Layout Manager John Collins, Deputy Neil Baker Appen Colliery lies between Fair and Eckerslike. It is a deep underground mine now controlled by the National Coal Board (NCB) following nationalization of the coal industry in 1947. There are two headstocks providing ventilation and access to the coal face as well as screens to sort the coal before it is loaded into railway mineral wagons. The wagons are then shunted by the NCB’s own locomotives to the exchange sidings before collection by BR steam locos and taken to the marshalling yard at Fair for distribution throughout the UK or to a nearby port for the coal to be exported by sea.