tarboat's photos

Cooling towers at work in the now demolished 2GW Eggborough power station.

Cornwall Buildings, at 43-51 Newhall Street in Birmingham, was built in 1898-1900. 1898-1900. Grade II listed. The original occupier was the Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund, a medical insurance society. This brick and terracotta building is listed Grade II.

Sinking of the Gneisenau colliery commenced in 1873 but, due to water problems, it was 1886 before the shafts were completed. A third shaft was sunk in 1903. The mine was steadily expanded and improved with a fourth shaft added in 1934. By the 1970s output was 4.5 million tons a year with 6,000 employees and it was the largest colliery in the Ruhr area. Production ceased in 1985 and the adjacent coking plant followed in 1989. Today two sets of headgear are preserved as industrial monuments. This is headframe over shaft 4 constructed in 1933-34.

A bit of glint as Palmerston brings a late afternoon train of vintage stock across onto the Cob towards Porthmadog on the Ffestiniog Railway.

At one time in the early twenty first century there were ferry services from Fleetwood to Larne and Douglas, but by 2010 all sailings had ended with services transferred to Heysham. The Fleetwood berth is limited to vessels up to 150 metres in length with a draught of 4.2 metres whereas Heysham can accommodate ships up to 7 metres draught. Today only an increasingly sad looking linkspan survives and the silting of the port means that a resumption of ferry services is unlikely. You can still cross the Wyre on a small ferry but that's all that is left.

Preserved Ex PMT Leyland Atlantean PDR1 / Weymann, 766 EVT is seen during the farewell to Hanley Bus Station event in 2013. It was new to PMT in August 1959 as L9766.

Henschel built 0-6-0 99 6101-2 takes water at Gernrode on the Selkertalbahn.

The Lanxess Solutions UK Ltd, Trafford Park facility opened Dec. 24, 1939, to manufacture phosphate-based plasticizers for Geigy Colour Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Geigy SA. In 1953, the site became known as Ashburton Chemicals until another reorganization occurred and it became an operating site of Geigy (UK) Ltd. In 1970, Geigy SA merged with Ciba AG and the Trafford Park site became part of Ciba Geigy UK. In 1992, the site was sold to FMC Corporation, and in August 1999, it was sold to Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. In 2005, Great Lakes Chemical joined with Crompton to become Chemtura. The site is currently operated as Lanxess Solutions UK Ltd. Through the years, the research facility at Trafford Park developed a wide range of new products in fine chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates, plastic additives and flame retardants, which formed the basis of its operations for several years. For the past 20 years, operations have been consolidated into flame retardants, lubrication/hydraulic fluid additives, and water-treatment chemicals. Products include hydraulic/turbo fluids used in power generation and lubrication applications where flame retardancy is required and water-treatment additives to prevent scale in industrial water and desalination systems. The rails are a relic of the once extensive railway system that served industries right across the Trafford Pakrk industrial estate.

Road vehicle loading silos at Hope cement works.

QJ 2590 returning to Nancha after banking a freight train up the twisting 1 in 30 grades of Nancha Bank. This single line was very busy carrying timber from the north.

The 420mw Shoreham gas turbine power station was opened in 2000. It was originally owned by South Coast Power Ltd, a consortium of Scottish Power and SEEBOARD (owned by Central and South West Corporation). It was later owned and operated by Drax Generation Enterprise Ltd, before being sold in February 2021 to Vitol (VPI Holdings Ltd). The station stands on the site of the former Brighton 'B' power station and uses the original seawater cooling inlets and outflows.

The Calcutta Pit was one of 5 collieries (pits) in Swannington. These gradually stopped being mined in the late 19th century. However, when pumping stopped in these pits, the water began to seep down into mines in the newly developing town of Coalville. In order to solve this problem, it was necessary to set up a Joint Pumping Company, at the former Calcutta mine to drain the whole new coalfield. The Calcutta pumping engine was made by Robert Stephenson and Co. It was capable of removing 54,000 gallons of water an hour. It was installed in 1877 at a cost of £13,000 and worked until 1947 when it was replaced with electric pumps. The building is listed Grade II and is now used as offices.

Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway class 27 ('A' Class) locomotive 52322 heading for Embsay with a permanent way train on the Yorkshire Dales Railway.

Sunset behind the Ineos Fluor Castner Kellner chemical plant at Runcorn. The Stanlow oil refinery is just visible in the distance.

Offloading oil in Roath Dock, Cardiff. The Bro Developer is a 11,344 GRT chemical/oil tanker built in 2007 and owned by Maersk Tankers.

Lewin 18 arrives in the colliery yard at Beamish whilst Peckett 1370 simmers outside the shed.

Burslem Park was opened in 1894. It contains a number of terracotta features including this drinking fountain donated by Councillor Bowden.

One of the Mallet locomotives on the Eritrea Railway winds its train along a ledge on the hillside below the Devil's Gate at Shegereni.