‘We’re just country people trying to give our families what we never had and try to make better for our families.’ Coal s1e2, Jerry Edwards, section foreman day shift
The miners are in a race against time to find the course of the smoke. ibid.
‘Just another day in paradise.’ ibid. miner
Without Andy the day crew’s chance of getting seven cuts is looking slim. ibid.
‘I’ve had three heart attacks. Nobody wants an old man any more.’ ibid. Randy
‘I went all the way through college. I went through one door and out the other.’ ibid. miner
A storm slams into the mine. ibid.
Flooding has blown the pump. ibid.
The rainstorm flooded the well, shutting down the pump. Now they have to work out why. Coal s1e3
Being a Bolter is like living as a marked man. While the Bolters work, the mine’s roof is unsupported. Which is why Hank’s job has the highest death rate of any position in the mine. ibid.
Death by falling rock is a reality in every mine. ibid.
4A massive two thousand kilowatt generator has arrived on site. It should put an end to the power outages. Coal s1e4
With the belt-move turning into a financial disaster, Mike looks for somewhere to lay the blame. ibid.
A mountain of company debt has become due. ibid.
Coal’s not the only thing to be found in these hills. They are also known for some of the best hunting in the United States. ibid.
The night crew turned a belt move into a comedy of errors. ibid.
The next ten hours are critical. ibid.
Roof bolting is the deadliest job in the mine. ibid.
They filled forty trucks in a single day and nailed their first profit. Coal s1e5
The most deadly part of the mountain ... Now they are directly below a valley. ibid.
The men really are between a rock and a hard place. ibid.
Mining, physical pain and prescription drugs have been known to go hand in hand. ibid.
Five out of ten men haven’t shown up for work. ibid.
Despite being down five men they’ve had the best shift of the week. ibid.
‘When you’re a coal miner you just about have to be a jack of all trades.’ Coal s1e6, Andy the legend
‘Sometimes you know you’re better off getting these young drug-free boys that need a job.’ ibid. Big Cheese
The blow to the [continuous] miner appears to be fatal. The continuous miner is dead, and that could mean the end of Cobalt Coal. ibid.
The cardinal rule of roof bolting is don’t rush it. ibid.
A small mining company is chasing a high grade seam of coal. The risks are huge. But so are the rewards. Coal s1e7
Someone has betrayed them. ibid.
They just financed a $600,000 Continuous Miner. Now they need another $60,000 to cover the payroll, and hook up their more powerful generator. ibid.
No water means no mining. ibid.
If the company has to survive it has to hook up the new generator. ibid.
‘It’s ten thousand dollars’ of equipment.’ ibid. Big Cheese
Randy is carving through the coal. By the end of the shift he’s knocked out seven cuts. ibid.
Black smoke is pouring from the generator. Coal s1e8
Tom can’t afford any more downtime. ibid.
‘We hit water!’ ibid. miner
Every miner here has had the experience of hitting something unexpected. ibid.
Coal drove the economy of the industrialised world. ibid.
Heavy snow has started to fall. ibid.
Eddie Branch the night crew electrician just called to say he’d taken a job from another mine. ibid.
Methane is a silent killer that can be found in any mine. ibid.
On 5th April 2010 ... The worst US mining accident in thirty years rocked the industry to its core. ibid.
A late miner means loss of profitability. Coal s1e9
The new mining team is burning through the coal. ibid.
The powerful Unihauler is making an immediate impact. ibid.
Thanks to Joe the night crew is back in the coal. ibid.
The company seems to have worked out how to run consistent coal. ibid.
1954: The daily lives of miners were chronicled by the national coal board’s film unit. Timeshift: When Coal Was King, BBC 2013
Mining Review was shown in over 800 cinemas and watched by millions of people. ibid.
Coal carried many of the hopes of post-war Britain. ibid.
In 1958 alone sixty-two miners loss their lives in pit accidents. ibid.
The 1960s would see a prolonged period of contraction. ibid.
There are now less than a handful of deep coalmines in Britain employing a few thousand people. ibid.
It were really coal and iron that started the industrial revolution. Iron to make the boilers similar to this one, and coal of course to burn on them to make the steam to drive all the machinery. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age e3: Iron & Steel, BBC 1999
There are still some coal mines around where you can see what it was like to be a miner. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age e4: Mining
The cage would go down as much as 3,000 feet. ibid.
A strong sense of comradeship developed. ibid.
In 1947 there were nearly three quarters of a million miners in this country. ibid.
Thomas Newcomen invented a brand new type of steam-engine which was designed solely for one purpose: to pump water from deep mine shafts. The first one was installed here at Staffordshire at a colliery, and it proved to be the world’s most successful steam-engine. Fred Dibnah’s Age of Steam e1: The Early Pioneers, BBC 2003
This is my garden and of course over the last forty years I’ve amassed a grand array of antique machinery and shed … But now I’ve got an even bigger project on the go – it is really a bit unusual to have a pit-head-gear in your back garden … I’ve got a grand plan … to build a replica coal mine in my garden … My idea is to build a working replica of a mine to show just what it were like. This programme really is about steam, coal and our industrial heritage, and my attempts to preserve some of it here in my back garden. Fred Dibnah, Dig with Fred, BBC 2004
It were steam that drove the coal industry. ibid.
Every mine needs to have three things: 1) a mine shaft which of course is a big hole in the ground that goes all the way down to where the coal is buried; 2) the winding engine which really is a winch which lowers the men down to the coal and winds up the spoils of the digging operation; 3) the pit-head gear. ibid.
So, you lay the bricks on the iron ring a few feet at a time which provides a sort of foundation, and you brick up the gap to the underside of the brickwork where you last left off. ibid.
We’ve got to build a railway from the top of the shaft … ibid.
It’s time we set up the health and safety aspect of it. ibid.
Trouble. Big problems … Another visit from the Council. ibid.
The first thing we need is plenty of coal. We’re off to the coal mine. Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain: Collecting the Coal, BBC 2005
Eleven tons moving at about ten miles an hour doesn’t stop in a hurry. ibid.
Today fewer than five hundred people work in the quarrying and mining industries combined. ibid.
It’s all very sad really that it’s practically all gone. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone e8: Riches Beneath the Earth, BBC 2006
It was the growth in iron production that led to the great increase in the demand for coal. ibid.
It is really a bit unusual to have a pit-head gear in your back garden ... I’ve got this plan to actually build a replica coal mine in me garden. ibid.