Eden Colliery

Miscellaneous Notes and Incidents

In a haulage landing, where the inbye workings had been temporarily stopped due to weighting of the supports in the landing which was being enlarged, a deputy charged a shot hole in a large block of stone to break it up. He was in the act of connecting the cable wires to the detonator leads when the shot exploded, and investigation showed that a length of shot firing cable had been used as a temporary extension to the bare wire signalling system. These wires had been disconnected in the vicinity of the shot, and the deputy had mistakenly connected the extension cable to the detonator leads, so completing the circuit on the signalling system which detonated the charge in the shot hole.

Source: Report of H.M. Principal Electrical Inspector of Mines for 1950, from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian