May 21, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1069 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A SPECIAL TYPE OF COLLIERY LOCOMOTIVE. The Coalfields of Spitzbergen. A. powerful saddle-tank type of locomotive, which has recently been built by Messrs. Kerr, Stuart and Company Limited, of Stoke-on-Trent, for the New Reynolton Anthracite Colliery at Begelly, Pembrokeshire, is illus- trated in the accompanying photograph. The locomotive was designed for tunnel work, and was required to pass a res:rioted loading gauge, as the tunnel through which it will have to operate has a minimum height of only 6 ft. 6 in. and a minimum width of 7 ft. 9 in. The cylinders are outside, being 9 in. diameter by 15 in. stroke, and the valve gear is of the ordinary Stephenson link motion, with valves on the top of the cylinders. The lever-reversing gear is on the right- hand side of the engine. The coupled wheels are 2 ft. 6 in. diameter, with cast iron centres and steel tires, shrunk on and secured with.l p and screws. The rigid and also the total-wheelbase is 4 ft. 6 in. The crank pins are hard steel forgings and the slide bars are of mild steel, whilst the connecting and coupling rods are mild steel forgings with gunmetal bushes, and the eccentric straps and sheaves are of cast iron. Cast steel is used for the crossheads, and the slide blocks are of gunmetal. Each cylinder is provided with a “ Bosco ’ lubricator, placed on the side of the smokebox and connected to the steam pipes. The boiler has 70 sold-drawn steel tubes, If in. external diameter, fitted with steel ferrules at the fire- box end, and with a heating surface of 218 sq. It. Tie steel firebox provides an additional surface of 30 sq. ft., whilst the grate area is 533 sq. ft. The working pressure is 100 lb. per square inch. Theie are two No. 5 automatic combination injectors, and four sand-boxes are fitted at the front and rear of the coupled wheels. The saddle tank accommodates 250 galls, of water, and there is 18 cu. ft. space for fuel in the s de bunkers. The colliery railway is of 4 ft. 0| in. gauge, the same as that of the Saundersfoot Harbour and Railway Company’s line, which connects the Begelly Colliery with the small shipping port of Saundersfoot. _________;_____; ______ .jr_. Saddle-tank Colliery Locomotive Constructed by Messrs. Kerr, Stuart and Co. Ltd. This locomotive has a total length over buffers of 18 ft. 4 in., a total height from rail level to top of chimney of 6ft., and a total width of 6 ft. 9 in. The weight, empty, is 91 tons, and in working order 12 tons. When cutting off at J stroke, the tractive force of the engine amounts to 5,767 lb., and the tractive force per ton of adhesive weight is 480 lb. _____________________________ Immingham Coal Exports. — The coal exported from Immingham during the week ended the 14th inst., was as follows:—To Banders, 771 tons; Bonne, 782; Rotterdam, 4,134; and Trondhjem, 2,282—total, 7,969 tons, all foreign; as against 33,472 tons foreign, and 1,550 tons coastwise for the corresponding week of last year. Coal Shipped from Ports in England, Scotland and Wales During April. — The following figures, which have been extracted from the tables issued by H.M. Commissioners of Customs and Excise, show the quantity of coal shipped -from the United Kingdom during April from each group of ports, as compared with the corresponding month of 1914 Cargo. April 1914. April 1915. Tons. Tons. Bristol Channel ports 2,251,922 .. .. 1,644,120 North-western ports 47,849 .. 66,888 N orth-eastern ports 1,785,061 . .. 1,083,651 Humber ports 269,996 . .. 363,160 Other east coast ports 31,172 . 309 Other English ports 5 .. 10 Ports on east coast of Scotland 670,735 . 339,579 Ports on west coast of Scotland 157,278 . .. 272,047 Total 5,214,018 . .. 3,769,764 Bunker. April 1914. April 1915. Tons. Tons. Bristol Channel ports 371,524 . .. 348,136 North-western ports 341,466 . 250,855 North-eastern ports 273,616 . .. 184,426 Humber ports 206,497 . .. 123,745 Other east, coast ports 127,816 . 87,854 Other English ports 77,288 . 17,167 Ports on east coast of Scotland... 120,659 . 57,710 Ports on west coast of Scotland... 104,266 . .. 103,956 Irish ports 1,150 . 1,915 Total 1,624,282 . .. 1,175,764 (Continued from page 1014.) British and American Enterprises. 1.—Coal had been discovered in Advent Bay as long ago as 1870 by an Englishman named Lamont, but when Mr. Longyear-, one of the promoters of the American company-—the Arctic Coal Company—made his dis-/ covery in 1900, he does not seem to have had the advantage of these previous discoveries. As already stated, the company was formed in 1905, and began to work in the lower sandstone at a height of 400 m. The seam worked is extremely regular, and its thickness varies from 1T0 m. to 1'20 m. The coal is of good quality, as shown by the following analysis, made in 1900 by M. Wleugel:— Per cent. Humidity .......... 3’46 Ash ................ 1'70 Sulphur............ 1’51 Fixed carbon ....... 77 26 Hydrogen .......... 5'2 Nitrogen and oxygen... 10 87 Calorific power ... 7,311 cals Specific gravity... 1'303 Coke yield ...... 62'26 p.c. Two samples analysed by M. Klason give ash contents of 1'34 per cent, and 2'8 per cent, respectively. The coal does not at all resemble the tertiary lignite of Germany; it is, on the contrary, a very fine coal, lustrous and slightly bituminous. Unfortunately, it does not coke well, and gives a large percentage of small. It is an excellent fuel for marine boilers, leaving less ash, but giving off more smoke than the coals of the east of England. The extent of the seam is apparently very great, reaching from the west of Sassen Quarter to the west of Green Bay, a distance of 50 kiloms., and towards the interior as far as Bell Sound, an almost equal distance. It is possible that the sestm may thin out locally, but it was found at the end of the Harbour Valley in 1908 to be 1’60 m. thick. A little to the east of Cole Bay it is composed of two seams, separated .by a parting of coaly shale 0'40 m. thick, the thickness of the upper and lower beds being 0'70 m. and 0'60 m. respectively. The same horizon was identified by Blomstrand in 1861 at the mouth of the Bjorn Valley, somewhat to the west of Advent Bay. The property of the Arctic company extends over 230 sq. kiloms., and it is estimated that this area con- tains 230 million tons of coal at a minimum, of which 200 million tons may be regarded as workable. The surrounding strata are composed of solid sandstone, and no timbering is necessary. This is an important con- sideration, as no local supply of timber is available. The seam lies at a depth of 100 m. to 200 m. from the surface. The summer temperature there ranges from —3 degs. to —4 degs., but in winter it falls below —8 degs., whilst outside it reaches —40 degs., an average being —27 degs. Little was done by this company until 1908, in the summer, of which year the construction of a pontoon 240 m. in length, and extending perpendicularly from the shore, was completed, and a cable transporter, 750 m. in length, was established from the mine to the quay. The pontoon was destroyed by an ice slip in the following spring, and was replaced by a second one of stronger construction. In 1909 the output amounted to 4,000 tons, the greafer part of which was consumed in ships coming from Norway, with, it is stated, very satisfactory results. By the end of the summer the galleries had been pushed to a length of 350 m., a dozen houses were built, forming Longyear City, and, for the first time, 100 miners passed the winter on the island. In 1911 the roadways had been extended to 500m. from the entrance. At the time of writing (1914), the Arctic Coal Company employs from 350 to 300 workers in the summer, and 50 more in the winter. The average wages are 7-50 kr., but the company retains 1'50 kr. for board and lodging, leaving the net earnings 6 kr., or about 7s. The working day is 10J hours, including stoppages for rest, &c. The company possesses three Diamond coal-cutters, worked by electricity, and animal haulage is employed. The coal is shipped, for the most part, to Hammerfest, where it is consumed by the Bergenske and Norden- fjeldske shipping companies and the State railways. A certain quantity, however, has been sent to America. The capital expenditure has amounted to about .£120,000 or £30,000 in excess of the original estimate. The loading berth is small; only one boat can load at a time, and the operation, in the ease of a vessel of any size, takes about a week. This has militated against the success of the undertaking, as it is necessary that the entire output for a year should be put on board during a period of two months. But, although the financial results have not been disclosed, these do not appear to have been unfavourable. 2. —The Spitzbergen Coal and Trading Company had but an ephemeral existence. Established in 1905, the company proposed to work the deposits discovered by M. de Geer in 1882 in the jurassic in the northern part of Advent Bay. Coal had been found outcropping at the height of 108 m. in the lateral valley, but it was covered up by frozen detritus, and its thickness could not be ascertained. The deposit worked by the English com- pany, situated a little to the south of this outcrop, very probably belongs to the same horizon. When the company ceased operations in 1908, the roads had already been driven to a length of about 100 m., and a group of dwellings had been dignified by the name of Advent City. The immediate cause of the abandonment of the mine was, it seems, trouble that had arisen between the management and the workmen, but the workings, unfortunately, had been started in a place where the seam was much disturbed, and the machinery possessed by the company was not well adapted to the conditions. Finally, the anchorage was less favourable than that on the opposite shore. The ill success of this venture, however, was probably due more to inefficient management than to any other cause. 3. —The Ayer and Longyear Coal Company, which holds an interest in the Arctic Coal Company, was founded about 1900 to undertake research in the jurassic region to the east of Advent Bay, extending from the boundary of the English company to the outcrop of the trias on the south-western shore of Sassen Bay. The coal there is of very good quality, and is differentiated from the tertiary coal of Advent Bay by a smaller content of sulphur and a greater percentage of ash. The following is the result of analysis made by M. Wleugel:— Per cent. Humidity ........... 1'86 Specific gravity... 1'298 ............. ush ................. 7T8 Coke yield ..... 31'53 p.c. Sulphur............... 0'85 Fixed carbon _______ 76'15 Hydrogen ........... 5'45 Oxygen and nitrogen... 8'51 The same company has placed its hand on Cape Boheman and the Heer Quarter region, between Advent Bay and Cole Bay. But this territory has been re-annexed by the Norwegians, who afterwards carried out some work on it. Cape Boheman comprises a very flat plain, which extends for more than 10 kiloms. towards the interior. The jurassic, which throughout this region is undulated, is very much faulted to the west, forming the Helsingland and Gestrikland ridges. In 1864 Norden- skiold had noted the presence, in one of the small islands situated to the south of this promontory, of a seam of coal, which reappeared at several points on the mainland west of a compound constructed on the shore about the year 1900. The deposit possesses only a limited importance owing to the dangers attending navigation, the channels being shallow, whilst there is no harbour on the shores of Cape Boheman, which abound with submerged rocks. M. de Geer considers further that the Cape Boheman seam is not sufficiently thick to be worked, but it is possible that the same horizon may be found in the jurassic mountains to the north-west. 4.—Koi Mountain, situated on the northern shore of Van Mijens Bay, consists partly of tertiary beds, at whose base the usual coal horizon is found. Norden- skiold found at this point small fragments of coal. The seam, whose average thickness is about 1 m., has been proved at different spots by an English company, headed by Lord Morton and Mr. Garner. In one of the openings the seam was 1’30 m. thick. The dip was from 15 degs. to 20 degs. towards the interior of the mountain. At 10 m. below this seam coal shales have been discovered, which may be workable in some places. Unfortunately, near Koi Mountain, Van Mijens Bay is very broad, and offers no harbour. The accumulations of sand and glacial detritus render navigation difficult, and near Axel Island the navigable channel is only 450 m. wide. On the other hand, the dissipation of the ice is very slow, and the icebergs of the Firthjof glacier are a dangerous impediment. Finally, prospecting work, of which no records are available, has been conducted by a Scottish company in. Prince Charles Island. The tertiary deposits of this district, however, are of quite secondary importance. Swedish Properties. The expedition sent out in 1911 by the Jernkontor, in the name of the Isfjorden Bellsunden Company, annexed the following four territories :—(1) Braganza Bay region (tertiary); (2) Biinsow Land region (culm and carboni- ferous) ; (3) Mount Pyramid region (culm); (4) Erdmann Tundra region (jurassic and tertiary). 1.—The property annexed in Braganza Bay lies within the limits of 16 degs. 20 min. and 17 degs. long, and 77 degs. 40 min. and 78 degs. lat. north. Outcrops of coal were discovered by Hogbom at the point where Nathorst had already indicated the presence of tertiary deposits. The seam runs from 1 m. to 1| m. in thickness, and on the shore of the bay has a regular inclination of about 10 ft. to the south-west. At the entrance of the bay it dips beneath the level of the sea, and only reappears near Mount Koi on the territory of the English company above referred to. It is situated at the base of the tertiary, beneath a bed of strong sandstone. The profile is the same on the north