Hi
A number of you will be involved with Societies or Museums who collect
old equipment. The Shropshire Mines Trust, of which I am a member, have
been collecting this for a few years and storing it against a future
date when we can display it. A lot of our bigger items such as winding
engines were obtained when mines closed down and we got permission to go
in and recover what we could before (or sometimes during!) the
demolition firm got to work. We are especially lucky since our Chairman
is part owner of a haulage and crane hire firm.
A typical example of what happens is like today when we heard of a local
foundry that is closing down and needs to clear out all of its old
machinery by the end of February. We paid a visit and it was like a time
warp with very old lathes, scrapers, etc that were originally operated
by flat belts. We are arranging a work party to recover some of the
items but the rest will end up being broken up and scrapped. It
occurred to me that this must be happening all over the country and lots
of valuable artifacts are being scrapped because museums where they
could be displayed didn't know about it!
What I would like to suggest is the setting up of a national networking
operation that informs its members as soon as items like this become
available. I would see it working to do the following :-
a) Notify each other as soon as mines, factories, etc with such items
close down or dispose of them.
b) Notify each other of the items available and (where appropriate) the
asking price.
c) One person (presumably the local one who found out) acting as
co-ordinator to negotiate with the owner over recovery and purchase.
d) Sharing costs of transport and recovery if specialised skills are
needed to remove from site.
e) Notifying each other where a society/museum has items in their
collection that they are willing to dispose of to others for display.
f) Requests for items that other groups might be willing to release.
g) Exchange could be by purchase, swapping or even long term loan.
h) This does not need to be specifically mining based. Any organisation
interested in old machinery and equipment could be a member. For
instance, we discovered by accident that an old mine truck from
Snailbeach Mine was sitting unwanted at Ffestiniog Railway and they
kindly let us have it. Who is to know what is out there that you may be
interested in.
Next question is to Peter Claughton. How is it best to operate such a
scheme if it is a runner? Would this newsgroup be an appropriate place
for such messages or does it need to be a separate one? If separate,
how do you go about setting one up and running it?
I would appreciate comments from the group on the above - is it feasible
and how could it operate?
Thanks
Adrian
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Visit the following sites for references to all kinds of mining subjects
British Mining Database
http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bmd.htm
Shropshire Mines Trust
http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/smt.htm
Snailbeach Mine
http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sbeach.htm
Tankerville Mine
http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tanker.htm
Bersham Colliery Trust
http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bct.htm
National Association of Mining History Organisations
http://www.namho.org
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