Daw Mill Colliery

This colliery was opened in 1965 and passed from NCB ownership via British Coal to RJB Mining (UK) Ltd in 1994. It is the last deep coal mine in Warwickshire. As of 2012 there has been talk of closure. The colliery is served by a set of sidings alongside the Whitacre Junction to Nuneaton line. No steam locomotives have worked at this colliery however four diesel shunting locomotives were used at various times from just before opening until 1993. A 'Merry-go-Round' rapid loading bunker for power station coal was installed around 1980; this facility would have diminished the need for internal shunting locomotives because main line locomotives worked trains through the bunker for loading. Other coal traffic was loaded into non-MGR wagons until 1993. The above information and more can be obtained from the Industrial Railway Society's Preliminary Draft Handbook Industrial Railways & Locomotives of Warwickshire.

Roger Monk

Ref: misc_dm125 R Monk NCB Diesel Hydraulic Sentinel hauls a rake of empty HEA hopper wagons from the sidings for loading

Ref: misc_dm125 R Monk Another view of the NCB Diesel Hydraulic Sentinel now seen passing the rapid loading bunker facility

Ref: misc_dm125 R Monk View of British Rail Class 58 028 is seen passing the rapid loading bunker at Daw Mill Colliery

Ref: misc_dm125 R Monk Another view of BR Class 58 028 now seen arriving in the yard with an empty MGR train on 25th April 1988

Ref: misc_dm125 R Monk View of Diesel Hydraulic 'Baddersley No 3' stands alongside Daw Mill locomotive shed on 25th April 1988