tarboat's photos

Coal advertising on the two faces of a clock on the big warehouse at Sheffield canal basin. The Tinsley Park Colliery Company Ltd. had its registered office at 14, Wharf Street, Sheffield, just the other side of this building.

Buff terracotta ornamentation at 45-47 Market Street, New Mills.

The Crab after arrival at Rawtenstall on a wet new Year's evening. The ability of modern DSLR cameras to capture scenes such as this has transformed photography and allows you to continue shooting after dark.

The passing of a steam train does not distract the local kids from their kite as it passes the workshops at the Namtu depot of the Burma Mines Railway.

"Coal" in July 1954. This machine looks similar to those featured in the 1970 ad, but is significantly smaller.

SY 1583 slogs up the hill with the morning empties to Shenbutong Mine on the Baiyin Mining Railway. This line is now dieselised for the freight, but still steam on the passenger service in winter.

The maroon Crab arrives at Bury on a dark and dank New Year's Day. It was a good day out and included mince pies and whisky on the train.

Devon Colliery was the Alloa Coal Company's flagship mine. A Cornish-type engine by Neilson & Co of Glasgow was erected here in 1865 and continued in use until the early 1950s. The engine was dismantled in 1965 but the beam survives along with the restored enginehouse. Sadly the office use of the building does not seem to have materialised and it was empty when I visited.

Advert from Modern Gasworks Practice 1921. Lewis Cockey came to Frome about 1685 from Warminster and established a bell foundry. The family business diversified in the 18th century and in the early 19th century began casting for the Gas Industry. Edward Cockey (1781-1860) became a successful iron-founder and in 1816 founded the firm which by 1851 was employing 76 men and boys in the Palmer Street foundry as Edward Cockey & Sons Ltd. In 1886 this became a limited company and in 1893 the works moved to the Garston area of the town. The Frome Gas Company was founded by Cockey and the town had had gas street liqhting as early as 1831. They made ‘art nouveau’ gas light standards with a leaf pattern were made by Cockey. The firm was wound up voluntarily in April 1960 leaving a legacy of bollards, drain covers and lamp standards, many displaying the name.

Remnants of the lamp room at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery. A far cry from what it was, even when the underground tours were running.

Foden dump trucks in an advert from Mines and Mineral Engineering, Sept 1970. These vehicles look both small and rather dated compared with modern vehicles. The photo seems to have been taken at the Craigahulliar (sometimes written as Craignahulliar) quarry located 3km SE of Portrush. It was worked by Portrush Columnar Basalt Company Ltd. until the 1980s and has subsequently been used as a refuse tip.

No.2 winder for the Marmion Shaft at the Bawdwin mine in north-east Myanmar. This was manufactured at the Siemens Works of English Electric at Stafford in the UK in 1925 and has been continuously in use since. The motor drive is rated at 295hp using 550 volts and drawing up to 436 amps. The No.1 winder is situated below and in front within the same building. Both units wind from a single shaft that is 1700ft deep and serves 14 levels. Currently the workings are flooded up to the sixth (adit) level at c700ft due to the pumps being switched off. The mine produces high grade ore containing silver, lead, zinc, and a little copper and gold.

The 95 metre preheater tower of the cement works at Padeswood near Mold is a significant modern local landmark. Meanwhile traditional semaphore signalling continues to feature on the adjacent railway.

The only cement works in North Wales, the Padeswood plant has been in production since 1949. Recently the plant has seen the investment of 70m Euros in the construction of a large new kiln designed to burn old car tyres.

The electrical wire and cable firm W.T. Glover was founded in 1868, with premises at the Bridgewater Street Iron Works in Salford. The founder, Walter T. Glover saw the potential for applying this technology to the electric cable industry and formed the Salford Electrical Wire Works, in association with the Bridgewater Street Iron Works. The company made cotton-covered and braided, insulated copper wires for use on bell, signalling and telephone circuits. Glover's then began to make and sell the associated cable-making machinery. As trade expanded the company required more space and in 1880 opened the Springfield Lane Cable Works. In 1898 Glover's became a limited company and moved to Trafford Park. It secured the exclusive rights for the supply of electricity to all the roads, streets and premises of Trafford Park. In June 1919, Glover’s were taken over by Vickers Ltd. Although Vickers held the majority of the shares, Glover's kept its name and management. In 1929 the Vickers group was reorganised and the shares in Glover’s were secured by Sir Tom Callendar of Callendar Cable and Construction Co. Some shares later went to W. T. Henley’s Telegraph Works Ltd. and British Insulated Cables. The Trafford Park factory was closed in 1970, but the Glover brand continued as part of BICC. This electrical cabinet is on Waterloo Road off High Lane and was manufactured by the Glover company which placed its name and winged cable logo at the top of the door. Also on the door are the initials representing Hazel Grove & Bramhall Urban District Council lighting department. More on W. T. Glover at www.mosi.org.uk/media/33870648/w.t.gloverandco.ltd.pdf Images of the works and contracts albeit with some rather dubious captions. www.historypin.org/attach/uid39365/tours/view/id/3185/title/WT%20Glovers%20in%20Trafford%20Park

SY 1396 is on the servicing pit at the depot on the Fuxin coal railway. I would have gone lower, but the pit was full of filthy oily goo!

Five Star corrugated iron seen in the locomotive works in Asmara, Eritrea. I think the symbol on the left of the stars incorporates E & S for Ethiopian Steel.

This little intermittent limekiln stands on the gritstone lands above Upper Elkstone in Staffordshire. It was presumably constructed to produce lime to improve the pastures in the early nineteenth century. Interestingly it does not appear on the 1879 1:2500 OS map, but does appear as an old limekiln on the 1899 edition.