tarboat's photos

An unusual railway is that to carry the machine for clearing debris from the screens over the turbine intakes at the Ardnacrusha power station on the Shannon. The machine is very broad gauge with the other rail just visible along the fence on the left. The centre two rails are for the wagon that carries the detritus.

The Majestic Mil in Lees, Oldham, was built in 1903 for the Majestic Mill Co, to the design of F.W. Dixon. Power was supplied by a 1600hp engine by J.W. McNaught. Cortaulds purchased the mill from the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1964 and spinning continued until 1982. Since then it has been used as a textile warehouse and is now in multiple occupation.

Cooling tower at the Arcelor Mittal steelworks, Seraing.

Bullivant & Co., Ltd were based in Millwall, London and specialised in the manufacture of wire ropes. Ropeways were a natural development of their business when in 1868 Charles Hodgson set up Hodgson’s Patent Wire Tramway Company with William Mumford Bullivant as the company chairman and Mr William Thomas Henney Carrington as their engineer. The firm eventually evolved into Bullivant & Co., when Bullivant and Carrington bought the patents and good will from Hodgson. Ropeway construction was undertaken by the company all over the world and it developed an excellent reputation for its products. Bullivant’s was sold to British Ropes Ltd in 1926. This advert from Page's Magazine, Feb 1905, shows the ropeway that was erected for the Newcastle and Gateshead Waterworks to bring construction materials to the Wylam Waterworks from railway sidings on the other side of the River Tyne. The project was the construction of the pipeline to the Wylam pumping station from the Whittle Dean Reservoirs. The ropeway was 1800ft long and powered by an undertype portable steam engine. It carried coal and coke for the pumping station and also cement and bricks for the new works at Whittle Dean and the Ryal-Matfen tunnel which formed part of the water line from the reservoirs.

The Macclesfield Canal has a long history of boathouses for storing pleasure boats when not in use. Those on the main line have been removed over the years, but there are still plenty to be seen along the High Lane arm which is used by the North Cheshire Cruising Club as a base.

It's the cloud factory again, seen across the Mersey estuary from the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal.

There wasn't a lot of sun in August but I did manage to catch 6201 Princess Elizabeth in good light one morning as the Scarborough Flyer hurried past Nether Alderley. The brick building was the guard house at the entrance to the Sandle Heath munitions store that operated from WWII until the 1960s. There were extensive sidings here at one time, with the line into the storage areas heading off to the left of frame.

The Ace Mill was built in 1914 as the Gorse No.2 Mill, to the design of P.S. Stott. A 2000hp Urmson & Thompson engine was installed. Immediately requisitioned for aircraft production in WWI, cotton spinning did not begin until 1919 at which time it was renamed by the owners, Ace Mill Ltd. Later ownership included the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s, and Courtaulds Ltd in 1964 until production ended in 1967. The mill is currently occupied by electrical equipment company MEM-Delta.

This is an old ironstone level as far as I can tell. The tunnel has only been rediscovered recently and may yet yield its secrets. Late 18th or early 19th century is the most likely date.

Happy days on the Baiyin Mining Railway. The morning passenger service to the copper mine at Shenbutong climbs hard up into the hills. As usual the locomotive is being worked hard on the steep gradient.

Robert Clement Clive and William Bolton Clive of Tunstall, colliery proprietors leased land for a brickworks at Sandyford , Tunstall for a period of 21 years from 31st March 1895. This firebrick must be from the works they established and this may have become known as the Newfield Brick & Marl Works. The Clive Brothers disappear from the trade directories at some point after 1912. Photo courtesy of Ken Perkins

The Lafarge Cauldon works, seen here from just below the Yew Tree Inn, has a capability to produce 1 million tonnes of cement a year.

It was bad enough having virtually no light, but the wind added to the photographic problems as 5199 smokes out much of the train as it climbs above Winkhill towards the Caldon Low quarries.

Another view from the tarchives. I believe that this is at a mine near Pittston in Pennsylvania c1908. Quite why the mule was on the cage is unexplained.

Coal outcropping at a site in north-east Cheshire. It's good stuff too, burns a treat! :-)

On the now closed branch to Qikeng Colliery, SY 0477 climbs hard in the dusk with a load of wooden bodied hopper wagons.

Cornish influence in metal mining can be found all over the world. This compressed air powered hauling engine supplied by Holman Brothers of Camborne is at the old lead/zinc smelter in Namtu in north-east Burma. It was used to haul ladles of hot metal away from the furnaces. Best viewed large .

There are large numbers of small mines like this around Sanjiazi in the Nanpiao area. This drift is wound from an enginehouse off to the left of the frame whilst the dirt tip haulage is at the summit of the incline at top right.