AB16 coal cutter
 undercutting the coal seam.

Drilling the coal face
Explosive charges were then inserted
and “fired” to bring down the coal.

Joy Loader a mechanised coal loader.

Armoured Flexible Conveyor (AFC)

Coal mining methods pre 1945 were outdated.
 It took three shifts to cut and load the coal.
 This was the cycle of operations.
 On the night shift the coal was undercut; shot holes were drilled along  the coal face then  filled with explosives and the coal blasted and brought  down all the way along the face.
 On the dayshift the coal had to be broken up and  shovelled onto the face conveyor. At least 20 men were needed for this on a 100 yard face.
 On the afternoon shift everything was moved forward,  props were reset and  the face belt dismantled and replaced in the new track.
 The 3 shift cycle was then ready to start all over again.
 
 Now the machines have taken over and the operations that previous took three shifts can be done in one shift and this revolution in mining only  came about after Nationization when money and recourses were made  available to update the industry.

 One of the big changes was the introduction of the cutter loader for  it not only cut the coal but loaded it onto the conveyor at the same time.
 Another change equally important was the armoured flexible conveyor (afc).
 The cutter loader can run on the strong sides of the afc and the afc can  be pushed over mechanically by the powered roof supports.
 Powered roof supports also made a great contribution and together with machine and conveyor they push over the conveyor and then advance  themselves covering the newly exposed roof.
 So production on all shifts had been achieved and although the average was  about 600 tons per day some faces exceed 2000 tons.
 Once a mine had as many as 10 or 15 faces, now it is 3 or 4 for the same output.
 Winning the coal advances the face away from the main roadway so the gate roads have to be constantly extended to keep open the lines of supplies  and travel.
 There is another system called retreat mining where the gate roads are  driven out to the ends of the section to be worked and the face retreats back between them.
 Whatever the system a cutter loader is used.

The coal may be sliced out by a shearer,  scraped out by a plough or scraper or reamed out  by a trepanner. The choice of machine is determined by the physical conditions on each coal face and the kind of coal needed.  The rate of  advance of the coal face also determines the rate of advance required for  the gate roads. The traditional methods of working just could not cope so  mechanisation had to be applied here as well.
 Machines like the roadheader are doing  the job mechanically.
 They speed up the rate of advance and make the work safer.