Cover of novel Calico Bloomers by Albert Rhodes

A fine teller of coalfield tales is Albert Rhodes, author of Butter on Sundays, A Summer of Yesterday, and Calico Bloomers: "The whirr of the steel rope and the metallic clash of folding gates announced the arrival of the cage. Tubs rumbled past them as they strode over the rails... The banksman standing by the cage checked their lamps and said brusquely, ‘Tally?’... They entered the cage and the gates closed. A moment of waiting; then the bottom of the cage fell away as they plunged into darkness. As the brakes slowly came on, senses reverted to make him believe they were going back to the surface."