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Gormley.

18 Comments

Opencast Mining, Newton Road, Billinge - 1958.
Opencast Mining, Newton Road, Billinge - 1958.
Photo: Philip Gormley.
Views: 3,084
Item #: 29037
My brother and I enjoying a grandstand view of what our Dad described as being 'a walking crane'. No doubt many others would have witnessed this gobsmacking behemoth in its green crinkly finery, but further along the site was an area where all manner of machine parts and seemingly discarded clutter were set aside. Rusty steel cables-with fibrous core became of particular interest as once a small portion of the core had been gently teased away the core could then be lit; requiring only a gentle shake to maintain its glow. I cant recall the core having very much daytime use though and just as puzzling why we called it pitch-pine in the first place. But then, acquiring small lengths of hairy twine was one of the many and varied things young boys did in those days - eat your heart out Ray Mears.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 15th February 2017 at 18:59

The machine that your brother is pointing towards Philip, is I believe, a Marion crane, rigged for operation as a dragline. I could sit and watch a dragline at work all day. I remember seeing it when I was a kid like yourself. The Marion company were based in Marion Ohio, hence the name, and provided much of the equipment used in cutting the Panama Canal. As an aside, Marion Crane, was also the name of the unfortunate lady who came to grief at the hands of Norman Bates in Psycho. Just another useless piece of information for you there Philip. I got that one off Google.

Regards. Ozy.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 15th February 2017 at 22:01

Ozy - Thankyou for your 'very useful' information regarding this Marion crane; it makes the recollection of that special day all the more meaningful. Regards, Philip G.

Comment by: Aubrey on 16th February 2017 at 13:05

My father, Jack Fairclough, used to drive the 'walking crane' at Windy Arbour, but I thought it was called a Monaghan.

Comment by: Cyril on 16th February 2017 at 15:02

Is this the beginning of what became the massively deep hole you could see from the road.

Comment by: Cyril on 16th February 2017 at 15:28

I remember reading that some Americans having watched Psycho; were more shocked with the scene of Marion Crane and her married boyfriend Sam Loomis indulging in Afternoon Delight, than they were with the shower scene.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 17th February 2017 at 08:37

Aubrey - There's ample film on YouTube showing both the Marion and Monighan draglines in action; 'Monighan 6160' will take you to a short film of the 1930s, which could be of interest to you. Regards.

Comment by: Aubrey on 17th February 2017 at 10:14

Philip,
Thanks, I have now watched the clips, very interesting, I never actually saw my father on the Monighan. Your photo seems, to me, more likely to be the Monighan than the Marian. Do you know which it is?

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 17th February 2017 at 13:31

Aubrey - Thanks for your reply. I'm glad you've found the films interesting as they will have given you an insight into your Dad's duties as he operated his Monighan. The 'walking crane' shown here might well have remained a complete mystery had it not been for Ozy's guidance; he's quite a whiz on plant-machinery and all manner of vehicular transport and, as such, find myself being guided by his
'suggestion'. However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of the Marion and your Dad's Monighan having occupied the same tract of land, as it was of a quite considerable area. Regards.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 17th February 2017 at 21:10

Hi Philip. I have to say that I'm flattered by your confidence in my knowledge on plant and suchlike, although I feel obliged to state that it may be somewhat misplaced, as I certainly don't consider myself to be any more knowledgable on these matters than the average man in the street. I think it unlikely however that there would have been more than one of these beasts operating on that particular site. For one thing, I suspect the capital outlay for two machines of this kind would have been prohibitive. The reason for the apparent confusion in my view, probably lies in the fact that Monighan produced the world's first walking dragline, and as it predated the other manufacturers by several years, the name Monighan became generic for machinery of that type, irrespective of who actually produced it. Much as in the same way that Hoover has become the generic name for any make of vacuum cleaner, Thermos for any vacuum flask, or Biro for any ballpoint pen. For my own part, the reason the name Marion has been lodged in my memory for all these years is that as a nine year old kid, the name Marion, normally considered to be a girl's name, and I'm not being sexist here, seemed to me at that time to be an odd choice for a piece of equipment such as the one in your picture. At this period in my young life, I wasn't aware of the fact that there was actually a town in Ohio bearing this name. I probably wasn't even aware of the fact that there was a place called Ohio either. Another reason is that Marion just happened to be my older sister's name. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that there will be many people around nowadays who could give us a definitive answer to the question. Still, it isn't that important. The important thing , is that you took the trouble to post the photo. Many thanks, it's all so long ago that I'd almost forgotten about it.

Regards. Ozy.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 18th February 2017 at 13:23

Ozy: Hoover - vacuum, Biro - ballpoint ... Ah, I see. Thankyou.

Comment by: Aubrey on 18th February 2017 at 15:43

Philip,
I have contacted my brother, Brian. who was storekeeper at McAlpines, Windy Arbour. He has assured me the photo is the 9W Monighan excavator that had a 6 cubic yard drag line bucket. The machine had formerly been used on the Mississippi river then shipped to England, during the war years, to excavate the much needed coal at Windy Arbour. After the open cast site was finished the machine was returned to America. Brian also said that there were no 'walking' Marians at Windy Arbour, just those on tracks.

Comment by: . Ozymandias. on 18th February 2017 at 19:27

Philip, something that may prove to be of interest to you here. If you type Founded on Coal into your search engine, it will come up with a publication by a couple of chaps named, coincidentally as it happens, Winstanley. This is of course, unless you are already aware of the existence of the publication. It tells the history of coal mining in the Wigan and Wistanley areas. The book can be downloaded in PDF form, ( whatever that means ), but the interesting thing, is that on page 49 I think it is, there's a picture showing three draglines at work on an opencast site. Two of them appear to be tracked but the third is obviously a walking dragline, and although the picture is dated at sometime in the 40's, the fact that the book is actually about mining in the Wigan area, would make it reasonable to assume that the machine in that photograph, could quite possibly be the same machine as the one in your photograph. Take a look and see what you think. Draglines aside however, the book's only about 90 pages long and makes for a very interesting read.

Regards. Ozy.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 18th February 2017 at 19:54

Aubrey - Thanks for you latest post which I find quite riveting. I admire your steadfastness regarding your brother Brian's view on the crane shown here, but also reassure you both that once the small lengths of hairy twine had been acquired, they remained in safe hands and served merely as a poor man's Catherine wheel during the build up to bonfire night when a proper 'wheel' could be bought. Kindest regards.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 18th February 2017 at 20:08

Ozy - Thanks for your response and suggested reading. You've put them to me in easy flowing narrative (whatever that means), which cant fail to stimulate. Regards.

Comment by: Mike Barton on 19th February 2017 at 18:29

Hi Philip this a great photo. I would like to add a few more comments if I may, which hopefully will add to the story. Peter Grimshaw's book titled "Sunshine Miners -Opencast Coalmining in Britain 1942 -1992" has a picture on page 20 of 2 walking draglines working on Pool Covert site in North Wales, near Wrexham. One of the draglines looks very similar if not the same as the one in your photo. It is named as a B-E walking dragline with a 7 cu yd bucket. Other photo's are titled B-E followed by a number W (eg 6W or 7W) and then have the word 'Monighan' to complete the title. As I am sure you will know the B-E stands for Bucyrus Erie. I suspect that the W number is the bucket capacity. The word 'Monighan' reads as if it is the marque or design of that dragline - like a Ford Focus or a Ford Fiesta. Similarly, the text references in the book to 'Monighans' indicate that they are actually B-E branded plant. Perhaps the original Monighan company was taken over or bought by Bucyrus Erie but they continued to manufacture draglines to Monighan designs. Please note that this is pure supposition on my part, I have no information to back this up. The book also notes that by the end of 1944, 2 years after the start of opencasting, the US Government had provided 124 excavators and 51 tractor scrapers, under Rooseveldt's lease-lend initiative, and that teams of Americans came to Britain to assemble them. It looks like the one in your photo is one of these. In 1984/5 I worked on an opencast site in Yorkshire, where a B-E 1150 B (25 cu yard bucket) which came to Britain from America in wartime was still working some forty years on!
Hope this helps, Best regards, Mike.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 20th February 2017 at 15:58

Mike Barton - Thanks for your post and comments in support of my photo, they make my recollection of that particular 'walking crane' all the more meaningful. While Wikipedia 'painlessly' informs me that draglines were used for "strip-mining operations to remove overburden above coal", repeated readings of supporting posts, also written in easy-going style - as I'm sure Peter Grimshaw's book Sunshine Miners... will be, will also provide me with added impetus as I learn more. "If I may digress for a moment" Your mention of the American teams coming to Britain to assemble the machinery may be of further significance. Just a couple of hundred yards further along from where the photo was taken and in close proximity to where all manner of paraphernalia had been strewn, is Billinge Lower Lane Farm. During the same period as the photo having been taken an American family were living in the farmhouse and it might well have been that the father was a member of an assembly team. The family hadn't stayed there for very long, if my memory serves me right, but their son (A.T. or Ateus) and ourselves had occasionally found time to climb to the top of the haybales that were stored in the barn, sometimes walking across the neighbouring field and towards Tatlock's Wood (known locally as The Twelve Apostles). Yes Mike, your post has indeed added to the story. Continued thanks.

Comment by: Mike Barton on 21st February 2017 at 12:45

Hello Phil, many thanks for your reply which stirred a few memories for me. My father's family came from Downall Green, and as was the custom of the time we visited them almost every weekend, so I am reasonably familiar with the area. As a child, I can remember asking my father about a wood that (at that time) had 7 or 8 very tall trees that stuck up above the height of the rest; and he told me that when he was a child, there used to be 12 and they were known as the 12 Apostles. I had quite forgotten that conversation until I read your reply, thank you.
As regards opencast mining in that particular area ie the triangle bounded by Newton Road, Wigan Road and Winstanley Road. The records show 6 individual opencast sites worked from 1945 to 1958. The earliest being Barton Clough Site and the last was Chapel House Site in 1958; collectively they are referred to as the Tatlock's Hillock Group. Chapel House is the nearest to Billinge in the south west corner of the triangle, and must be the site where your photo was taken. Peter Grimshaw's book gives details of all the Opencast sites in Lancashire that were worked by McCalpine's between 1943 and 1962; Chapel House is included, it produced 93,472 tons of coal. Also, on reflection, I am wrong about the BE 1150 Dragline (based in Yorkshire) in my other post. It was not a lease-lend machine but was purchased, 2nd hand from the USA, shortly after the end of the war and shipped to Britain. Mike.

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 21st February 2017 at 21:44

Hello Mike - Thanks for your post. What a coincidence that your father's family came from Downall Green: our father and grandfather also came from that area! I'm glad my mention of Tatlock's stirred a few other memories for you and it may also interest you to know that within Tatlocks stood a small red-bricked building, which at first appeared to our untrained eyes as having been an air raid shelter from the last conflict, although a storage area connected with the mining industry soon became a more plausible explanation for its use. On a gentler note, I guess your location may have prevented you from witnessing the entire demise of the Twelve Apostles, and if so, can see no reason why that should disqualify you from having joined the many others in acquiring the Twelve Apostles Tea Shirt. Further thanks for guiding me towards other areas of interest regarding this topic ie Chapel House site, and in particular those within Peter Grimshaw's book. Kindest regards, Philip.

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