Hello, My name is Alan and I have just clocked on--and Hell's Teeth-what an interesting site.

Can anyone tell me anything about or better still are there any photographs of Hopwood Colliery and its waggonway, that was located on the hill above Oaken Bank Clough betwixt Middleton and Heywood, Lancs?

Rather than rattle on, you can learn about me here:
www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

Happy Steaming.
Alan. :thumbsup:

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Alan, fabulous you joined and a big welcome especially from me especially, your boiler explosions book is a brilliant read and I have recommended it as both a great social history and technical book to many.... I'm sure someone will get onto your enquiry (I will have a look myself later)... great to have you on board,

Best regards ICLOK 🙂

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Welcome to AN Alan, I presume you're well and truly snowed up in Cowling - I used to live in Crosshills so I know the area! :lol:

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Top of the Morning ICLOK; a million thanks for your kind comments regarding my book : HISTORIC STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS. I am delighted to add that the book has been well received, has attracted some excellent reviews and importantly, has sold all over the U.K. and overseas.

I look forward to chatting further with you.

Happy Steamings!
Alan. www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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Top of the Morning A R.

As you obviously know how much snow we can sometimes receive up here in the wilds of the North Yorkshire/ Lancashire borderland, unbelievably we have only received about an inch: just a dusting!

I look forward to future chats.

Happy Steamings!
Alan. www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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Sorry..... wheres Lanc and Yorks.....?????? Ahem Cofff.... Oh I remember we had Rly Co called that... are they still in Union????

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I am eternally grateful for serving my time as a BOILERMAKER among the gentlemen craftsmen of the
LANCASHIRE & YORKSHIRE WAGGON & IRONWORKS !!!

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after 20 years running cotton mill boilers in the elk mill ive seen a few boiler tubes pop.... scary ill tell you,hopwood hall colliery is mentioned in "oldham coal" by gerry fanning it was operated by the hopwood colliery co ltd on behalf of the owners of the chamber estate...ie messers hopwood ,herron and others in other words they were part of the chamber colliery co,i have a map somewhere...cant find it now as im suffering from to much jaegermiester which shows the pit and tramway which led to the canal in heywood,the circular area in oaken bank wood is the colliery site and clearly seen on google earth heading at 11oclock is the route of the causeway built in 1828,the 1848 os map shows the tramroad still active but i dont think the pit survived past 1900 so good luck finding photos.

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Greetings Bograt,
Elk Mill--built 1927 and electrically driven? Therefore the last cotton mill built in the Oldham district.
Originally would there have been three Lancashire boilers?

Anyway enough of mills and boilers!

A million thanks for your kindly provision of info on the Hopwood Colliery site. Rest assured I will take a gander.

Alan,
www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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Top Of The MINE ! Chaps,

HELP!! I am still seeking information/ photographs on the HOPWOOD COLLIERY and the Tram Road.

Happy Steamings,

Alan

www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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started 1926 hence 1926 on the tower but production started 1927, yes the elk had a parsons steam turbine driven from a boiler house with 4 chute fed chain grate Lancashire boilers with greens economisers,to be replaced eventually by a hartley&sugden locomotive type boiler and a vekos multifuel in late 70s,still in use when the mill closed.
the parsons engine compared with a normal engine huge difference...
[photo]Personal-Album-252-Image-72669[/photo]
and the big engine is either roy mill or sandy mill we have not worked out witch yet.
[photo]Personal-Album-252-Image-72670[/photo]
im not sure but i think astley green colliery now has the vekos ive seen it sat outside behind the engine house if its not the same its a twin as it had the cowl we made for it on the front.
incidentally back to hopwood hall there were also day eyes in the valley in the woods near the main road...i need to go look for them , unfortunately due to hopwood hall pit being on the edge of the unknown area of middleton (geologically) my map of 1930 shows no coal seams outcropping so i cannot tell which seams they worked.there is a fault going tru the colliery site so its possible they sank though the fault to more easily tap each side.because of the date of the colliery i would assume it would be a horse drawn tramway its too flat to be a self acting one.

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Hi Bograt,

Wonderful, evocative images!
In the 1970s I carried out scores of repairs: new firebox stays, patches, re-tubing etc on Hartley & Sugden Oilex “ locomotive-firebox “ boilers, and also on G.W.B. Vekos boilers. The latter boilers were of course prone to cracking in the furnaces and particularly on the combustion-chamber tubeplates and tube-ends.
Vekos boilers were a steady source of income for boiler repair specialist firms like my own; nevertheless, they were excellent servants and good steaming boilers. The N.C.B. in South Yorkshire, numerous hospitals, textile mills and dye houses used these G.W.B. boilers. Sadly, today there remain very few survivors.

The Hopwood Colliery site.
Back in the 1950s when a lad, as I lived in nearby “ Top O’ Hebers “ I regularly visited the site; I recall there was much scrap metal lying around: steel cabling and broken machinery parts. I remember also the depression e.g. the filled-in shaft.

Indeed, the Tram road of course, would have been “ horse-drawn “.

Please keep me posted should any further information on Hopwood Colliery come to light.

Alan.
www.mcbo.co.uk
www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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funny you should mention that we had a lot of repairs to the tubeplates and had a few tubes "go" bit scarey really,the h&s seemed to have appalling water circulation as it ended up being patched regularly on the narrow water jacket down near the base,it suffered a lot from blisters.
ill check out the local studies libraries see if i can find anything on the pit either middleton or heywood as i need some info on alkrington colliery as well.

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I don't recall carrying out any boiler repairs at Elk Mill. My guess is Rochdale Electric Welding Co carried out the work.

Aye, owt you may unearth at Middleton or Heywood libraries on Hopwood Colliery would be great.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Alan.
www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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they did some and c h thompsons did some too if my memory serves and thomsons dealt with hydrolic tests too,cant remember who did the ultrasound testing though.did you ever do work for shiloh spinners as they owned most of roytons mills at one point.

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Produced a couple of quotations for Shiloh at Lion Mill, but didn't secure the jobs! My dear friend Fred Dibnah dropped Park No 2 Mill's chimney,Royton June 2004. Him and I were close friends for 25 years. This was Fred's very last chimney drop. I was with him at Bolton Hospice six days prior to his untimely death on 6 November 2004. I attended his magnificent funeral--in the pouring Bolton drizzle.

Fred was particularly fascinated in mining history. This is how he met his mate Alf, who was a miner from Westhoughton.

Fred's mine-shaft in his garden is truly a work of art. So typical of Fred's engineering genius.

www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk

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In "Oldham Coal", when describing the Hopwood Colliery Company which operated the mines on the Chamber estate in Oldham, Gerry Fanning specifically warned readers against confusing it with the Hopwood Hall colliery near Slattocks, which was operated by Robert Hopwood. The Gregges of Chamber Hall owned the Chamber estate. A son inherited Hopwood Hall and changed his name by deed poll. The "Hopwood, Heron and Others" who ran the Chamber Colliery and Chamber dam colliery were descendents of the three Gregge sisters.
So the Hopwood Colliery Company had no connection with the Hopwood Hall pit.