Wigan Album

machine looks like a fowler challenger 33

We used to haul coal from Windy Arbour opencast workings to the old Blundell's site in Pem. The latter had ceased mining, but still functioned as a railhead and weigh-in for transporting the opencast crop.

From memory , the opencast coal extraction at Windy Arbour took place in the mid to late 50s … I may be out by a year or two here … either way , a little too early for my involvement

I did however end up driving a Euclid dump truck similar to the one in this shot at McAlpine’s quarry at Codrington in 1966 during the construction of the M4 motorway .

The primary reason for my post however is to inform that Barry Case , who was a nephew of Jack Case , and who posted a comment on this thread a while back passed away a couple of years ago .

I’m afraid I’m unable to supply the precise date of his demise , but he’d gone out to Africa , remarried and was living in The Gambia at that time .

I say this just in case one or two of the plant men on here that may have come into contact with the lad at Ashton Cross were unaware .