Tub

A small wheeled wagon, running on narrow-gauge underground rails, used to haul coal or ore from the working face to the shaft bottom or drift mouth — also called a tram or dram in some coalfields.

Historical usage

Tubs (and the underground waggonways they ran on) are among the oldest recorded pieces of British mining infrastructure, with the Wollaton Waggonway near Nottingham hauling coal on rails as early as 1605. As waggonways spread underground through the following two centuries, tubs running on narrow-gauge iron rails became the standard way to move coal or ore from the working face to the pit bottom, pulled by hand, by pit ponies, and eventually by mechanical or electric haulage on the main underground roads, with ponies typically kept to the shorter runs between the coal face and the main haulage road.

How it worked

A tub ran on flangeless or flanged wheels along narrow-gauge rails laid through a mine's roadways and drifts; a full tub was hauled or pushed out to the shaft bottom or drift mouth, where it was either raised to the surface in a cage or run straight out along a drift, then emptied and sent back underground empty for refilling.

Why it was used

Moving coal or ore in a wheeled tub on rails was far more efficient than carrying it, allowing one haulier — animal, human or mechanical — to move loads many times greater than could be carried by hand.

Risks & limitations

A derailed or runaway tub was a genuine hazard to anyone working nearby underground, and tubs feature in the causes of several recorded accidents where a tub struck a person, a prop, or, in at least one case, a stored explosive cartridge.

Regional variation

Regional coalfields used different names for essentially the same vehicle — 'tub' was standard in South Wales and much of the north of England, while 'dram' and 'tram' were also in common use elsewhere.

Images

Disasters associated with this term

Included only where MineArchive's own research gives a reasonable evidential basis, with the nature of the relationship stated — not every disaster where this term might plausibly apply.

• Haig Colliery explosion, 1931 (direct cause)
  The disaster's own recorded cause explicitly describes a Cardox cartridge striking the end of a steel tub.
• Snailbeach Mine winding-rope accident, 1895 (contextual relationship)
  The disaster's own recorded memorials entry explicitly describes a memorial installed on a mine tub at Snailbeach.

Sources

1. (secondary) From mules to motors—the story of coal mine haulage — Black Diamond History
2. (secondary) Railways and Coal Mines — The Sole Society

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026