Trane Pit shaft explosion, 1912

At about six on the morning of Wednesday 17 April 1912 firedamp exploded in the Trane Pit at Gilfach Goch, just deepened by the Cambrian Combine, while men on a staging 40 yards down were walling the mouth of a new fan drift. Four were killed and three burned. The inquest blamed a sinker's pipe.

Cause

Firedamp in the shaft was ignited on the staging; the inquest jury found it was caused by George Bond smoking a pipe.

Contributing factors

Thomas Thomas had seen men smoking on the staging the day before and told Bond to take a new clay pipe out of his mouth that morning; tobacco and live matches were found on the bodies of Bond and Stephens.

What happened

The Trane, an old Glamorgan Coal Company pit taken over by the Cambrian Combine, had been deepened from 332 to 462 yards between 1911 and March 1912, under contract to Lewis Jenkins of Penygraig. Seven men had come down at the 6 a.m. change of shift to a staging in the shaft, where they were walling the side of a new fan drift. The shaft was ventilated from the New No. 3 Rhondda seam about 40 yards below.

The explosion, confined to the shaft, startled the whole village. The labourer William Williams heard 'a peculiar noise in the pit, as if something was frying' and was hurled up into the drift mouth eight feet above. Henry Jones, John Stephens and George Bond were killed. Rhys Jones fell from the staging to the bottom of the shaft, where his body lay under some 40 yards of water. Williams, the foreman mason Thomas Thomas and the sinker Thomas Green were brought out with burns and shock and taken to Porth Cottage Hospital.

Investigation & inquiry

At the inquest before the coroner David Rees, Leonard Llewellyn, general manager of the Cambrian Combine, said a lighted match, cigarette or pipe ash had probably been knocked off the staging and fired gas below. Thomas Thomas gave evidence of the smoking, and Sergeant Webber produced the tobacco, pouch and matches found on the bodies. The jury returned accidental death, adding that the explosion was caused by George Bond smoking a pipe.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• On 17 April 1912 an explosion in the Trane Pit shaft at Gilfach Goch killed four sinkers and injured three. ^1,2,3
• The men were on a staging about 40 yards down the shaft, walling a new fan drift, when gas exploded in the shaft. ^2,3
• The inquest jury found the explosion was caused by George Bond smoking a pipe. ³

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Drift (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…men on a staging 40 yards down were walling the mouth of a new fan drift. Four were killed and three burned. The inquest blamed a sinker's…”
• Firedamp (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “At about six on the morning of Wednesday 17 April 1912 firedamp exploded in the Trane Pit at Gilfach Goch, just deepened by the…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the cause: “Firedamp in the shaft was ignited on the staging; the inquest jury found it was caused by…”
• Shaft Sinking (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…fan drift. Four were killed and three burned. The inquest blamed a sinker's pipe.”

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) Trane Pit - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Colliery explosion at Gilfach Goch: 3 men killed, 1 missing (The Rhondda Leader, 20 April 1912) — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)
3. (secondary) 1912 (fatalities by date) — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026