tarboat's photos

Waiting for my train late evening on Birmingham New Street Station.

An unusual combination of coloured bricks over shops on Market Jew Street, Penzance. The combination of cream brick with brown and green glazed detailing around the windows is certainly eyecatching.

The river bridge at Bi Shui provided excellent photographic opportunities in the morning. This view has long been lost due to a new road being built. Here a QJ heads an early morning train from Tumen on the border with North Korea, towards Dunhua and Jilin.

A rather large proportion of Britain's blast furnace capacity is seen here at Port Talbot.

Lewis Merthyr Colliery was closed in June 1983 and has now become part of the Rhonnda Heritage Park. Coal ceased to be wound here in 1958 after the colliery was merged with Tymawr pit. The Bertie and Trefor shafts seen here were sunk in 1880 and 1881.

Derelict machine amidst vast piles of lime at the closed lime works at Cefn Cribwr outside Kenfig.

A whole row (and more) of large Nissen Huts in industrial use at Barry.

The Peak District and Northern Counties Footpaths Preservation Society was founded in Manchester in 1894. It evolved from The Manchester Association for the Preservation of Ancient Public Footpaths of 1826. It is the oldest surviving regional footpath society in the UK. This sign is dated 1908 and the society continues to erect signposts across the region when it considers one to be necessary, often at difficult path junctions in open country. An interesting brief history of the Society can be found here: www.peakandnorthern.org.uk/about-us/history.htm

After the Second World War Marshall plan funds were used to modernise the Ressaix collieries through the sinking of a 5 metre diameter shaft and the the installation of a tower equipped with a 3,300hp electric winder. The designed production was 3000 tonnes of coal per day. The output was taken to the Péronnes washery that was constructed at the same time. The life of the whole complex was short and closure came in 1969. Today the winding tower remains as a reminder of the once extensive coal industry and the site is used by a gas distribution company.

This metal mine had the stone blocks for a plateway remaining in the floor of one of the main access levels. To check on the possible plates used we took a couple of Outram type plates into the mine and discovered that they fitted the blocks perfectly. This gave the opportunity to relay a short section by taking multiple shots from a fixed point as we moved the plates along the tunnel. This is a composite of five images blended together. I am extremely glad that we did not have to carry more than two plates into the mine, they are very heavy.

Corrugated iron maker's mark in the roof of a derelict holiday home at Dromineer in the Irish Republic Galvanised iron with the Redcliffe brand stamp has been manufactured since mid-1874 by a partnership between William Bomford Wright and Joseph Tinn, trading under the name W.B. Wright & Co., Chapel Street, St. Philip’s, Bristol. The trademarks and goodwill associated with the Redcliffe Crown Galvanised Iron Works were acquired by John Lysaght Ltd on 21 May 1895 for £990. In 1920 Lysaght sold its British interests to Guest Keen and Nettlefolds (GKN). While the brands ‘Queen’s Head,’ ‘Fleur-de-Lis’ and ‘Orb’ were continued from previous times, the Redcliffe Crown brand seems to have been discontinued at that time. Information from: Redcliffe Crown Corrugated Iron in Australasia, Its History, Marketing and Distribution 1875-1921 - Dirk HR Spennemann

Fallgate Mill at Ashover is an ancient corn mill, dated 1781 but incorporating earlier structures, that continued in use until the 1950s, latterly used for crushing fluorspar. It is listed Grade II and has recently been converted to a house although it still incorporates the gearing and stones. John M Else was the miller in 1891. The building seen at the rear was a power station built by the Clay Cross Company in the 1920s to provide electricity to the nearby limestone quarries.

Ben Bennett Jr Ltd is one of the smaller limestone quarry operators in the Peak District. The modern plant fronts the road with these old fashioned redundant limekilns forming a retaining wall to the premises.

Amidst a forest of semaphore signals QJ 6911 starts the eastbound morning pasenger service from the loop at Yamenmiao on the Jitong Railway. A cold northerly wind whips the exhaust away across the landscape of the Mongolian Autonomous Region.

Limekiln above Oxlow Rake. This is a good example of the simple circular intermittent clamp kilns that are found on hillsides across the White Peak of Derbyshire. It was supplied with limestone from the small quarry seen behind.

J.F. Collier & Co Ltd., engineers and founders, King Edward Street, Macclesfield. Manhole cover on Fieldbank Road, Macclesfield. An iron working business had been operated adjacent to the Bate Hall Hotel for many years and became known as the Courtown Ironworks. In 1825 a foundry was established on the site by Benjamin Harlow and this operated until 1914 under the management of the family. They specialised in making cast iron central heating boilers, radiators, pipes and fittings. The direct male line of the Harlow family died out in 1914 and the foundry and engineering works was purchased by Mattew Collier and his son Fred. About 1960 the firm was sold to Parmiter, Hope and Sugden Ltd of Longsight. Production continued until 1966 after which the buildings were demolished and replaced by Stuart House which was occupied for many years by Macclesfield Borough Council.

First train on my one week rail rover trip around Britain was this Manchester Piccadilly bound 150 from Buxton arriving at Middlewood in gently falling rain. This station really is in the middle of a wood with a long walk in any direction before you come to anything resembling a road. It would be much more convenient if every train stopped here rather than the rather sparse two hourly service currently on offer.

Ghost sign on Widemarsh Street in Hereford. Briggs & Company for boots, shoes and hosiery. Amazingly the premises is still a shoe shop, although under different management.