Going underground

THIS strange, underground mechanical creature was, in fact, an Eimco Rockershovel, which coalminers also recognised.

John Hill, of Bishop Middleham, County Durham, worked for Eimco (Great Britain) for more than 30 years, the last eight until his retirement in 2003 as general manager.

“Eimco is an abbreviation of Eastern Iron and Manufacturing Company which was based in Salt Lake City, Utah in the US,” he says.

“The Rockershovel was invented in the early 1930s by two of the company’s engineers, called Royal and Finlay, to mimic the action of a man filling a tub throwing rock over his shoulder using a shovel.”

Rockershovels of all sizes were used all over the world, flinging rock around in a confined space at the ironstone face.

“To me there was nothing more thrilling than being in a tunnel with two Rockershovels working side by side,” says John.

“It was like poetry in motion.

Everything was so slick.

The machines even shunted the tubs into position.

“Couple all this with the noise of the compressed air driving the motors, and the dust all around – what an experience it was to be a mining engineer.”

The North Skelton Rockershovel was probably supplied from the Eimco base at Team Valley, Gateshead, and was probably manufactured at Logans in Scotland.

“We were still supplying Rockershovels into the 1980s to the tin mines in Cornwall as they could operate in really narrow tunnels as long as there was sufficient height for the bucket to load into a tub, and generally in vein mining this would be the case.

The Eimco Rockershovel in action in North Skelton in the North East Film Archive film

“We also had a good market in Ghana, Africa, in the gold mines.”

With British mining all but disappeared, Eimco now makes its Rockershovels in India, although John still has a beautiful working model, presented to him on his retirement, at his home in Bishop Middleham.

END Of An Era is a film made for Dorman Long, which owned North Skelton mine, in 1964 to commemorate the closure of the Cleveland orefield. The full, ten-minute colour version of the film is now on the North- East Film Archive’s website at nefacalfilms.co.uk It includes some splendid scenes of the ironstone coast, a wonderfully clipped commentary and, of course, the Eimco Rockershovel in full working order.

MAGNIFICENT news from Alex Moore in Chilton: in his garage he has a superb 1920s yellowand- black sign that once informed motorists they had reached Shildon.

These Automobile Association signs have also been entertaining us in Memories over the past fortnight. You will remember that local authorities were not required to place nameboards on roadsides until 1930. Therefore, early motorists were driving round without a clue where they were or where they were going.

The AA remedied this by erecting these large signs – which not only informed motorists of the name of the place they had arrived in and how far it was from London, but they also served as an advertisement for the AA.

However, when the Second World War broke out, many of the signs were removed for fear that they would give German invaders too much information.

Therefore, they are exceedingly rare – we’ve only spotted them in the North Yorkshire villages of East Harlsey, Crathorne and Great Broughton (the latter we think is a replica). And in Alex’s garage.

The AA sign informing motorists they had reached Shildon, found in Alex Moore’s garage

“In the late 1980s, I drove a scrap skip lorry for a local company,” he says.

“After sorting through a pile of scrap which may have been in a council yard in this area, I found three of these signs. One was bent, bashed and had been folded in half, so it went back on the pile. “One I gave to a workmate who lived in Darlington – hopefully he still has it?

“And the other I kept for myself and it has been hanging on my garage wall ever since.”

So everybody in Darlington check your garages – we need to know where this 1920s sign is.

BONUS points and plenty of respect to everyone who identified last week’s mystery car which was parked on the cobbles at Barnard Castle on December 1, 1967, with a small boy looking forlornly out of the passenger window.

“It is a Triumph Herald,”

says Ann Lake in Ferryhill.

“The car I learned to drive in was a yellow one. My instructor was a Mr Ramage, and the contact point for him was in the flower shop on Grange Road, Darlington, called Gayflowers.”

Ahh, Gayflowers. You won’t find that name above many florists’ shop doors these days.

Congratulations to, among many others, Sally McDonagh, Ralph Davison and David Shevels, who also named the Herald.

Ian David in Leyburn takes it a stage further.

“It is a Triumph Herald 12/50 Skylight Saloon,” he says, “as opposed to the later, slightly plusher and more powerful 13/60, with which I was briefly well acquainted until I wrote off my mother’s version on Hefferlaw Bank just north of Alnwick on the old A1.

“It looked like a standard Triumph Herald 1200, but the Skylight Saloon was sportier with a more powerful engine (51 bhp compared to the usual 39 bhp).

“It was even fitted with a sliding fabric sunroof and front disc brakes. Triumph certainly pushed the boat out on this one.”

Market day in Barnard Castle in 1975, with the Harland Brothers’ stall in the centre

Keith Armstrong, in Bowburn, says: “The original Triumph Herald was introduced in 1959 by Harry Webster, chief engineer of Standard- Triumph, who enlisted Giovanni Michelotti to design the body.

“I owned a 1960 948cc saloon from 1962, registration number 718PT, which was originally black with a white roof but which was resprayed mid blue with a white flash and roof.”

John Biggs, in Bishop Auckland, explains even more: “Before the Second World War, the Standard Motor Company was an important player in the family car market and it bought Triumph, which was a sporty marque, to create Standard- Triumph.

“In the 1960s, they decided to ditch the name Standard, which no longer had to the right connotation, and the cars were rebranded Triumph.

“The Herald was a successful little car, unusual as most cars were built by a unitary construction of body and chassis in one piece, but it had a separate chassis with the bodywork bolted on which was an old-fashioned way of doing it.

“The Herald was the same size as the Morris Minor and Ford Anglia, but slightly upmarket – some of them even had polished walnut in them.”

Quite a few people had a go at identifying every vehicle they could see.

Behind the Triumph Herald, Ian David noted a Morris Traveller, a Humber Sceptre Mk 11 and an A60 Austin Cambridge.

The row on the right, he says, starts with a Mk 1 Ford Cortina, Vauxhall Viva HA (deluxe), Ford Cortina Mk 11, Hillman Minx, Austin/Morris 1100 Estate, Mk 1 Ford Cortina, Austin Cambridge estate, and a Ford Anglia van.

Peter Daniels of Bishop Auckland agrees, but of the van he says: “It could be a Ford Anglia derivative which I think they called it the Thames van.”

On the cobbles in Barnard Castle in 1967. well done to all the readers who correctly identified the car in the foreground, with a small boy staring out the window

Then he adds: “Parked on the roadside to the left is a Vauxhall Victor: Which? Magazine’s “best buy” in its inaugural year and probably the fastest-rusting new car produced at the time.”

Keith Armstrong says: “The delivery van on the midright appears to be a Bedford TK operated by Watsons Carriers, who were based at Thinford.”

And he adds: “All the cars seem to be British made. I don’t recognise any foreign models.”

How times change.

GRAHAM HARLAND in Barton takes us back to the picture of Barnard Castle market in May 1975 as he spotted Harland Brothers’ market garden stall.

“In the centre is there Bedford J series 3.5 litre petrol truck with canvas canopy,” he says.

“They operated local markets at Darlington (Monday and Saturday), Bishop Auckland (Thursday and Saturday) and Barnard Castle (Wednesday) out of Castle Gardens at Walworth Castle until 1980.

“I often worked for them on high days and holidays for a bit of pocket money.

“The arrival now and again of Mrs Norman Fields of Lartington in her Rolls Royce was quite entertaining.

“She would loudly command immediate service by leaning from the rear window, engine running, with her elderly, capped chauffeur looking rather harassed and henpecked having stopped all the traffic.”

This picture last appeared in The Northern Echo on November 12, 1965, when the caption beneath it read: “Pictured in luxurious surroundings – and unusually fine weather – is the Herald 12/50 saloon with its sun roof open.”