Duncans shaft· Page 2 · AditNow Community

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stuey
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#21

As far as I can remember:-

Tresavean and United had double rodders and the single rodders were at Caradon, Mary Ann, Consols, Cooks Kitchen, Dolcoath, Fowey Consols, Levant and possibly Carn Brea. (or was that the one they only got as far as cutting the balance box pit for?)

I'm pretty sure Consols man engine ran directly off the nose of an ex-pumping engine.

spitfire
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#22

The only man engine in the area of Consols was at United, which as you say was a double rod type. Along the north slope of Carn Brea was four man engines within about a mile of each other. They were:- Carn brea, South Tincroft, Cooks Kitchen and Dolcoath

spitfire

stuey
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#23

....Interesting. I'm sure there was on in the later period of working, perhaps at Morcom's shaft.

agricola
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#24

It is unusal at Cooks in that in latter years the man engine was powered by a horizontal engine situated close to Chapples whim. The foundations are still visible I think although the area has been dumped on. The engine ran flat-rods across the railway line to the shaft.

At some stage I would like to get access via our adit system into this area, perhaps there would be remains of the water wheel, however the ground conditions of the adit that we have been in is very poor.

If it can't be grown it has to be mined.

stuey
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#25

Is there a shallow adit system in the area?

I gather there is one somewhere above adit level near Maynes shaft. (and yes, I have seen the particularly awesome grille on the shaft) :lol:

spitfire
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#26

"stuey" wrote:
....Interesting. I'm sure there was on in the later period of working, perhaps at Morcom's shaft.

Definitely no

spitfire

Dolcoathguy
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#27

There is an interesting image of a water wheel in the Cook's Kitchen Archive Album, if the river in the image is the red river then I guess some of the surface workings would have been built over when the rail viaduct was built or is it further down (north)?

Is it safe to come out of the bunker yet?

spitfire
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#28

"Dolcoathguy" wrote:
There is an interesting image of a water wheel in the Cook's Kitchen Archive Album, if the river in the image is the red river then I guess some of the surface workings would have been built over when the rail viaduct was built or is it further down (north)?

The waterwheel that drove the man engine was situated underground.

spitfire

Dolcoathguy
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#29

Agreed, it is too close to the river to be at Dunkins shaft, underground or overground.

Is it safe to come out of the bunker yet?

stuey
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#30

Either way, if someone slipped and accidentally poked a hole under the cap, I'd be up for dropping it :lol:

Dolcoathguy
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#31

Link to a nice article from 1862 about man engines, mentioning Cook's kitchen.

http://www.minecaptain.plus.com/cornishmanengine.htm

It surprised me that they were still using a water wheel in 1862, but if it still pulls the man engine at 190 fathoms then I guess no need for the more expensive steam system.

Is it safe to come out of the bunker yet?

threewheeler
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#32

The first picture in the Cooks Kitchen Archive Album shows a water wheel and viaduct, does any one know if this rail viaduct was replaced by the existing stone one in the same place.
Threewheeler

Dolcoathguy
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#33

I suspect it may a launder, water pipe or a steam pipe , the rail viaduct at Brea is an earthwork with the brick structure built on top, all maps back to 1879 (www.oldmaps.co.uk) show the railway to be there.
Probably got built when the change to narrow gauage occurred in the 1880's to 1890's.

Is it safe to come out of the bunker yet?

spitfire
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#34

There has never been a viaduct across the Brea/Tuckingmill valley. The embankment was built by the Hayle Railway in 1834 and was widened in future years to accommodate the broad gauge. The picture I suspect is like many others of the same period, drawn with much artistic license.

spitfire

RRX
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#35

Quick OS map chunk of Cooks Kitchen showing Duncans shaft and the Aquaduct just up form it
🔗Cooks-Kitchen-Tin-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-73510[linkphoto]Cooks-Kitchen-Tin-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-73510[/linkphoto][/link]

www.carbisbaycrew.co.uk Cornwall's Underground Site

Roy Morton
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#36

"spitfire" wrote:
There has never been a viaduct across the Brea/Tuckingmill valley. The embankment was built by the Hayle Railway in 1834 and was widened in future years to accommodate the broad gauge. The picture I suspect is like many others of the same period, drawn with much artistic license.

I whole heartedly agree

Edit: Surely the overhead launder in this engraving wasn't mistaken for a trestle railway viaduct......was it?

🔗Cooks-Kitchen-Tin-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-006[linkphoto]Cooks-Kitchen-Tin-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-006[/linkphoto][/link]

"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"

derrickman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#37

"spitfire" wrote:
There has never been a viaduct across the Brea/Tuckingmill valley. The embankment was built by the Hayle Railway in 1834 and was widened in future years to accommodate the broad gauge. The picture I suspect is like many others of the same period, drawn with much artistic license.

Victorian engineers made a great deal of use of what might be termed "modular structures" and it is nothing particularly unusual for contemporary record drawings of buried structures to be little more than guides showing the location and construction method of the proposed structure.

This actually worked quite well for them, given the very flexible nature of their building procedures, the ad-hoc nature and lack of pre-fabrication, and general lack of interest in subsequent recording of the results.

I worked on a cable tunnel project on Central London in the early 90s and the sub-stations, large brick structures below street level, quickly proved to be very different despite being all shown of a common layout - one was actually back-to-front relative to the drawing.

''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.