tarboat's photos

This kiln at Lindong (Bairin Zuoqi), in the Mongolian Autonomous Region of China, is burning lime for local use in mortar and possibly for agricultural purposes. The plume of smoke rising from the pot is about as exciting as the process gets as the burning takes place about half way down.

LMS locos in action between Consall and Cheddleton at the Churnet Valley Railway winter steam gala.

Downhill morning passenger train departing from the mine station at Yue Jin Qiao on the Shibanxi Coal Railway. The overhead wires are for the coal trains from the large mine here down to the terminus at Shibanxi

JS class locomotives simmer in the yard at the Tianzhuang depot of the Pingdingshan Coal Railway. This icy January night saw us creeping into the yard during the evening shift change and quietly hiding in the darkness to take long exposures of the locomotives in the hope that management wouldn't notice. We got away with it, and now such sights are only memories. Happy times!

The first day of this visit to the Huanan Coal Railway was enjoyed in warm sunshine as this delightful little line went about its business. C2 class No.041 is here running around its train of empties at Huanan before heading for the hills and the colliery that kept it running for so long. The next day the line was under heavy snow which certainly made for a contrast. This is a reworking of an image that I originally posted in 2009. Of course everything has gone now and they appear to have built on this location.

BP's Kimmeridge oilwell on the Dorset coastline is the oldest continually producing wellsite in the United Kingdom. It was drilled in 1959 and now produces 80 barrels (12,720) litres of crude oil per day. The oil is stored in the tanks to the left of the image and collected twice a week by road tanker. It is taken to the Gathering Station at Wytch Farm near Corfe Castle and thence by pipeline to the terminal near Southampton. The oilfield here is now operated by the French company Perenco.

Vulcan XH558 came back to its birthplace at Woodford this afternoon for an emotional farewell as this is its last season in flight. Thousands turned out around the former airfield and factory to see this wonderful plane put in a couple of flypasts. Most people were very quiet as it headed off over Alderley Edge and a legend was gone.

Harworth Colliery closed in 2006 and was then been kept on care and maintenance by owners UK Coal. At one time there was talk of reopening when the reserves at Welbeck Colliery were exhausted. The two shafts which were sunk in the 1920s were 900 and 1000m deep. There are estimated to be around 40 million tonnes of reserves in the Deep Soft and Top Hard seams. It was probably a surprise to nobody that the colliery has since been abandoned and the structures demolished.

The Kilroot power station on the north shore of Belfast Lough has a capacity of 660 MW and produces one third of Northern Ireland's electricity. It is the country's only coal fired power plant although the plant was initially oil fired. Today there is 520 MW of coal/biomass generation and 140 MW from gas turbines. The plant is owned by the AES Corporation, a United States based energy company.

This colliery was sunk by the Clarke's of Noblethorpe Hall in 1861-66 and was probably undertaken by James Farrar, brother of Sarah Ann Clarke. The later history of the pit is not well recorded and it was disused by 1906 although it may have been used as a pumping shaft by the National Coal Board at a later date. The site has a good range of remains including this fine stone heapstead which is in remarkably good condition.

Former Thomas Clayton tanker narrowboat Spey makes the turn at Worsley as it heads towards Leigh on the Bridgewater Canal.

An Edinburgh tram arrives at the Haymarket interchange with Scotrail as night sets in. A visit to the city gave me a first opportunity to try out these well used trams which will hopefully see an extended route in the not too distant future.

The Edinburgh police boxes are of a type unique to the city. They were designed by former city architect Ebenezer MacRae between 1931 and 1933. Featuring the city crest and Saltire-patterned mouldings, they were designed to complement the classical architecture of the Capital. MacRae created 85 in total, and they were made of cast iron at the Carron foundry near Falkirk. Around half of the slope-roofed structures measuring just 1.98 metres by 1.37m with a ridge height of around 2.74m are listed. No longer needed by the police, the boxes have now been sold off and some converted to commercial use. This example stands on Lawnmarket.

The lighthouse at Monton Turn on the Bridgewater Canal was completed in 2005 by local boatowner Phil Austin. He told the local paper that he planned to use it as a weekend retreat!

A representation of the A6 at Topley Pike between Buxton and Bakewell makes a pleasant front cover for the June 1949 timetable for services provided by the North Western Road Car Company Ltd.

Detail on the Grade II listed old co-op building on Northmoor Road in Longsight, Manchester that was completed in 1912 for Beswick Co-operative Society.

I find the great variety of industrial chimneys and pipework fascinating and attempt to record it whilst on my travels. This is part of the Huntsman Pigments and Additives plant next to the Trent & Mersey Canal at Kidsgrove. The site was formerly occupied by the Brookfield Foundry & Engineering Co Ltd as their California Works. Huntsman is one of the largest worldwide suppliers of inorganic color pigments for construction, coatings, plastics and specialty applications. The company manufactures and processes iron oxide and mixed metal oxide color pigments and supplies a wide range of natural and synthetic inorganic pigments.

Contractors D G Mills are undertaking piling of a weak section of the Macclesfield Canal embankment at Middlecale. The interlocking heavy duty steel piles are being driven using a Menzi Muck A91 Powerline spider excavator with vibrating piling rig. It pushed this pile into position in less than a minute. Picking it up and getting it into position took rather longer.