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This Mining Review item provides a glimpse behind the scenes at a vital support service. Employing 750 workers, Cowdenbeath Central Workshop was set up to service 40 collieries in the Fife area, achieving economies of scale and offering facilities that on-site workshops lacked either the space or the funds to afford. The film shows examples of various activities carried out by the workshop, including the creation of a 19-foot winding drum for Glencraig colliery, and repairs of a coal cutter from Lumphinnens and an electric motor from Balgonie. Filming took place between 8th and 10th September 1948, a schedule that director Mary Beales later said had been rushed. The Cowdenbeath site occupied eight acres and was hard to light effectively. Beales also recalled that the film crew were not very popular with the Cowdenbeath workers, whose lack of enthusiasm for the cameras' presence was all too clear during shooting. The Cowdenbeath workshop continued to serve Fife's coalfields until 1989, when it was privatised, becoming a general-purpose industrial site. Michael Brooke
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