tarboat's photos

The former main post office building in Lincoln dates from 1905 and is faced in a cream terracotta that has not aged well. However, these impressive shield-bearing beasts continue to guard the doorways to the building. It is now a pub imaginatively? called The Mailbox.

24 3655 on the Piketberg horseshoe curve on the Klawer branch of South African Railways in the Western Cape.

Water tower at the Legacy waterworks, Esclusham, Wrexham. The waterworks was completed by the Wrexham and East Denbighshire Water Company in 1921 and the tower followed by 1934. Following the takeover of the business by Severn Trent Water in 2016 the waterworks is now operated by Hafren Dyfrdwy, having been renamed from Dee Valley Water.

This panel is on the facia of the Marks & Spencer shop in Lincoln. I don't recall having seen anything like this on their shops before.

Enthoven lead recycling plant at Darley Bridge. This is an interesting example of a manufacturing plant remaining long after the mine that supplied the raw materials has closed. On this site was Millclose Mine, once one of the largest lead mines in the world. Closed due to flooding in 1940 the site has continued to maintain links with lead production and is now the largest single site producer in Europe of recycled lead.

Robey & Co Ltd, Canwick Road, Lincoln. The business was renowned for its production of steam road vehicles and stationary engines as well as general engineering. The company was purchased by Babcock International in 1984. In the firm's last years before final closure in February 1988, production was mainly of boilers in oil, gas or solid fuel fired versions which were made in large numbers. This entrance with globe and engineering tools above is thought to date from about 1910.

This is a former mine of the Houillères de Lorraine. Sinking commenced here in January 1908 to a depth of 1,037 metres. The colliery stopped working in 1972, was reopened in 1976 and finally closed in 1986. The headframe is registered in the additional inventory of historic monuments.

How about having your very own mine in the garden. In Andamooka your dreams can come true ................. or maybe not. This a typical small opal mine in the outback town. The shaft is just behind the winding engine with the jacked up axle. The framework allows a bucket/drum of rock to be brought up and tipped for sorting.

In the days when roads were in even worse condition than we find them today many travellers tried to keep to the higher groundwhere this allowed a more direct route and there were a lot of tracks and paths across the Derbyshire and Yorkshire moors. In 1697 and Act was passed which decreed that in the more remote parts where two or more paths intersected, the local Surveyors were to erect guideposts or guide stoops showing the way to the nearest market town. There was no defined standard and the survivors show a great variety in lettering and size. Some incorporate a pointing hand alongside the place name. This example is on Beeley Moor and points the way to Bakewell and Sheffield.

A pair of class 83 0-8-2 locomotives west of Banovici as they get to grips with the climb to Turija opencast coal mine.

19D 3322 on the Sarahsrivier bridge east of Ashton.

In order to make new oak planks fit the curve of a wooden boat the wood needs to be made pliable by placing it in a box of steam and heating to as near to 100 degrees celsius as possible. After a couple of hours the 2 inch thick piece is ready to apply to the boat and you have a very small window before it cools and loses its flexibility. Juggling a heavy piece of wood 30 ft or more long can be interesting and requires plenty of people to handle it. This box was made for this repair job and comprises five plastic drums with the bottoms cut out and two steel drums at the ends. Water is poured into the bottom drum through a hole which is seen here with a wooden bung in. The plank sticks through a slot in the top drum and can be seen disappearing around the side of the boat. The bending is only required at one end of the plank so it doesn't all have to be steamed. The steam box/tube is raised at one end so that the condensing steam runs back to the bottom. The main tube is wrapped in loft insulation and plastic sheet. Water is heated by propane torches in a small brick hearth. Simple but effective.

This joint stock bank was promoted in 1829 by Joseph Macardy, a Manchester stockbroker, originally under the name District Union Banking Co. Before it commenced business in December 1829 it was renamed Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Co and acquired the Stockport private bank of Christy, Lloyd & Co. The bank was renamed District Bank Ltd in 1924, a title by which it had long been popularly known. In 1962 the bank was acquired by National Provincial Bank, but it continued to operate independently until 1968, by which time it had 570 branches. In 1968 National Provincial Bank announced plans to merge with Westminster Bank. Extensive preparations were made, and from 1 January 1970 the three merging banks' names disappeared from the high street, being replaced by National Westminster Bank of which this is now the Leek branch.

All set up for a reflection shot as the Red Devil was leaving Ashton for Worcester with its cement train on the former New Cape Central Railway. As the train approached the local ducks chose to jump into the still waters and set off for a circuit of the pond. I shall comfort myself by saying that it wasn't quite still enough anyway. Would have been liked to be lower down closer to the water but the bank was too steep.

Early morning light on the raw materials wharf at the Nyrstar lead/zinc smelter at Port Pirie.

From 1972 until March 2012 the 420 MW Lynemouth power station was the main source of electricity for the nearby Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter. It was privately owned by aluminium company Rio Tinto Alcan throughout its operation until December 2013, when RWE npower took over. In January 2016 it was acquired by Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH). It has now converted to burning biomass.

I enjoy spotting architectural details such as heads on keystones. This one was keeping watch on the shoppers in Marygate, Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Although now a dog of mature years our Jefferson still loves to plunge into the sea and generally goof about.