Winding engine controls

Fabulous! Consider the thought (and raw engineering talent) that went into that chair and command console.

Move over Captain Kirk!

Great pic!..completely different to the 100 years old steam winder at the High Pit!..mind,theres something about steam engines....Raw direct power,from massive twin cylinders,all the copper and brass pipework and valves polished like mirrors,and you just lay one finger on a pipe,as I did aged 15 years,and you got a steel pipewrench rapped over your fingers..as I had,from the Brakesman! they were very proud of their engines in those days...and that is fact!

Just a queer thought!,has anybody ever wondered why all the Winderhouses at the pits,had Church-like windows..["Cathedral-arches"]...?

Was it because it was sacrosanct that no-one was allowed in the Brakehouse,except the Brakesman,and other Authorised personell.

These window frames would have been a lot more costly to produce and maintain,than  normal oblong ones!