tarboat's photos

It is hard to believe that some Chinese collieries are still open. The Weizigou mine, served by the Nanpiao Coal Railway, does not give the impression of great activity but still yields several wagonloads of coal at regular intervals.

A snowy day at the Sikulje Mine as 33-064 prepares a train at the washery.

Whilst out and about with fellow Flickrite, Tom Swailes, we spotted this building and were both struck by how much it resembled a colliery pumping enginehouse. It soon became apparent that it was indeed a colliery building that had probably housed an atmospheric beam pumping engine of the Newcomen type. It is actually a three storey structure built against a bank so that only two are visible on this side. Closer inspection of the stonework reveals that the long window is situated in what was a much larger space through which the beam projected. The lean-to structure under the beam wall is a modern addition. There is a stump of a chimney at the corner of the building, just in front of the white chimneystack of the adjacent cottage. The shaft was 215 ft deep and has been filled and capped by the Coal Authority a few years ago. More research is needed to try to discover where the outlet tunnel emerged lower down the hill. Tom was also able to find an advert for the sale of an engine from this colliery in 1834. I am fairly certain that it relates to this building. The description was: "Atmospheric STEAM ENGINE, the cylinder 44 inches diameter, new oak beam, with cast iron arch heads, and works a seven feet stroke; 36 yards 2 feet of 12 inch pump trees with pump rods complete, 39 yards 7 inch ditto, ditto one boiler, 26 horses power, in excellent condition; one ditto, 20 ditto, ditto; new oak head geering over pit and new eapstone and rope; one windlas and rope."

My first day at Jixi and the action on Hengshan Bank was excellent even if there was a keen wind that explored any gaps in your clothing. Morning empties are here being banked up to the collieries on the Hengshan system. There would often be several such trains up the bank after the morning shift change.

Detail of the terracotta plaque on the tower of the Kerfoot works at Bardsley Vale.

Until the opening of the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station in 1929, the navigation of the Shannon passed through O'briensbridge. For many years there was no towpath under the bridge and the navigation arch was the fourth one out from the Clare bank. To enable boats to safely negotiate the bridge whilst coming upstream a capstan was provided on a pier in the river and boats were hauled through on a rope. Later modifications to the bridge reduced the number of arches and also created a towpath. The surviving capstan is aligned with the towpath arch and was still in use until O'briensbridge was cut off from through navigation in 1929. More detail about the capstans can be found on this interesting site run by Brian Goggin.

The Pindingshan Coal Company operates at least thirteen large collieries around the city of Pingdingshan in Henan Province, Central China. The output is exported for power station use and also converted at several coking plants operated by the company. Considerable expansion is taking place at this mine with new coal handling and washing facilities being developed

Jalainur was very special. It may have been extremely cold in winter but the steam was spectacular. I wish I had gone there more often.

Another derelict cinema spotted on my journeys around Ireland. The small cinema seems to have survived much longer in Ireland than in Britain, but progress has now caught up with the small towns such as Portarlington. Sadly, I have been unable to find anything of the history of the Savoy Cinema.

On C2 06 shunting the unloading building at Yinghao. The coal is transported to the main line transhipment sidings some distance away by an underground conveyor.

Edenderry Power Station is a peat fired plant producing 120mw of electricity and burning 1 million tonnes of biomass a year. This is mostly peat, supplies from nearby bogs via narrow gauge railway, but 7% of renewable biomass is burned, with plans to bring this up to 30%. In operation since 2000, it supplies around 3% of Ireland's national requirement. It is ireland's first privately owned power station and is operated by Edenderry Power Limited. In 2006 Bord na Móna paid €80m for Edenderry power station from E-On.

34028 approaching Blackbrook Crossing on the return from Caldon Low. The Lafarge cement works in the background may yet bring freight traffic back to this line.

Having brought the early morning passenger service up to Sanjiazi, SY 0973 heads back at sunrise with the coal that was loaded overnight. The winding sheave in the background is typical of the many small drifts to be found in this area alongside the deeper large mines.

Roberts' brickyard was on Furlong Road opposite the Greengates Pottery and was later known as Newfield Marl Works. It is only mentioned in the 1875-76 trade directory and is not listed in 1873-74 or 1879, by which time the works was being run by Charles Salt. This example can be seen in the comprehensive displays about the North Staffordshire brick industry at the Apedale Heritage Centre .

George Basford is first listed in 1864 as a manufacturer of blue and red floor tiles at Ellgreave Street. Basford Brothers brickworks is listed at Dale Hall, Burslem in 1868-70 and in 1873-79 as owned by James Powell Basford. The brickworks was on the south side of Ellgreave Street with a small clay pit by the road and one round kiln. An example from this works can be seen in the comprehensive displays about the North Staffordshire brick industry at the Apedale Heritage Centre .

The house with a view over the ice pond contains a significant piece of industrial archaeology. The Poynton coalfield is divided by the Red Rock Fault, a major westerly downthrow which effectively precludes any mining on the western side due to the depth of the coal. In the first half of the nineteenth century the geological situation here was less well understood and Lord Vernon's agent Thomas Ashworth resolved to sink a pit on the west side to see whether workable seams could be found. A shaft was commenced in 1846 at the side of the colliery workshops in Towers Yard. It was discovered that the shaft was actually being sunk into the fault and conditions proved difficult. By 1848 it was concluded that they were wasting their time and the pit was abandoned, with Ashworth stating that "This rock is dangerous and objectionable" . The slightly higher section of the modern house with a gable end towards the camera once housed the rotative beam engine used for the sinking of the shaft. For many years it was the cottage for the cowman at Towers Yard farm , but has recently been greatly extended and modernised.

A high quality facing brick which came from the recent demolition of a former school and agricultural engineer's premises near to my home. The Redac works had a long life and finally closed in 1992.

A single frog brick made at the Norbury Colliery brickworks operated by Messrs Clayton & Brooke in the nineteenth century. The works was located behind the Robin Hood pub on the north side of the main road from the colliery which was situated between Hazel Grove and High Lane on what is now the A6. It appears that brickmaking ended with the closure of the colliery in 1892.