carbon monoxide poisoning and extensive burns.
  • Robert Tait aged 38 years, cutterman. Died from carbon monoxide poisoning and extensive burns.
  • Norman Holmes aged 38 years, deputy. Died later from extensive burns.
  • William George Hicks aged 32 years, shuttle car driver. Died later from extensive burns.

The explosion district was examined within five hours of the disaster by representatives of the National Coal Board, the workmen and the Mines Inspectorate and they reported on the state of the area, the course and travel of the explosion and the source of the firedamp.

The inquest into the deaths of the seven men killed in the explosion was held at the Miner’s Welfare Hall, Hetton-le-Hole before Mr T.V. Devany, the Coroner for the Easington Ward County Durham on the 5th and 6th December 1951. He recorded the following verdict:

These men died as a result of an explosion caused by some fault in the electrical equipment of the Joy loader.

The jury added the following rider:

The lack of supervision with regard to the maintenance and repair of these machines was most alarming and should be immediately rectified.

At a second inquest on the two men who died later was held on the 11th February 1952 by Mr. C. Morton, Coroner for Sunderland and a verdict of “Accidental death” was recorded with the following rider:

The jury considered there had been some negligence in the maintenance of a pit machine and also lack of care in steps taken to discover the presence of gas.

The inquiry into the disaster was held by R. Yates, C.B.E., D.S.O, M.C., H.M. Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines and presented to the Minister of Fuel and Power, the Right Honourable Geoffrey Lloyd, M.P. in April 1952 and the causes of the disaster were examined.

No contraband was found in the workings or in the clothing of any of the victims and smoking in the mine was ruled out as a source of ignition. No shots had been fired during the shift but shotholes in the No.8 Right were being charged at the time of the explosion. All the lamps in the district that were recovered were examined at the Mines Research establishment and passed as safe with the exception of two electric cap lamps. These had damage which was caused before the explosion and it was possible that they could have ignited firedamp in this state but the inquiry dismissed this as being very unlikely. There was no indication of any frictional heating of any kind. All the fixed electrical equipment was found to be in flameproof condition and of the portable apparatus, the only ones that were in use at the time was the Joy loader and the shuttle car at the face of the No.8 Left and the arcwall machine in the return airway at its junction with the No.6 Right.

The direction of travel of the explosion indicated that the place of ignition had probably occurred in the No.8 Left and this was supported by the fact that the cable adopter box was found separate from the master control box of the Joy loader. The box had been mounted to the control box by means of a flange and spigot machined joint held by four fixing screws and a strengthening bracket, but none of the studs were found in position. Two of them had been broken for some time and the spigot joint was opened to create a crescent-shaped gap in the side of the control unit. The interior of the control box was in a very dry condition and contained a quantity of coal dust and many small pieces of coal. This indicated that there had been open access to the inside switch contacts for some time before the explosion. Tests were carried out and showed that this gap could pass the flame to an inflammable mixture.

An assistant electrician, who had started work at the colliery when he was 14 years of age, Gordon Squires, gave evidence to the repairs carried out on the Joy loader machines as did the Shift Foreman Electrical, J.R. Avery.

The inquiry concluded that:

a) The explosion had travelled all the working places and roads which were near the faces

b) it was principally one of firedamp and there was little if any propagation of coal dust and

c) a falling barometer had probably brought about some encroachment of firedamp back in the goaf, and some disturbance of a ventilation brattice or canvas sheet was sufficient to enable firedamp to enter No.8 Left where it was ignited at the master control box of the Joy loader and burned back into the goaf until it reached explosive range and there developed violence which swept from the goaf into the return airway.

The official Report finished with the following conclusion:

It is proper to record here that, following this explosion the National Coal Board have reverted to hand hewing and loading at the face of the “brokens” workings for the time being. They have decided to veto the use of shuttle cars in “brokens” or retreating longwall faces in future and to accept a broad interpretation of the General Regulation 132 until such time as amending electrical regulations come into force.

 Meanwhile, they will adopt as a long-term policy the modification of the foreign apparatus now installed in their mines to our flameproof standards. They have also effected a considerably improved design of adopter for the main entry cable on Joy loader machines and a raised standard of supervision of the electrical apparatus, especially that employed on the coal face.

 

REFERENCES
The report of the causes and the circumstances attending the explosion which occurred at the Eppleton Castle Colliery, County Durham on the 7th September 1951 by R. Yates, C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., H.M. Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines.
Colliery Guardian, 13th December 1951, p.685, 24th April 1952, p.503, 1st May, p.519.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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