tarboat's photos

The Baiyin Mining Railway always guaranteed a good thrash on trains up the branch to the Shenbutong copper mine. On my last morning there SY 1583 is making good progress with the morning empties.

A pair of QJ class 2-10-2s cross one of the many viaducts on the Jitong Railway as they head westwards towards Chaganhada, and then on to Daban where they will be changed for a diesel to take the train over the Jinpeng section.

Thomas Clayton tanker " Spey " arriving at Ellesmere Port on the Manchester Ship Canal after a journey from Manchester.

A look across the River Weaver to the Ineos Chlor chemical plant at Rocksavage.

The Swalllownest Brick Co was situated at Swallownest to the east of Sheffield.

An unusual name for a brick manufacturer. This one is from the Ashgate area on the west side of Chesterfield. The works was established in the early years of the twentieth century and was closed by the 1950s.

This radius brick is from the chimney of Sykes' bleach works in Edgeley, Stockport. The works ceased production in 1986 and the chimney was felled soon after. This example was saved from the rubble by the late Frank Wightman who was a wonderful draughtsman and spent his working career in the Accrington brickworks.

A lone tree and a lone chimney above the Dane Valley at Danebower. The collliery chimney served the boiler for a steam engine that drove an underground haulage system via a shaft. The chimney has recently seen extensive repair work to stabilise its condition.

Tanker narrowboat passing the Barton swing aqueduct over the Manchester Ship Canal. The aqueduct is unique. It carries the Bridgewater Canal and the tank can be swung clear to allow the passage of ships.

The wide open spaces of this part of the Mongolian Autonomous Region are clearly visible as this eastbound train arrives at Gulumanhan on the Jitong Railway.

Morning departure from Mode Wheel locks on the Manchester Ship Canal. The Allied Mills in the background produce flour for a wide range of bread manufacturers in the north of England.

Not many of these left in action these days. Spotted when on the way to Rosedale in North Yorkshire.

Birch Coppice Colliery and Brickworks east of Tamworth was owned by Morris & Shaw Ltd. The pit was sunk in 1875 and the brickworks first appears between the mid 1880s and 1900. It was expanded after WWII by the National Coal Board but had been closed by the 1970s.

Walsall Wood Colliery was sunk in1874 on a site close to the Daw End Canal just north of Coppice Road. A brickworks was established just to the north of the pit and a canal basin was constructed for brick traffic. There was a very large circular kiln (presumably continuous) with central chimney. The Earl of Bradford as mineral owner was paid a royalty of 1/- per 1000 bricks manufactured. The works is shown on the OS maps from just after the First World War but the site had been cleared by 1938.

The West Cannock Colliery Company leased the mines and clay from the Marquis of Anglesey. The royalty on bricks was 2/6d per 1000. The brickworks was adjacent to the No.1 colliery which commmenced operations in 1869. Bricks were produced only for the company's use and were never sold outside. By the 1920's production was only undertaken if outside sources were more expensive than the home made bricks. The plant comprised: A Wooton Brothers brick making machine capable of producing 28,000 common bricks per week. A Lancashire boiler which powered a single cylinder steam engine for the brick making machine. Two square kilns of 28,000 and 25,000 brick capacity. In 1928 the plant produced 422,993 bricks but in 1930 it was only 43,000 bricks and the plant then closed.

Wooden tanker narrowboat after leaving the Irlam locks on the Manchester Ship Canal.

Jefferson does his best impression of a 29mm spigot mortar or Blacker Bombard ! The concrete cylinder with a stainless steel pin in the centre was constructed to mount this weapon for use in defending the Warburton Toll Bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal in WWII. The surrounding pit in which the three man crew and their store of ammunition would sit, has filled up with detritus over the nearly 70 years since it was abandoned.

Statue and sculptures over the entrance to the Merchant Seaman's Hospital Houses at Whitby. These almshouses are run for the benefit of ex-seamen who have lived in the Whitby area.