Colliery Lines

Griff Colliery: misc_gc026

View of 0-6-0T Hudswell Clarke No 1102 is seen with a spark arrester fitted to the chimney 1953. Bought from the War Department as WD 70211 this particular loco had formerly worked at the Port of London Authority as PLA No 46 before being requisitioned by the War Department. The weight of this machine in working order was 42 tons yet during its service at Griff it gave surprisingly little derailment trouble. It was very popular at Griff, and soon became a firm favourite with old Harry Cooper, who was the Clara pit loco driver at that time. By the spring of 1954 however, No 70211 was in a very run down state, and a general overhaul at the maker's was being talked about. This never materialised - possibly because an inspection of the tyres by British Railways' staff in that year forbade its moving via BR metals - and after the summer it only worked on odd occasions.

By the summer of the following year (1955) a quantity of spares had been purchased for the repair of the engine which had been partially dismantled by September 1956, moves having been made to get it overhauled in the workshop at Coventry Colliery. This came to nothing as the BR authorities again refused to let the loco on to the main line because the tyres had worn too thin. It could have gone away by road, of course, but instead lingered on in a derelict state for some years, being eventually broken up at Clara pit about September 1960 by John Cashmore Ltd of Great Bridge. Throughout its whole career at Griff Clara the locomotive retained its WD livery: it was never allocated to No 4 pit.

MJ Lee

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