Paddy mail

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Paddy mails, generally considered as being workmen's trains, were operated by, or for many companies to transport their workers to their place of work or between their sites of work.

Originally they were operated by railway contractors, on temporary tracks laid to remove spoil from their workings, to transport workers from their "shanty villages" to the work site. Many of these navvies as they were known were of Irish origin, hence the name given to the trains (see: Paddy).

Once the main line was built the name passed to the workmen's specials, which in many cases, were operated along the main line railways and sometimes operated by the main line companies to an exchange point where the trains were taken over by the industrial company. Most of the services were terminated due to competition from motor buses in the 1930s.

Since their main line demise the name has continued in use being applied to the underground man-riding trains which operate between the pit bottom and the working coal face.

• References to main line operations, See: Birley Collieries, Orgreave Colliery, Silverwood Colliery, Treeton Colliery.
• References to underground operations, See: Nunnery Colliery, Silverwood Colliery.