The Winding Engine
On the grassy bank you are able to see some of the mine's old railway wagons. These would
carry coal out onto the main east coast line. A different type of wagon was used take coal down to the harbour where they would be side-cowped (tipped on its side) into the hold of the collier boats.
Next to these is the silent presence of a large steel drum on a brick foundation. This is the remains of a steam Winding Engine typically used at mines in East Lothian. The drum carried a cable that passed over a Headgear and into the shaft. Its cables lowered and raised cages of men and lifted coal from the blackest depths of the earth.
A little way further down the hill from here, at the other side of the car park you can see an example of a head gear.
In front of the Winding Engine is the ghostly presence of the miners cage (or lift) standing amid the foundations of the shaft house. It sits directly above the shaft. The original cage at Prestongrange has two levels and could hold twenty men. Although this one is modern, for ninety years open cages like this ran from the surface to the Pit bottom - eight hundred feet below.
