Miller Mining Archive Photos (#ThrowbackThursday)

Sticking with the mining, but much further back in history, over the Christmas shutdown period we have received another awesome batch of old images from our German friend, operator and journalist Dirk Bömer which I’m delighted to share with you all here on the Digger Man Blog.

The photos come from the collection of the late professional photographer Heinz-Herbert Cohrs, which are now preserved and scanned for future generations by Dirk who is also a heavy machinery super fan, and a guy who is always enjoyable to talk machines with.

There is however some confusion as to where in the UK these photos were taken, Dirk has taken a guess at St Aidens coal mine in Swillington, near Leeds, in the late 1970’s early 80’s where Miller Mining were main contractors, if anyone has any deeper knowledge, please let us know via the comments on our social media platforms when the post is shared on them.

Included in the images are some iconic machines such as the famous O&K RH60 face shovel with its twin Deutz engines.

There is also a very rare early example of Poclain’s 100-tonne offering the EC1000 which was powered by not one, not two, but three Detroit Diesel two stroke engines! That must have been some sound at full chat!

The Bucyrus-Erie BE 1150 walking dragline, which was affectionately known as “Oddball”, dwarfs everything else in the pit including what could be a Cat D8K or D9H below it.

We also see a lot of Terex trucks of varying sizes, distinctive in the familiar old lime green livery of those days.

The BE 1150 "Oddball" as far as I'm aware is still preserved on site, and is featured in this video. 

We thank Dirk for sharing these old photos with us here on the Digger Man Blog.