I remember the coal man coming up the stairs to our top floor tenement flat in Marionville Road. I think the bags came on a horse drawn cart, mid to late 1950s. We left Edinburgh in 1960 when I was eight.

i remember the coal deliveries when i was a kid

Anyone else watching this ,craigmillar gold has some old video ,

That was my gf dads company that done the chimney sweeping ,based at portobello and coal delivery to Magdalene was turn bulls coal yard ,from newcraighall minining I think ,I played up there on my motorbikes ,

The good old days

This Footage is brilliant, my Great Uncle Eric did this jo bin the 1960's in Manchester. Hard Working men! I saw one of them with his money bag, I would like to see a street robber of today try to rob this man, and see what happened to them ( the robber that is) ! I see delivery vans now from all the major supermarkets delivering to peoples houses ,and they all have 'no cash carried' written on them! What different times we live in! dx

Keeps u fit and tough

Hi, I'm a musician from County Durham. I'm creating a music video for a track I've written and wondered whether you'd allow me to use a few seconds from your brilliant video. I would credit you in the video's end credits. I should add that I make no money from the music. Thanks John.

We had a coal man who was rather well endowed and his cry was. Coal for hole After a couple of days in our village he changed his cry to coal for money 😂😂😂😂😂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Could you imagine folk now a days doing that oh I need gloves, sacks too heavy, its too cold , I go up stairs - that's the days when men were men he he.

It is so beautiful and well worth the expense.

Remember when at Jenners depository we used to hire in furniture porters on removals from leckie back in the seventies

Cranston street the very end edit ? I couldn't tell you anywhere else though

I loved delivering coal, first with Rab Watters, Pans/Port Seton then with Jim Fortune, Macmerry. Would load up late afternoon at Monktonhall.

Excellent Video Ron, As an edinburgh resident and videographer, i appreciate this allot !

Fascinating historical footage. I would be 1 year old (in Edinburgh) when this was filmed. My parents lived in Polwarth Gardens at this time.

I could be mistaken but as a kid I seem to remember your truck delivering to my dad's shop at Meadowbank "Danny's". I'm sure we used to sell your coal. If so, do you have any film or pics of that?

There was Leckie's coal-yard, a brewery (Ushers ??) crate-storage and Linton's the joiners all next to each other - as a young boy who stayed in St.Leonards Lane the area was THE greatest playground !. We were constantly building gang-huts, look-outs, forts etc, etc with the added excitement of being chased by all the workmen/security-guards of these businesses - Oh for a time-machine !

We had coal delivered by wagon they tipped it on road then we had get the coal into the coal house by barrow or bucket.

Fascinating to watch

just shows that even stopping the burning of domestic coal in people's own firesides has not stopped the myth of climate change theology. A real coal fire in winter is everyone's best friend, open the Scottish mines and bring it on once more.

Remember the faces, when I was in st Leonards garage , Bruce Lindsay's, repaired these lorries😊

I'm peter leckie my dad same name worked with his brother jimmy from st Leonards coal yard although only about nine or ten at the time i spent many hours with my dad there

Is that Mike Watt on bass?

Nothing’s cosier than sitting by an old black range fireplace with the kettle on the side of it, on a cold winter’s day with the cat or dog curled up at your feet, reading Oor Wullie and The Broons, wondering what’s going to make maw Broon “black affronted” this time lol.

I recall way back in the Jan/Feb of ‘63, The Big Freeze was at it’s height, yet, many coal men persevered to deliver their bags and keep us alive, no joking there. One of my main memories was seeing these amazing chaps lug the coal into our tenement building at Comely Bank, as one of them waited for my mum to pay the ten shillings for our bag, I noticed that he had a runny nose, and that the discharge from his nostrils had actually frozen. Incredible times, never forgotten.

I remember playing in the coal yard at St Leonard St. I lived in Henry St. My brother was a coal man.

I'm glad people of years ago recorded their lives so we can look back on it.

i can remember my father worked at delivering coal in Edinburgh but it was with a horse and wagon and I'm sure it was Leckie coal company , I still have a photograph of him with the horse .and that was a long time ago .

I only worked in two bagging coal yards in the 1980s. Never saw the conveyor type loading device in either but I suppose the prevalence of the small bunker(?) gravity feed loader with a slack screen meant you were loading at vehicle deck height. Is there a proper name for the small gravity loading bunkers? You realise what you have forgotten over 30 plus years.

Takes me back to the early 80s working for Elliotts in Hampshire, blimey coal, coke, anthracite and heat beads, plus Ken the boss dealing with complaints. "Harwins coal is cheaper than yours" reply "well thats the place to get it then"

Brilliant. Thanks for posting.

Brilliant. Back-breaking, filthy work - rail, hail & snow. People who do these type of jobs should earn the same wage as any high-earning CEO who sits behind a desk all day.

I remember as a wee laddie growing up in Restalrig in Edinburgh the coal man coming round our street and crashing the coal into the bunker at the side of our tenement. Also remember the chimney sweep coming round to clean the chimney. My mum used to put white sheets over all the furniture to protect it from the soot !

Great

Police box at Cranston Street still there :)

remember Leckie from when i lived in Arthur street, my mother would shout at him two bags.

As an Edinburgh Leckie old enough to remember coal deliveries to my Granny's house at the back of some of the footage and remembering seeing a Hugh Leckie coal lorry in the Cowgate this was fascinating. Thank you!

There are a lot of tenement stairs in Edinburgh. The coal men must have been athletes!

Thanks for this wonderful video. I had no idea such records existed.

Wonderful!

Crackin vid..cheers .

I've been working on an article/essay about my uncle's days as a rock-and-roll musician from 1958 to 1965. I'm including a bit of family history, which oughta' include the coal yard owned by his father and uncle from the late forties through early sixties. I was there as a small boy, but I've suddenly realized I have no idea how it worked. I remember a concrete building, a scale, and more or less how my grandpa and great uncle delivered the coal to houses (and I have one of the coal shovels), but that's about it. I'm hoping you can tell me how, based on your experience, the coal was transferred from the train car into storage and how it was stored -- free or bagged? in a pile on the ground? in a bin of some sort? Thanks in advance.

piershill deliveries

this is great! I have been looking for videos like this for months I would love to hear more story's about life in coal during the 60's to give me ideas for my fictional pit Brixfield plus.google.com/u/0/collection/wMH_PE please follow this link to learn more! anyone is invited to share any knowledge on coal or life in the 60's

this is great! I have been looking for videos like this for months I would love to hear more story's about life in coal during the 60's to give me ideas for my fictional pit Brixfield plus.google.com/u/0/collection/wMH_PE please follow this link to learn more!

The good old days reminds me of my mum shouting over the window for her bag of coal for the old fire range fantastic to see this we used to hang on to the back of the coal lorry and get a hurl a big thanks

The smaller coal bags (Bituminous coal), you would need two per week, but would provide all the hot water you required. The larger coal bags would have contained Coalite or similar smokeless coke coal. Both bags would weigh 1 cwt, about 8 stone (112lbs) today's weight would be 50kgs. Cost today coal £16 for coal and about £20 for the coke.

outstanding