tarboat's photos

A bulldozer well clarted with cement outside the clinker store at Hope Cement Works.

Today's open day at Hope cement works was greeted with persistent rain and low cloud. The event was to celebrate the 85th birthday of the plant that is now owned by Mittal and trading as Hope Construction Materials. The works produces about 1.5 million tonnes, or 12% of the cement required annually in Britain, and much of this goes out by rail after loading from the hoppers in the background.

This brick was seen at the Jubilee Colliery site in Crompton. It has not yet proved possible to identify the maker.

The Davenport Terra Cotta, Brick & Tile Co, was on Garners Lane, Davenport, Stockport. It appears in the 1902 and 1906 trade directories, but not 1896 or 1914.

Ratcliffe Power Station From Bardon Hill, with a background of windmills.

A butcher's ticket from June 1864. John Wragg's shop was at 45 Mill Lane, the site of which later became the Sun Inn, now long gone too. Sadly the document is rather faded and I haven't managed to decipher what the product was of which 3oz was purchased for 1s 9½d. Got to love those prize beasts on the header.

A nice bit of polychromatic brickwork on this terrace facing onto College Road in Bangor. The bricks were supplied from the South Buckley Colliery & Brickworks at the time when it was known as the North & South Buckley Colliery, Brick & Tile Co.

When petrol pumps go bad ............... Seen in College Road, Bangor.

I had tried to make this shot when I visited Baiyin in 2006, but a combination of bad light, bad timing, and operator error, made for a complete failure. This time I was in position early and did not have to run along the lineside as the train approached. The morning passenger service to Shenbutong Mine runs before sunrise in midwinter but still offers plenty of scenic opportunity. This line up into the mountains always makes me think of the wild west when I see my shots from here.

It's 9am and still before sunrise at Sandaoling due to the whole of China being on Beijing time. Having travelled overnight by train from Lanzhou to Hami we had then been driven to Sandaoling and arrived just in time to photograph this train of mining equipment as it arrived at the yard in Sandaoling. Sadly the traffic from the main line to here is now diesel worked, but it is still possible to see steam locomotives serving the opencast pit and the branch to the deep mines for a little longer.

Nissen huts keep appearing in obscure corners. These two were formerly workshops at Snibston Colliery in Leicestershire.

I never cease to marvel at the quality of work that masons can produce from a lump of gritstone. This is one of two massive stone acorns flanking the gate to Oak House near Facit. The stone will have come from the extensive quarries nearby which specialised in extracting Haslingden Flag in the nineteenth century.

The derelict Ovoline works at Gateshead still advertises the business on the wall facing the Tyne. Fuchs Petrolub AG from Mannheim took over the Ovoline business in 2005.

Lift bridge that once carried the Soar Lane Branch railway over the Soar Navigation at Leicester. This bridge was built in 1845 to replace an identical structure of 1833, It now stands outside the main exhibition building at Snibston Discovery Park.

Self-rescuers in the lamp room at Snibston Colliery. For the uninitiated, these are used to provide an oxygen supply in an emergency when the mine atmosphere becomes unbreathable. Hopefully you could find fresh air in the time (up to an hour) that one of these would work. Not pleasant to use, but could save your life.

The mines on Swannington Common operated in the 18th and 19th century on a small scale, and Califat Colliery was one of these. The local heritage trust have undertaken excavations of the remains and also erected a replica horse gin and headframe with the horse and driver seen here. It is all very well done and the area is well worth a visit.

Bardon Hill Quarry produces around 3 million tonnes of granite per year and is operated by Aggregate Industries, a division of the Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim.

Looking across the great fall at Dinorwic slate quarry. The water tank and adjacent compressor house are on the Australia Level.