tarboat's photos

West Burton power station was on part load whilst beyond the Cottam power station was hard at work on this bright cold winter day in January 2019. All now closed and under demolition.

Sunset at the Bo'ness headquarters of the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway operated by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society.

This plastics manufacturing plant at Siddick was opened by Eastman Kodak in the early 1980s and was later acquired by Indorama Ventures PCL. It produced around 160,000 tonnes pa of PET granules. mainly used in the forming of plastic bottles. As Asian competition increased the plant became uneconomic and production was first halved and then stopped completely in early 2014. The site was mothballed in hope of better times until Indorama decided in 2017 that it would not reopen. Demolition was completed during 2018.

175 113 arrives at Stockport with a train to Cardiff and beyond, back in the days when Arriva ran the Welsh services from Manchester.

Water tower at Scunthorpe steelworks.

Disused shop on High Street in the centre of the Cumbrian vilage of Cleator Moor.

Pipe bridge over the Trent & Mersey Canal opposite the Brunner Mond/Tata Chemicals works at Lostock Gralam. At the time the works was producing soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, calcium chloride and associated alkaline chemicals. The pipelines are controlled by INEOS Inovyn who operate the nearby Holford brinefield.

19D 3322 with an audience, north of Het Kruis on the Klawer branch of South African Railways in the Western Cape.

Abandoned smallholding at Cramer Gutter on Catherton Common in south Shropshire.

Hollins Mill, Todmorden and Walsden in Calderdale, was built by the Ormerod family as an integrated cotton mill between 1856 and 1858. In 1905 it was bought by Caleb Hoyle, and continued with the Hoyle name until 1930 when it was bought by W.A.Barker, continuing in cotton spinning and manufacturing until after 1963. The weaving shed with its northlight roof is alongside Rochdale Road whilst the spinning mill is in the background with the hip-roofed engine house standing forward to allow efficient drive to both areas. The spinning mill contained 30,000 spindles and the weaving shed had 600 looms. It is listed Grade II but the weaving shed has seen significant recent demolition.

Spencer type limekilns at Beswicks Limeworks, Brierlow near Buxton in 1909.

Ferodo manufactures brake linings and pads at its factory in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, Established in 1897 by Herbert Frood, it was taken over by Federal Mogul in 1998. The site seems to have been run down somewhat in the last ten years and I wonder whether manufacturing will survive here for much longer.

Top of the upcast shaft at Clipstone Colliery. When the pit closed in 2003 the shafts were 1006 yards deep.

This locomotive out on the field railway during the 2025 winter gala at Apedale is Simplex Mechanical Handling 40SD516 of 1979. It was delivered to Severn Trent Water at its Minworth sewage works and worked there until January 1989 after which it was placed in storage until transferred to the Moseley Railway Trust in August 2002.

Sinking Annesley Colliery commenced in January 1865 with two 13ft diameter shafts reaching the Top Hard seam at a depth of 420 yards in 1867. During the First World War the shafts were deepened to the Deep Soft/Deep Hard seams at 580 yards. It became part of the Annesley-Bentinck complex in April 1988 and the early 1990s saw record output from the Blackshale seam. Despite being highly profitable it was put on care and maintenance in 1994 and was restarted having passed to Coal Investments in 1995. That company went into liquidation in 1996 and from then until closure it was operated by Midlands Mining Limited. Demolition was well underway when I photographed the No.2 headstocks over the upcast shaft in 2008.

At the back of the upcast shaft and coal screening plant at Thoresby Colliery just one week before closure.

Sheffield 74 was originally built as an open-topped tram by the Electric Railway and Carriage Company based in Preston in 1900. From 1922 to 1951 it operated at Gateshead after extensive rebuilding. After service as a garden shed the tram was restored at the Crich Tramway Museum and entered service there in 1995.

JS 6544 earns its keep at the head of the morning mixed train on the Yuanbaoshan Coal Railway as it heads for the mine at Fengshuigou. The empty coal wagons were at the rear.