Water Haigh Colliery had two 0-6-0 tank engines for shunting wagons and marshalling coal trains. One of their tasks was to push full wagons to a loading basin on the Aire and Calder canal for loading onto Tom Pudding barges which were towed to power stations or the docks at Goole. Their other job was to make up daily trains of coal to be hauled away by mainline engines which normally came from Stourton engine shed. Dave Fallowfield was one of the colliery engine drivers in the 1950s and 1960s. He came from a farming family and grew up on Water Haigh farm next to the pit before starting work in market gardening. But after he got married he couldn't survive on the low wages so he applied for a job at the pit. He started as a surface worker in 1954 and graduated first to be a shunter and then a driver. His favourite engine was "Elizabeth" which arrived at the pit shortly after the 1926 strike and is no doubt named after the future Queen who was born on April 21 1926. Here Dave Fallowfield talks to Howard Benson about his early life and the engine driving routine.
Below "Elizabeth" shunts wagons at the colliery "Top End" in 1965. In the background are houses along Eshald Lane, built from bricks made at the Armitage brickworks which was situated just to the left of this scene. The area is now covered by trees.
Photo by A T Jones.
"Elizabeth" with the winding gear for one of the two shafts in the background. The wooden bodied railway wagons were used on the internal sidings. The privately owned road lorries behind the engine transported coal to local factories and mills, mainly in the Bradford area. Photo by Derek Rayner.