tarboat's photos

Scenes around a cement works. This area is where spray lubrication is applied to the girth gearing on one of the two rotary kilns at Hope cement works. The large ring gear takes the drive from a smaller gear at this point. The girth gear is the largest and most expensive power transmission part on the kiln, a single forged steel ring transferring drive torque across millions of revolutions a year.

Cooling towers, water tower and blast furnaces all feature in this view of Scunthorpe steelworks. The rail tours of the works are highly recommended as they get into pl;aces others can't reach.

JS 8366 returns from dropping off the morning loaded coal wagons at the China Rail interchange on the Sandaoling Coal Railway. There were no empties available in exchange that morning.

Fiddler's Ferry power station hard at work on a winter's afternoon. A scene never to be repeated.

South African Railways (SAR) Class 19D No.3322 and unique Class 26 No.3450 "Red Devil" stand in the depot at Worcester on the former New Cape Central Railway at the end of their day's work.

A nice set of chimneypots on the Queen's Hotel on Marine Parade, Eastbourne, which opened in June 1880.

A portrait of Dahuichang Limestone Railway No.4. at work taking the empty wagons back to the quarry. These locomotives were based around a Russian design and built in China at the Harbin Forest Machinery Plant between 1977 and 1985. This locomotive was probably built in 1983 and is now at the Ffestiniog Railway where it is being restored and regauged. Lots of information about the restoration project here: c2project.org/index.php?page=home

This was built as Cooperative department store in 1904-1905 with a nice lantern and leaded dome at the corner with Love Street. The architects were Douglas and Minshull. It was extended in 1914 and converted 1980s to a range of shops. The design of the flat-roofed extension is said to have shocked the City Council Improvement Committee and the partial leaded glazing was the price paid for their approval. It is listed Grade II.

The Cracken Edge Quarries were exploited for gritstone in the nineteenth century and probably earlier. The best stone became difficult to access by quarrying and was then exploited by mining under the existing quarry faces in the early twentieth century. This is a packwall and roadway in one of the mines. It is worth noting that the roof has, to an extent, become the floor.

Alongside the Dee in Chester there are a couple of these little ice cream kiosks. Sadly this was not open when I visited.

JS 8167 takes an empty spoil train into the pit at the Sandaoling opencast coal mine. Note the semaphore signal on the driving cabin at the rear for use when being pushed on the way out.

An early evening view over the Lhoist operated Hindlow Quarry. The steam is from the hydration plant adjacent to the two Maerz limekilns on the right.

Detail from Kirkgate Buildings in Huddersfield. This commercial building with ground-floor retail units and offices to the upper floors dates from c1883. The architect was William Henry Crossland with sculptural work by Italian sculptor Ceccardo Egidio Fucigna. The main entrance bay has a full-width round-arched opening with this figurative head keystone of a Greek god wearing a dragon/serpent-like headdress (possibly Heracles or Apollo). The building is listed grade II.

Silos for powder and dust products at the Morris & Perry Ltd., Gurney Slade limestone quarry. This independent family owned company supplies asphalt, ready mix concrete and aggregates. I think that this section is operated by the Gurney Slade Lime & Stone Company Limited (a subsidiary of LKAB Minerals) a group engaged in the manufacture of ground limestone and fertilizer products, the recycling of limestone powders and mineral processing.

The Velsen coal mine was sunk in 1899 and the Gustav II shaft was developed between 1913 and 1917. In 1965 the mine was amalgamated into the Warndt complex which finally closed in 2005 with this shaft then being partially filled. The surviving surface buildings and headgear of the Gustav II shaft are considered a "top-class ensemble" of the Saarland mining industry and are listed structures. Inside the winding house is preserved this original steam winding engine made at the Dingler works.

Grinlow above Buxton saw an extensive limeburning industry develop in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. By the second half of the latter century the kilns were leased by the Duke of Devonshire to the Brock family who continued to operate them until 1789. From then on into the first quarter of the nineteenth century the Duke appears to have managed the limeworks directly as part of his estates. The hill is covered in the remains of the industry and one of these 18th century earthen kilns is prominent in the foreground of this view. On average these kilns would have been operated for seven months each year. In the background stands Grin Low Tower, or Solomon’s Temple as it is locally known, a distinctive landmark crowning the skyline above Buxton at 437m (1,434ft) above sea level. Built in 1896, I believe by out-of-work quarrymen and paid for by the Duke of Devonshire, (and restored in 1988), this Grade II-listed folly replaced the ruins of a previous tower which was built by Solomon Mycock, a local farmer and landowner, and after whom it is still named.

Corrugated iron lamp hut at Ropley on the Mid Hants Railway. A fireproof structure for storage of paraffin for signal and hand lamps in former days. There is some more nice rusty iron on the roof of the building in the background.

Merchant Navy Class locomotive 35005, Canadian Pacific, prepares for departure from Alresford on the Mid Hants Railway.