I suppose Hatfield could be an example of the way things could go.

http://www.stainforthonline.co.uk/2001/hatfield_colliery.htm 

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The day i took the pictures in the User Album on the DB at this colliery was very special. I had been taking railway pics at Stainforth and as it was quiet I decided it was time for me to go get the pics of the colliery I kept saying I'd get. I was just outside the office of the mine when a guy said CAN I HELP YOU, he was in a pin striped suit and when I explained I was just interested he took me off describing the deal they were trying to do at the Colliery that day!. We went round and I shook his hand told him my name whilst thanking him, he then told me his- Richard Budge.:o
He had strong views and made no apologies for the fact that to keep mining alive it had to be run on a budget and that might mean lower wages, forcing down costs but he was adamant it was better than the alternative. He has his critics but I'm not one of them as he was genuinely concerned to get that deal. He is a business man but a genuine one I think, I can only speak as I found and he was at least enthusiastic about the whole mine power/station proposal. :)

Edit I still photograph there but now there are loaded coal trains leaving the mine and winding wheels that turn on the skyline, one of my favourite mine/rail pics. Quite fancy that for tomorrow!

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What's the progress with the 900MW generating plant ICLOK?

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I'm out of touch with it at the mo but am in Doncaster tomorrow looking at Locos so will sneak off for a look.
I was there about 4 months ago and they had certainly cleared the area where its going to be, it was literally a tip. I think the access road may even have been started, will dig out pics.
Regards ICLOK

Edit, I was last there and took this one on 15.05.08 for as a record!
🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-047[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-047[/linkphoto][/link]
They had really cleaned up the site by this point and the road was in.

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Nice shot. :thumbsup:

Regarding equipment this from HighBeam Research. Unfortunately I no longer subscribe so can't access the full article.

The biggest order for coal mining equipment for decades was signed today by a company re-opening a colliery, safeguarding hundreds of jobs.

Powerfuel will spend [Pounds]37m on state-of-the-art machinery to be used at the Hatfield pit near Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Two sets to coal cutting and ancillary equipment will be bought from Joy Mining Machinery, to be manufactured at the firm's factories at Worcester, Wigan and near Nottingham.

The machinery will be delivered over the next year, and when fully operational, the pit will produce about two million tonnes of coal a year.

Hatfield closed in 2004 but is undergoing a [Pounds]100m investment programme to develope......

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Its def turning coal, I think around 2 trains a day to Fiddlers Ferry PS from memory. I knew Joy mining equip at Pinxton were making stuff and the mine was to be re-equipped. My family worked at Pinxton colliery and I know them at Joy so again will ask. 😉

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Unfrtunately the worst effects of privatisation of our key industry (Power) is yet to be seen.

So far we are entering a period of shortage of power as a result of generating companies deciding it wasn't profitable to build new capacity.

You wait until the distribution network starts falling to pieces - and it will. The private network operators are so concerned with maximising profits in the short term that they aren't phasing the repalacemnt of their 50 year old assets - whemn it all starts going pop they will NOT have the cash to replace it en bloc as when it was built by the government.

Yup, see California a few years ago.

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This is a frightening link....http://www.howitends.co.uk/infrastructure-investment.php 
Very well written though and I been reading it and it seems to check out .... worryingly!!

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I notice that the Delhi open cast mine has been entered in the DB. The Beeb on this subject.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7752738.stm 

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I think JASONBIRDER should remember one thing.
A recession is when someone you don't know looses their job
A depression is when you loose yours

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Carnkie, Spitfire,

The link that Carnkie put in is just perfect to demonstrate the attitude of the UK in view of power provision and coal but am quite sure these people will be bitching louder when the lights go off, or their taxes go thru the roof for new plants or to the overseas gas suppliers who may just switch us off!!!

ICLOK

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Yup, see California a few years ago.

Don't forget how near we came to a crisis about 3 years ago when whole areas of SE London were blacked out. This was made much worse by a domino effect of two circuits overloading causing overloading on adjacent circuits and so on. Didn't someone on here (sorry can't remember who) mention they worked in a large power station and that was at the time having major problems?

JohnnearCfon

that may have been me.up and running at full pelt on very low sulphur indonesion coal now having reinstalled old hp turbines
Snafu in that maximum axial thrust was taken as normal working thrust and thrust bearings cried overload
all the best to the lads at hatfield but a friend up there tells me that there has been a production gap,the 2nd face wasnt ready in time and even though colliery production records were smashed the men earnt no bonus :confused:
also last year didnt a problem at a scottish power station cause a domino effect that caused power cuts in the north east,maybe the economic slowdown will enable the lights to stay on

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Has anyone else noticed the item, top of page 7 today's 'Sunday Times' ? Briefly it notes the growth in what it calls "Soviet Towns" , that is towns where significant numbers are working for local or central government. The article says that the northeast leads the 'Soviet league' in an effort to soak up labour due to the closing of the mines and heavy industry.
Castle Morpeth has 57.1% of its workforce working for the state, Wansbeck 47.5% and Durham 46.7%.
Perhaps not surprisingly S. Wales is a 'hotspot' with Ceradigion with 40.7% state employed and Torfaen 40.4%.
Interestingly it also lists Oxford, Cambridge, Stafford and Hastings with over 40% state employment. Not sure how that fits with the picture of the state moving to mop up labour in former industrial areas.
As a sort of post script (I've been typing this with one eye on the paper and one on what I'm typing) I've just noticed that the percentages given do not include recipiants of state benifits.

EDIT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5258247.ece  to article.

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Great point.... read this .... it would tend to agree with your findings...http://www.howitends.co.uk/how-many-people-work.php 
Most don't realise just how little we actually produce now! 😞

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I've often wondered what the figure for state employees is in Cornwall.
The counclis employ around about 70,000 between them and that excludes teachers. The MOD employs about 4000, the NHS probably 8,000, then there are the many government quangoes etc. The Workforce of Cornwall is in the region 220,000.
The biggest private sector employer is Tesco, employing somewhere in the region of 2-3000 across the county, including 1,000 in Camborne Redruth!

my scratchy maths gets that to 40%......Spookily consistent with the rest!

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Thats the worrying thing, its 40% without even thinking too hard about what others there are!