OK, what's this?

[photo]Personal-Album-2-Image-089[/photo]

Answers on a postcard please! It's on DE floor in Oakeley.

OK, what's this?
Answers on a postcard please! It's on DE floor in Oakeley.

Will a sealed down envelope do? 😉

---

Eddie the Eagle's top secret MK1 ski test ramp :lol:

---

Half a BOD propped up against a wall 😉

---

Hokay.... several thoughts :)

Firstly: I have no idea where this is, but if you have a spare evening I'd like to see it in context and measure it :)

Presumably this is on a working face in a partially-worked chamber?

Rails - presumably this is to move something along it

Up or down? - it is either to move things up to the rock or down it. If it's down, I suspect it wouldn't have rails on it, as that would suggest lowering things down onto a carriage, which wouldn't work. So it must be to move things up it.

Loop at the top? - wassat then? At a guess it would provide an anchor point which could be used to pull something up or keep it pinned there.

Gauge of tracks? This might be of significance - also, if it's much more fixed than usual track, it may suggest that whatever ran up and down the track had a fixed frame and was therefore a bit more a precise tool than a standard quarry truck.

Support against the foot of the wall? Either it's a support to hold it in place; a support for the middle because the object that sits on the track is heavy; or it's to allow the top end of the ramp to stand clear of the rockface. I'd go for the middle option...

So, stating the obvious, it's a means of getting some heavy device several feet up a working face. Logic would suggest some form of drill, possibly something multi-headed.

Presumably there's no trace of drill marks on the working face?

I'm minded of the odd pattern of drill holes, about 2" diameter, that's in the odd chamber under Ch15 - which were part of a rig that was used as a method of winning more slate by drilling round a black rather than blasting.

I'll have a look for a pic 🙂

---

It takes quite some time and effort to get to see! But I'm sure Miles will oblige, and I'll grumble my way along too!
I'm pretty sure its for some kind of drilling rig, possibly not that succesful a device which would explain why there aren't ther similar contraptions around.

Yeah. Don't want to advertise its location as it's within a meaty section of not well known workings, to get into which is difficult and as such it would not be wise to encourage random visits. would be happy to show you some time though. It's on DE floor :)

I have to agree it's some probably abortive experiment to raise some drill or something to the working face. There are no obvious bore-holes present on the face, nothing unusual, so maybe it never got used.

You might notice a strange large vertical cut-out nearby on the face, which is a wee but strange. Whether this is related I don't know.

Yes please, I'd like to see this one evening :)

I have an idea about it, but it would depend on where in the mine it is. The working to the right of it might have something to do with it.

---

It's very hard to tell from the picture (even with my specs. on!) but are the two rails surface mounted or are they rebated?
I suspect that answer to what it is, is along the lines that are already mentioned.
Some more photos and measurements would be interesting, as would knowledge of what kind/species of timber it is made from.

Rails seem to be mounted on the surface?

Oddly, it looks like there are only two cross-beams.

---

Have just caught this thread and would like to ask a couple questions.

1 Are we looking at a working face from the hozontal or are we looking down on what appears almost like the start of a sump?
It's a bit difficult to tell

2 Are the far ends of the wood tapered or is it just an effect of the lighting?

If the ends are tapered, it looks remarkably like an object that used to sit around our farm yard in North Cumbria. It was about 8 or 9 feet long made from 4" x 3" timber with two metal strips running along the top of each length. Bolts were counter sunk into the metal to give a smooth surface. I guess it was about 20-22 inches wide and had both wooden a metal braces between the two lengths of wood. The metal braces were bowed but did not extend beyonf the profile of the wood. At the opposite end to the tapering, the metal running along the length had been brough over to form two hooks (as if to hook on to a bar)

I was told that it was used to move heavy bits of machinery about the mill and the tapering was quite deliberate to allow the machinery to slip off the end without any great shock. At one time the water power in the mill drove fulling equipment but another power take-off was also used to grind corn so I can't say what the heavy equipment would be, possibly millstones?

The design was quite similar to that of barrell ladders that were carried on brewery drays and used to roll out barrells

While writing this, it has just brought to mind that the piece of apparatus was always intensely black and dirty so it may have originated in a coal mine on Brampton Fell which was only 3 or 4 miles away.

---

Patch

have a look at the full-res version of this shot:

http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/mines/Oakeley_457/Oakeley_20604.jpg 

It's a lot clearer than the tiny version in this thread.

You're right - the top end does look a bit tapered.

The rails are not flush though, they sit proud. The camera was horizontal in this photo, we're not looking up or down here. The top of it is leaning against the working face (foot-wall) of a chamber.

Can't find my reference, but I've got the feeling the hoop is for dragging the temporary track section about rather than having to call on the playelayers to re-lay a section of "permanent" track. Blowed if I can remember where it was used though.

Grahami

---