Have been reading my most recent purchase from Mike at  ?moorebooks ? the book is called black avalanche .

In a chapter the rescue team have to walk through a abandoned section of the mine  called pencil gallery ?

In my opinion/ guess a pencil gallery in a pit would probably be a section where pillar robbing could have taken place leaving a large open void / chamber and many vertical pit props inserted having their own  foot plates and ceiling plates with wedges to tighten them ?

Would like to know if I have understood the term correctly am sure others have heard of it 


Tad confused also as I thought gallery was a slate term not used in pits ?


Tom

Is it coal, and what is the era?

Just talking out of my backside not knowing the above, could it be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwall_mining where the face advances and the gob collapses behind as they move the props (hydraulic jacks in modern times) forwards. If so, could it be a seam/face not being extracted but supported as a long chamber with all the props left in place so they could come back to it?

Was it the Borrowdale Graphite Mines?

It was at Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery, in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, in September of 1950 so coal mines . I don?t believe their machinery was that far advanced yet as they didn?t even have a canteen,  It has mentioned very little  of modern methods seems a more traditional style of mining being used .

Fulk said:

Was it the Borrowdale Graphite Mines?

Click to expand...

It just wasn't 2B