tarboat's photos

The canal line plans of 1891 describe this runoff paddle as a Letoff Valve. It is on Bollington embankment near Clarence Mill on the Macclesfield Canal, and is notable for being one of (if not the only) last examples of the original paddlegear that was used for the runoff sluices and ground and sidepond paddles at Bosley locks.

A selection of steel products and empty hoppers in the sidings alongside the Arcelor Mittal Steelworks in Differdange, Luxembourg.

Slurry treatment tank at Triage-Lavoir de Péronnes.This coal washery was built with the help of Marshall Plan funding in 1954. It processed daily over 3,000 tonnes of coal from the mines of Péronnes, Ressaix and Trivières. In 1969 with the closure of the Saint-Albert and Sint-Margriete mines the washery became redundant and the equipment was removed. It is now a listed historic monument but plans for re-use of the building for small businesses have so far not been developed.

St Antony's Catholic Church, Old Trafford is situated in the middle of Trafford Park in Manchester and came as a complete surprise to me when I spotted this building hiding behind the trees. So far I have not been able to find any history of this church.

The Essence Factory in Old Trafford was completed in 1896 for Duckworth and Co to the design of architects Briggs and Wostenholme of Blackburn. The frontage comprised offices with the manufacturing and warehousing to the rear. After the Duckworth Group was taken over by Cargill in 2003 the premises were soon redundant and became empty by 2007. The Grade II listed building has been publicised for a number of years as a probable base for the Church of Scientology but it currently stands vacant. The terracotta is of high quality and was probably manufactured by Dennis of Ruabon who certainly made the bricks used at the front.

Five headframes can be seen in part in this view of the south-west end of the lode at Broken Hill. From the left they are: 1. Zinc Mine 2. South Mine No.7 Shaft (1932) 3. North Broken Hill Consolidated Mine haulage shaft 4. North Broken Hill Consolidated Mine service shaft 5. South Mine No.4 Shaft - Oregon Pine headframe (1919)

As the home of Burleigh Ware the Middleport Pottery continues in production but not without having to face significant financial problems. In 2009 with the business facing closure it was purchased by the Prince's Regeneration Trust and the buildings are now undergoing restoration and regeneration.

Bagnall saddle tank Sir Tom brings a rake of tipping skips towards the working face at Threlkeld Quarry.

Alongside the Rochdale Canal in Ancoats are this fine group of cotton mills. From the right are Murray's Decker Mill (1801-02) and Old Mill (1798), McConnel & Kennedy's Sedgwick Mill (1819-20) and Royal Mill 1912), with Brownsfield Mill (1825) in the left distance.

The ore loading bunkers form the backdrop as Kerr Stuart 13 arrives at Wallah Gorge on the Burma Mines Railway.

Bulk lime wagons queue outside the hydrating plant alongside the shaft kilns at Tunstead Quarry.

Tanker narrowboat Spey enters the top lock at Etruria in the Trent & Mersey Canal. Shirley's Etruscan Bone and Flint Mill forms the background. These days it forms the Etruria Industrial Museum although financial problems afflict the museum since the local council pulled out of any interest in order to save money.

Mount Bryan filling station currently offers no night service.

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 and from where this photograph was taken. 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.

The grain silos at berth 27 of the inner harbour at Port Adelaide can supply wheat and barley to the ship loaders at up to 700 tonnes per hour. Viterra also has a newer deep water terminal in the outer harbour.

This is not the usual look of a working mineshaft, but Winsford Rock Salt Mine No.4 Shaft presents this plain functional aspect. It is the main downcast shaft and has two large fans at the bottom which draw in around 135 cubic metres of fresh air per second. The shaft is 4.88m in diameter and 189m deep, with a two-tier lift consisting of a cargo compartment and a personnel carrier. The cargo compartment is 7 metres high, 2.4 metres wide and 4 metres deep and brings all the materials and engineering equipment underground. It can carry 15 tonnes. In addition to use by Salt Union this is also the access for the Deepstore record storage facility which uses the vast worked-out spaces.

On my recent nocturnal visit the hydrating plant at Tunstead was hard at work with the chimneys chucking out water vapour. The structure behind contains the shaft limekilns.

The 210 MW Shotton Combined Heat and Power station, located in Deeside, North Wales, was built for TXU Europe and completed in 2002. The company soon went into receivership and the plant was sold in October 2003 to Gaz de France which operated the station under sister company Cofathec Heatsave. The plant uses General Electric 6FA gas turbines, which are of a dry low NOx type, reducing harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides. Power is exported to the National Grid and the station also supplies steam to UPM Kymmene UK's paper mill at Shotton. In a typical year around half a million tonnes of steam are supplied to the paper mill. In March 2012 GDF SUEZ Energy International announced that the station was no longer economic and would be closed by the end of the year.