Tales of Whoa feature in Waterways World

[Graham Davis]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The Pit-Ponies did see the light of day, several times a day as they pulled the coal-trucks out of the mine towards the coal storage yard, but their stables were underground and they lived were fed, and worked underground for the majority of the time.

 

The Farm that we owned in Wales was on the site of the Ffrwd Canal & one of the deepest mines (at the time) in Wales.

 

The mine was closed in the early 1900's following an accident that was due to the compassion of the Assistant mine manager.

 

August Bank holiday and the miners had the day off, the manager was away so the Assistant manager decided to give the pit-ponies a day out in the fresh air and ordered them brought out 'above ground'.

In order to save money he then ordered the ventilation fans to be switched off.

 

When the mine was re-opened (after the holiday) there was a big explosion due to the build up of gas, the mine never made it back into full productiion and finally closed a couple of years later.

 

We obtained Planning permission to extract coal from the site and uncovered the old storage yard (and light gauge railway) - the coal was about 4 feet deep across the whole area.

 

We extracted several 1000 tonnes, which we supplied to a brick manufacturing company near Chester, where they used the coal to power their plant.

 

No 2 Son in the 'coal-hole'.

 

 

Sorry Alan, but is dependeby on the type of mine. Many of the deep mines, which were most common in Wales, the ponies would often not come to the surface except for short "holiday" periods whent the mine was shut for maintenance. Your type of coming to the surface would only apply to adit type mines

[Sea Dog]

3 hours ago, BWM said:

The picture raises more questions than it gives answers, it is odd for the horse to be on such a short tow and the lifting effect of the rope coupled with the buoyancy would make the pull challenging. It also could be a tug of war, having a steamer at the other end, which appears to be both pulling and pushing...

 

 The date may make a steamer unlikely but if not, what is the smoke emitting from!

I think they were proceeding right to left when the horse they were towing at the short stay decided he'd had enough and turned for home.

[Drayke]

On 03/01/2021 at 17:58, MrsM said:

 Anyone else affected by this article in the most recent edition of Waterways World (p.96, Feb '21)? I found it very upsetting. I'm no snowflake and am fully aware of the horrendous life that many animals have at our hands. Nevertheless I found the descriptions of abuse and cruelty of boat horses very hard reading. Please tell me this wasn't common! Happy New Year WwW!

I can the horses that were used at Brentford on the G U, my dad a cut hand worked with them, and they certainly were not abused.