Pioneer locomotive, Levant · AditNow Community

Mine exploration, photographs and mining history for mine explorers, industrial archaeologists, researchers and historians

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

derrickman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

15 years ago

http://forum.gn15.info/viewtopic.php?t=2779&start=600

saw this on another website.. anyone know anything about this?

''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.

Wanna join the discussion?! Login to your AditNow Community forum account or Register a new forum account

DougCornwall
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

Think this was built by Bickle & Co in Plymouth, 0-2-0 for underground use but strangely enough was not a great success because apparently steam engines produce smoke !!

The words 'management' and 'cock up' seem strangely to have come into my head.

Steam engine buffs websites will be best source of info I guess.

[/center][/i]Always have a backup plan.[i][center]

DougCornwall
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

Think was 0-2-2 not 0-2-0 as previous. That would be silly I think.

[/center][/i]Always have a backup plan.[i][center]

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

http://forum.gn15.info/viewtopic.php?t=2779&start=600

😉

Graigfawr
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

The Industrial Railway Society's regional handbook will undoubted;y give definitive details and dates. The IRS has a website but the listings of every known industrial locomotive (internal combusion, electric, etc as well as steam) have to be purchased i n hard copy.

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

The IRS pocket book was last printed (IRC) in 1976 and is long out of print.

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

Allow me to quote from John Corin's "Levant - A Champion Cornish Mine".

The 278 fathom level was the main tramming level of the mine, and it was thought that a small industrial locomotive by Bickle of Plymouth could perform the job better than hand-tramming .... The locomotive was a failure, however, having insufficient adhesion to haul trams of ore on the wet rails in the 278. So shortly after its trial in 1872 it was replaced by pit ponies, and the 278 was renamed the Pony Level

DougCornwall
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

Quote:

The 278 fathom level was the main tramming level of the mine, and it was thought that a small industrial locomotive by Bickle of Plymouth could perform the job better than hand-tramming .... The locomotive was a failure, however, having insufficient adhesion to haul trams of ore on the wet rails in the 278. So shortly after its trial in 1872 it was replaced by pit ponies, and the 278 was renamed the Pony Level

Looks like a bit of research needed there if someone fancies it. Engine builder records seem to say she wasn't built until 1892 which clashes with the 1872 above. Also other sources say smoke was the big problem rather than wet rails.
Personally I expect it was both problems but it all sounds very predictable and they must have realised those things before they bought the engine. Maybe there was more going on behind the scenes that will never be known.
Anyone know where the engine went after Levant?

[/center][/i]Always have a backup plan.[i][center]

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

I think I might have typed the wrong date - don't have the book to hand at the moment, but I seem to remember reading a date in the 1890s yesterday!

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#10

I recall reading somewhere that because Levant runs under the sea, most of the levels ran downhill away from Skip Shaft, so loaded trains would have had to be pulled uphill. So perhaps this was the critical factor. I assume somewhere there was a level that sloped the other way or else it would have been a very difficult place to drain, despite the mine being so dry. Or maybe I am not remembering these things correctly!

Tamarmole
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#11

There was a recent (last couple of years) article on this loco in "The Narrow Gauge" the journal of the Narrow gauge Railway Society - I'll see if I can find a reference.

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#12

"Peter Burgess" wrote:
I think I might have typed the wrong date - don't have the book to hand at the moment, but I seem to remember reading a date in the 1890s yesterday!

Yes, definitely 1892.

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#13

Some info about Bickle and Co is here:-

http://www.plymouthdata.info/Business%20Houses-Bickle%20Engineering.htm

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#14

Apart from the London Underground, are there many examples of steam locomotives being used underground?

ICLOK
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#15

The loco had 2 inside cylinders of 4" x 7" below the footplate. It had a steel boiler with gunmetal boiler tubes and worked at 100PSI. Built 1892. Loco was not a success as it did not meet the smoke emission requirements set by the mine according to my sources in the IRS...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#16

I seem to recall that Levant also had stationary steam winders underground at its submarine shafts. The smoke from those would have dissipated into the workings I suppose.

spitfire
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

#17

"Peter Burgess" wrote:
Apart from the London Underground, are there many examples of steam locomotives being used underground?

I've only just come across this thread, hence the late reply.
The Laxey mine on the Isle of Man employed two locomotives underground.
They were built by a firm of ship-builders from Dorset named Stephen Lewin & Co from Poole.
The gauge was 19" and they were named "Ant" & "Bee". Built in 1877 they remained at work until the mine's closure in 1929

spitfire