Big Pit Mining Museum

 

The steam hammer in Blaenavon car park.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Big Pit Mining Museum is the Welsh National Coal Mining Museum and is something of a flagship for Welsh museums. The museum itself is excellent but the pit was extensively modernised during its working life and as such retains little of stationary steam interest. A vast amount of mining equipment is here awaiting restoration and exhibition but only a few small engines are on display.

There are a couple of small haulage engines in the yard

The engine has been mounted on a wagon chassis and drives the drum via a lethal looking chain drive. Can't have been much fun down pit.  Side view of the engine unit. A compact little unit. The guarding is a bit rough, looks more deadly than the winch.  Side view. Both these engines probably ran on compressed air as there is no sign of insulation on either the cylinders or the pipework.

And a steam hammer in the Blacksmith's shop.

 

Amongst the machinery stored on site is a little horizontal simplex steam pump by Lee Howl of Tipton

 8 & 4 x 12 There is a similar but smaller pump in the colliery exhibit at Kidwelly. The Kidwelly pump has a brass makers plate.

In the foyer of the Conservation Building there is a well restored 4x3x6 horizontal "Banjo" tar pump from the NCB Tar Distillation Plant at Caerphilly. It was built by Joseph Evans of Wolverhampton

  

There are at least three more winches by different makers stored on site in dismantled condition.

Dunlop, Bell & Co. LiverpoolP. D. Tredomen WorksP. Baker & Co. Cardiff

    

       

The official website with details of opening times, access etc. is at

  http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/

 

 

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