For some "light" relief - Oakeley in the snow 1947:
so the under-manager, John Williams, took over officially on the 1st. January 1947, although he had in effect been acting as manager for some time previously. He took over at a difficult time, the winter of 1946/47 was particularly severe, with severe load shedding by power stations and power cuts in many areas. The coming changeover of authority from the private companies to the British Electricity Authority, with whom Oakeley was to have more than a little to do, was not welcomed in several quarters, one of them being the North Wales Power Co. The supply to the quarries dependent as it was on long pole routes over the mountains and the fickle nature of the hydro-electric stations in the middle of a deep-freeze was becoming increasingly uncertain. Strikes were threatened and as 1947 dawned the grip of winter increased and as the southern coal fired stations began to run out of fuel, despite the diverting of northern power via the National Grid to the southern region, the outlying districts began to feel more than the pinch. On the 9th. January Williams commented "the voltage of our electricity supply is rather low." This did not help the quarry as the pumps were going day and night to deal with the water which made its way into the workings. The rain was continuous - except when it was snowing ! There was "a tremendous flow of water into the mine."
By the end of the month all the compressed air and water pipes were frozen up continually and the underground traffic on K floor was completely blocked as "ice formed a barrier several yards long and we could get neither loaded wagons and trolleys out or empty ones in."
February brought no respite, of the gang of 5 who normally worked the C-Bank to DE floor incline, only one turned up for work, absentees topped ninety. On the 6th. 14 loads of slate were despatched to the L.M.S. wharf ( the use of the title L.M.S. continued in the quarry long after nationalisation of the railways ). Rumours swept the town, Maenofferen was going to give three days notice of closure, Votty would do likewise - all were skotched, but in truth the situation was very grim. With the water supplies all but frozen up, ice and snow blocking the tracks and the electricity supplies uncertain continued operations were hardly profitable.
In view of the temperatures prevailing, and the possibility of having to shut down the quarry and its plant for an uncertain duration of time, Williams wrote as follows, "It must be remembered that many of our motors etc. are old and anything can happen. Insulation in many instances has gone so brittle that the constant variation in loads due to power economy increases the risk. Frost is another, especially with compressors." He referred to several repairs that had been necessary since 1943 - the rewinding of a pump motor, of the K2 Incline motor, a new steel band fixed to a 60 H.P. motor, the repairs to a second hauler and another pump motor. the diesel locos were no better, JP3 174139 had a new crankshaft, JP2 175405 had broken teeth in the gear box while JP2 174540 had broken its crank shaft. Spares were on order but delivery......
By the 8th. February no information could be obtained from the North Wales Power Co. on the stability or otherwise of supplies - the staff were said to be constantly "in conference." It was reluctantly decided to cease work at the quarry the following week until matters improved. Official notice was received two days later that only essential power was to be used - in other words the pumps ! The other motors would only be run for a few minutes every so often to prevent damping of the windings. 270 men turned up for work the following day, 21 loads being sent to the wharf, loading, securing, pumping and maintenance could go on. Greaves, with their independent power supply at Pant yr Afon were the only quarry in the district to carry on working normally.
In the middle of it all came a letter from the London Office demanding an explanation of why the output was only 1.39 cwts per man day! The manager explained te low output in terms of poor rock. 22 loads were got away to the wharf on the 13th, and 20 on the following day. The quarry was now totally without electricity, even for pumping. The DE tunnel, lefel Galed, was full of ice and needed clearing. By the 26th. only 11 men, the rump of the engineering staff, were at work, it was decided to restart the following week and permission was obtained to run the machinery and motors generally for a short time from then onward.
However, the optimism was ill-founded, Greaves were now short of water for their turbines and a new fall of snow topped 8 inches. It was decided that when the quarry eventually re-started there would only be a five day week instead of a five and a half day week. there was reported to be consternation at Maenofferen at the news. The new hours of working were to be 7.30 to 4.00 and 7.30 to 11.30 on Saturdays, though how this was a reduction to five days was not made clear!
On March 3rd 4 channellers were started, but by the 7th. the manager reported that there was no difference between the inside and the outside of some of the buildings, the snow was equally thick everywhere! Then came the thaw.....
Water now poured into the mine from the melting snow and thawing ground above, but the quarry was prepared, the great storage looms behind the main dams on L and M were ready, the main pump looms were as empty as they could be waiting the onslaught. There were avalanches on R'Allt Fawr, tearing down the drainage troughs so a gang of men was collected urgently and despatched up onto the mountain to repair the damage.
It was, however, the 17th. of March before it was decided to resume full working on the following day, and notice was given to the men on the B.B.C. Welsh Bulletin at 6.30 p.m. Absentees the following morning were pleasingly few.
And couple of Caban photos of Oakeley in the snow 1951 - I trot them out whenever it snows....
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Cheers all
Grahami
The map is the territory - especially in chain scale.