Grange Iron Co

1883. Overhead crane at Beamish Museum.

1883. Exhibit at Beamish Museum.

1881. Winding engine for Silksworth Colliery.

1881.

1892. No 455. Name plate courtesy of the Redhead Men’s Shed near Newcastle, Australia.

of Grange Iron Works, Durham, produced a wide variety of mining equipment, including steam engines for winding, haulage, air compressing and pumping duties, steam cranes, ventilating fans, compressed air locomotives.

1866 The company was first registered on 27th April, taking over the works of Mr W. Coulson, of The Crossgate, Durham.

1866 The Third Marquis of Londonderry, owner of Grange colliery, granted a lease to William Stobart that allowed him to pull down the mine buildings.

1866-73 Built a few locomotives for local collieries including the West Hartlepool Steel and Iron Co

1867 The Grange Iron Company works were established on the site of the former Grange Colliery. The works were located very close to a branch of the North Eastern Railway; a short connection connected the works to the railway

1879 An advert in Slater’s Directory of Co Durham, 1879, as ‘Engineers, Smiths, Boiler Makers, Iron & Brass Founders and Manufacturers of all descriptions of Colliery Iron Work’

1881 '.... I will now proceed to describe another system of haulage, which is patented by "Lishman and Young," and which has been in use in some of the Earl of Durham's collieries for the last three years with very satisfactory results. By this arrangement small locomotive engines of suitable design are worked by compressed air. They are made by the Grange Iron Company, near Durham, as illustrated by the engravings on page 280. The smaller type of engine is that usually employed upon short runs of 400 to 500 yards in length, and for doing the work of horses and ponies generally, such as collecting the full tubs and distributing the empties amongst the men who are working in various parts of the mine - the full tubs being placed on the flat or landing at the end of the main road, where they are made up into trains, or sets, to be taken away by the large locomotives, or, where the gradients are too steep to admit of this, the hauling rope being had recourse to for conveying the tubs to the bottom of the shaft. These engines, as will be seen from the drawings, possess a large receiver for storing the compressed air, varying in capacity from 20 to about 56 cubic feet, according to the size of the engine and the work which it has to perform, the pressure varying in one pit from 200 lb. to 210 lb., and in another from 220 lb. to 250 lb. per square inch. The air is applied in most cases direct to the pistons at these pressures, without being heated or reduced. The regulator used is an ordinary cock, with the opening narrowed a little, and placed at a considerable angle to the centre line of the plug, so that an extensive movement of the handle is necessary before any great extent of opening can be obtained in the plug. By this arrangement the surging of the engine and consequent loss of air is to a great extent prevented. By applying the air in a cold state, as we are now doing, we find that a great benefit is conferred upon the ventilation of the mine, but, at the same time, we are aware that a considerable loss of work is sustained from a given quantity of air, ....'

1887 the company was awarded two silver medals and a bronze at the Royal Exhibition at Newcastle for compound air compressing engines, air locomotives for underground haulage, and for colliery jigging screens.

1888 500 IHP two cylinder horizontal winding engine, now preserved at Washington 'F' Pit.

1894 Employed 600; the company manufactured all kinds of steam engines, machinery and colliery plant, including small compressed-air driven locomotives for use underground.

1925 Meeting of creditors.

1926 The iron works closed when it was amalgamated with Messrs Joseph Cook, Sons and Co Ltd of the Washington Steel & Iron Works

• Overhead cranes (see photo)

• Equipment at the Preston Colliery.

See Also

Loading...