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The Last Remaining Drift Mine In Northumberland Closes
Tubs and Phones

Visit James Findlay's Site - Blenkinsopp & Wrytree Pits.


Blenkinsopp & Wrytree Pits
Tubs and Phones

James Findlay

The first two photos show an old 'tipper tub' made by Hudson's of Leed's, still with the original name plate and serial number.
My wife (Daniella) and I recovered this from the 3rd south area. I noticed it some years ago but did not think to save it.
Daniella and I decided to retrieve it for the front of the house. We went down last Sunday night (which took longer than normal as she was too busy looking about and banging her head). It is funny to hear them hitting the hats and then swearing! Probably because I did the same when I went underground.
We walked about 2-2.5 km to where the tub was. It was covered in junk, old belts and props. We cleared all this away and I managed to get the chassis back on to the track, with not too much trouble. The tub itself however was a different matter. It was lying upside down so Dan and I got a hold of it and turned it the right way up.

The next stage was to get it back on to the chassis, no mean feat as it was fairly heavy. I lifted one end while Dan chocked it with wood and then I lifted the other end and chocked that and so on untill we got it up to the height we needed. We pulled the chassis down to the tub and then both man handled (and women handled) the tub back on to the chassis. With some effort we managed to get it on and found that it worked OK. You can pull the tub over as far you want and then it rolls back over to its normal position by itself!
We then pushed the tub about 200 meters to some trams that were waiting to go out of the mine and tied it to the back and hey presto it arrived at bank with no trouble at all!
We are going to get it shot blasted and painted up so that we can place it in front of our house. I am going to get some rails and sleepers for it to sit on.
A couple of lads who came for a look about underground at the mine, and were looking for old mining stuff to salvage for museums told me it was in very good nick and would be worth about £150 - £200. He also said it would have been made in the early 1900s.
It was worth all the effort getting it out although my wife is still complaining about all her aches and said she would not go down again

because she just gets a job to do ! That's women for you. I even promised her a mobile phone (see the below) and told her one was an Ericsson top of the range model and would have no fear of getting it pinched (you can hardly lift it !) The phone is in really good condition and was due to be thrown out at Wrytree along with three smaller portable phones. I am not sure of the ages but the Ericsson looks really old. I am going to make enquires about them. Not sure how the portable phones work but I think you would
just connect the wires to the terminals and then wind the key on the end of the box to phone. I am going to keep the phones although I am not sure what to do with them I wonder if I could connect the Ericsson up to my BT line!! It would look nice hanging on the wall in the living room! 


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