Asfordby ‘Super Pit’ Coal Mine, 1990s
The planning of the Asfordby Coal mine started in the mid 1970’s. With the closure of the other mines in the Leicestershire coal field, there were high hopes for the Asfordby ‘Super Pit’ and the plan to mine coal under the Vale of Belvoir from it. There are some photographs of the sinking of the new mine in the “Asfordby Super Pit Coal Mine” section.
Coal, initially from driving the roadways, was loaded into trains using mechanical shovels until a rapid loader was completed. The first longwall coal face commenced production in July 1995, but serious geological problems caused the mine to close in 1997.
The photographs here are of a train being loaded with coal before departing in 1995.
1-of-3) Cl-58 Co-Co locomotive 58014 on the front of a train being loaded with coal at Asfordby Coal Mine, 1995. There is another Cl-58 on the rear.
2-of-3) A train being loaded with coal at Asfordby Coal Mine with a Cl-58 locomotive on the rear, 1995.
Although the first production face had only just come on line, and the construction work was still taking place, the mine closed in 1997 due to geological problems. This site is now the Asfordby Test Centre of Serco, with workshops and facilities for servicing vehicles using the adjacent Old Dalby Test Track.
3-of-3) A loaded coal train heading away from Asfordby Coal Mine with Cl-58 Co-Co locomotive 58014 on the front and 58003 here on the rear, 1995.
This site also has photographs of the construction and sinking of Asfordby mine.
The photographs in these railway photograph galleries are available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Attribution should include a link to www.nigeltout.com.