The Hidden Glasgow Forums

cheer's lucky am going to have to the libary and do more research ..but i was told that scottish oil's (bp) have lost a lot of paper work "mysteriously" so might be hard to get manager's report's and mine layout map's ..but i'll try my hardest

I haven't read all the replies yet on this post but found it very interesting as my two sons tell me it is used by offroad mountain bikers for extreme trail biking we were standing beside it two weeks ago in a hauliers yard these "HEAPS" are awesome
Ricky G

Jings! You learn all sorts on here. I've often wondered what the thing was on the way past on the train to Edinburgh. Now I know. I think that calls for a celebratory dram.

Huzzah!

Ricky, When I were a lad I used to use these bings when I was cycling around Broxburn,, Didn't quite realise how dangerous it could have been until I was older!! They are a spectacular sight.. Shame alot of them have gone though.

I would still ove to find an old mine entrance to get into though.

As far as i was aware the entrances at the side of the Greendykes bing was in fact an air-raid shelter built by miners during the war, don't think they were ever used due to safety reasons, the "mine entrance" with the tyres was a tunnel.

le_tigre_boy wrote:Ricky, When I were a lad I used to use these bings when I was cycling around Broxburn,, Didn't quite realise how dangerous it could have been until I was older!! They are a spectacular sight.. Shame alot of them have gone though.

I would still ove to find an old mine entrance to get into though.

There are a few in the area you can still get into, recently been trying to find the one up at Whitequarries.

This seems to be quite a new website with a wealth of shale related info, it has some good pictures and background to the industry there is a gazetteer section and good historical detail for each site. It is based on the Scottish Shale Oil Industry Collection that is looked after by the Almond Valley Heritage Trust. It looks like part of a 3 year project started last year and is still very much a work in progress, they are also looking for contributions or any help that anyone can offer.

http://www.scottishshale.co.uk/index.html

Shale Gas Discovery Should Be A Cause For Celebration In UK

The prize of European shale gas is in sight. The question is whether it will become the subject of further politicised, unwinnable ideological battles, or a driver of environmental, economic and geopolitical revival.

The Global Warming Policy Foundation

I've sold my shares in Gazprom.

Lucky Poet wrote:I know the place you mean, cell, and it is odd. One of my favourite bike runs goes past the entrance, which looks amusingly like the way in to a Bond villain's lair.

I couldn't have commented on this when posted five years ago but as I work out of BP Dalmeny now I can tell you that walikng up that tunnel in the morning is like entering the set of Planet of the Apes or The Land That Time Forgot - or at least thats the feeling you get. The only part of the outside world you can see from within the massive bunds are the sky and planes headed out of or into Edinburgh Airport.

Excellent

Here's some historical background to your work then, if you haven't already seen it:
http://www.scottishshale.co.uk/GazWorks ... Works.html

(That website has grown somewhat over the past while, by the way, and it's become a brilliant wee resource.)

FAO cell, a 1906 issue of The Engineer with a write-up about newly-installed electrical plant in a Pumpherston shale mine. Complete with some nice photos:
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/5/5 ... 60413b.pdf

(And yon Grace's Guide is rather good; I've been rooting around in it for much of the day.)

Thanks LP, that’s a great article, with some new detail for my database. I would agree with you, Grace’s Guide is an excellent site, it’s always in the top five results whenever I do a search for info on any old engineering companies.

The scans of the Engineer magazine are new and seem to be quite searchable so I’ll be busy digging through those for the next couple of months.

No one seems to have mentioned yet,-

'The five fingers of Addiewell' This large bing had 5 tipping runs-there was a move in the 70s to have it 'listed' as a historical building. Don't think it progressed further.

Also' Paraffin Young' who very much involved in the production of oil from shale for lamp oil before mechanized transport.

John

jock78 wrote:No one seems to have mentioned yet,-

'The five fingers of Addiewell' This large bing had 5 tipping runs-there was a move in the 70s to have it 'listed' as a historical building. Don't think it progressed further.

Also' Paraffin Young' who very much involved in the production of oil from shale for lamp oil before mechanized transport.

John

Added to the Schedule of Monuments in 1995, the Five Sisters: http://data.historic-scotland.gov.uk/pl ... UMENT:6254

Auld Jamesie Boy Young probably should've been mentioned more than he has, for sure. Born in Glasgow, incidentally, and a very clever fella. The Wikipedia article is still good

Somebody's been very busy. Over at http://www.scottishshale.co.uk they've uploaded a pile of digitised stuff from the BP archives. Worth a browse.

Among other things, the Scottish Oils / Shell-Mex pavilion at the 1938 Empire Exhibition: http://www.scottishshale.co.uk/DigitalA ... 212578.pdf

The Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company display at the 1901 Glasgow International Exhibition: http://www.scottishshale.co.uk/DigitalA ... 213781.pdf

And a fine collection of photos showing, among other things, various mysterious and large items of machinery, mining operations, and (drumroll) some photos showing how they made those bricks from the spent shale (steam baked in giant autoclaves, it turns out): http://www.scottishshale.co.uk/DigitalA ... 198001.pdf

The whole lot can be found here: http://www.scottishshale.co.uk/Collections/BPlist.html