tarboat's photos

SY 1487 and SY 1052 undergo repairs in the workshops of the Pingzhuang mining railway. This is still a stronghold of steam in China being entirely operated by SYs outside the opencast pit.

'Holly Bank No.3' arrives at Chasewater Heaths with a short mineral train on the Chasewater Railway whilst the shunter leans on the point lever.

USA Tank clone 62-635 at the Vreoci coal washery in Serbia.

New limekilns at the Tarmac operated Tunstead Quarry. Completed in 2010 at a cost of £13.4 million and fuelled by natural gas, the Maerz kiln processes 40–20mm limestone to produce high-purity quicklime. The two interconnected kilns replace two rotary limekilns introduced in 1955 and have reduced carbon emissions by 40%.

British Energy's only coal fired power station is the 1960 megawatt plant at Eggborough. Generation is with four 500 megawatt units, the first of which started working in 1967. A certain amount of biomass is also burned here these days.

The Castle Brick Works was in Birchills, just off Upper Green Lane, and first appears on the 1902 OS map with five rectangular kilns. In 1924 it was operated by J Griffin, Jones and Company, and in 1940 it was the Castle Brick Co. The works seems to have closed and been swallowed up in extensions to the tube works by the early 1950s.

The Castle Brick Works was in Birchills, just off Upper Green Lane, and first appears on the 1902 OS map with five rectangular kilns. In 1924 it was operated by J Griffin, Jones and Company, and in 1940 it was the Castle Brick Co. The works seems to have closed and been swallowed up in extensions to the tube works by the early 1950s.

St John's Colliery was at Normanton near Wakefield and was operating a small brickworks just south of Newland Lane in 1892. By 1907 the works had been moved to a site on the north side of the road. It continued to appear on OS maps into the 1970s, but had been demolished by 1985.

Edwin Glossop appears to have established his brickworks at Ambergate, just south of the railway junction at Bullbridge, in the early 20th century. Glossop's siding is listed here in the 1912 handbook of railway stations. Raw materials for the bricks came on a tramway from quarries up the hill to the east with an incline down to the main line sidings. The works appears on maps until the 1980s. The burning to the right end of this example is due to it having been used to line a limekiln at Ilam in Staffordshire.

A very pleasant day out yesterday with fellow Fickrite BITH*. We wandered around various bits of the White Peak seeking out interesting bits and pieces which included this dleightfully situated limekiln high up above Hall Dale. It is in reasonable condition and was notable for having the pot lined with stock brick rather than firebricks. The bricks were considerable younger than the kiln body and I assume that this was a bit of a bodge late in its active life.

A little of the morning mist hangs in the air as 66031 departs Tunstead quarry with a heavy load of limestone.

Early morning at the Sanjiazi terminus on the Nanpiao Coal Raiway. SY 0973 sets about some shunting after arriving with a passenger service to the mine here. If there could be a next time I would raise the lens a little rather than cut off the exhaust. :-(

Smurfit-Kappa now operate the paper mill at Snodland which was first established c1740 and in 1854 purchased by the Hook family. It was later owned by Times Newspapers and produced newsprint for their brands.

Birmingham Canal Navigations sign still in place sign on the west parapet of Well Lane bridge, Wednesfield. This section of the Bentley Canal was still officially open at this time, but was actually completely derelict and unusable. Now filled in and built over.

The shunter still manages a smile despite the extreme cold as he connects the brake pipe on SY 1344 to a rake of coal fulls at Zhongzhin on the Hengshan section of the Jixi Coal Railway.

The last colliery headgear in Lancashire. TInside the enginehouse the steam winder is well looked after by the Red Rose Steam Trust, but the headgear is in a poor condition and needs significant maintenance.

The reincarnation of Holly Bank No.3 heads a short mineral train onto the causeway with the drained reservoir as a background. The weather may have been dull, but the photoshoot was a lot of fun and the Chasewater volunteers could not have done more to make the day go well.

The opencast mine at Yuanbaoshan is only a short distance from the power station as the crow flies, but it is a long way by rail due to a significant difference in height. A conveyor system was constructed with castellated towers at the changes of direction for the belt. For some reason this proved unsuccesful initially and the trains continued for several years. The conveyor provides an unusual background here as JS6246 starts a long and heavy coal train away from the opencast loading bunkers.