Photograph courtesy of National Museum of Wales

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In this picture, a  boy can be seen emptying a 'Curling box' into the tram. Due to the age of the picture, the Curling box' is difficult to see, but the miner is holding it in his hands. A Curling box, which was a metal box about two feet square with an open end, would have been used when the distance was too great to throw the coal with a shovel. He would push the curling box into the coal, collecting as much as he could, finally filling it by gathering more in with his hands. The box would then be pulled or carried out of the stall. A stall was an area between blocks of coal called pillars which were left in place to support the roof. (This was the origin of the term 'Pillar and Stall' working) A tram of this size containing dry coal would hold when filled and raced up around fifteen hundredweight.'750 Kilo's' 'Raced up' means that the largest lumps would be used to create a wall around the top edge of the tram, and filled in the middle with the smaller lumps. In those days the collier was not paid for small coal so he would do his utmost to fill only large coal. When the tram has filled a Haulier with a horse or pony would come with an empty tram, and change it over for the full one. Note the tin box hanging from the timber 'Collar', this was his snap box (food container) and the lad has located it here to keep in out of the way of mice and beetles.