Coal Mining Prints - The High Speed Drifters

38 x 28cm signed print "My last job at Whitburn Colliery was driving a development roadway between two coal seams.  The upward gradient between the coal seams was 1 in 3 for example for every three yards we advanced the floor went up by 1 yard, quite a gradient to work in. The roadway was approximately 12 feet high by 12 wide.  And with two, sometimes three compressed air drills in such a confined space the noise was deafening.  This was the late 70s before safety goggles and ear defenders were available.  My defenders were small pieces of cloth torn from my shirt and pushed into my ears.  The work place was invariably wet with water dropping from above and from the water that was pumped through the drilling machines and out through the drill rods into the holes to stop the drill jamming."

Robert Olley Artwork ©