tarboat's photos

Whiston banked by Florence No.2 power out of Foxfield yard.

34028 with 44767 at the other end near Blackbrook Crossing on one of the duller days of the Caldon Low gala.

Unfortunately the 8F used for the first days of the Caldon Low gala has failed due to firebox problems (I am told), and now stands forlorn in the yard at Cheddleton.

The Duke of Gloucester bursts out of the mist with cylinder drain cocks open as it accelerates away from the compulsory stop at Threshing Barn crossing above Apesford on the Caldon Low line.

Running a few minutes early for a change, 44767 reaches Cliff Farm Crossing as it works hard up towards Bradnop.

Black Five 44767 storming up the 1 in 45 towards the unofficial accommodation crossing near Ashenhurst Mill above Leekbrook.

Inside the slate sawing mill on the Australia level at Dinorwic Quarry. Abandoned since 1969 and quietly decaying.

There are several accommodation arches above Winkhill on the Caldon Low line. 44767 is seen here crossing the uppermost arch on the way up to Caldon Low.

Last light of the day as 71000 Duke of Gloucester blasts up the curving 1 in 45 past Cliff Farm crossing before entering the Bradnop cuttings on the initial climb away from Leekbrook Junction. Pushing hard at the back is Black Five 44767.

After five punishing miles of climbing the Caldon Low branch reaches a summit at Ipstones before commencing a 1 in 61 descent to Winkhill. This summit is at around 1050ft above sea level, which is significantly higher than Shap summit at 914ft. The climb is also much steeper that Shap, being 5 miles at mainly 1 in 45 and 1 in 59 compared with 5 miles at 1 in 75. Here 37 075 has just crossed the summit towards Caldon Low in this view looking through three accommodation bridges up the 1 in 61 from the bridleway crossing west of Blackbrook.

The strong north-easterly wind whips the exhaust down and away from 34028 Eddystone as it climbs away from Winkhill trowards Caldon Low on the Sunday of the 1960s steam and diesel weekend on the Caldon Low branch. In the left background, partly obscured by steam, is the Winkhill station house. Above the trees can be seen the board for the Blackbrook Crossings. This gives some idea of the sinuous nature of the line around Winkhill.

In the narrow band between the low lying and upland fog banks it was possible to see sunlit action. 34028 'Eddystone" has been a star performer at the Caldon Low gala and is greatly liked by the crews. The locomotive was running up the bank with a crisp exhaust and clearly well in control of the train.

Today's services on the Caldon Low line were mainly in fog. I had planned a number of photospots for the day and at several of these it was not possible to see anything of the line at all. This led to drastic replanning and making the best of the conditions in the areas where you could at least see the train. Blackbrook Crossing proved to be a decent place for the morning service as it headed up the gradient away from Caldon Low with 8F 8624 running tender first in the murk.

Track from the hauler leading into the adit at one of the many private coal mines in the Silverdale area of North Staffordshire.

The sad remains of Chatterley Whitfield Colliery in North Staffordshire which closed in 1976 and was subsequently operated as a mining museum until that failed in 1993. There are four headgears surviving on this site. They are, seen are, from the left, Winstanley, Institute, Platt, and Hesketh shafts. I suspect that it will all fall down eventually as nothing useful seems to be being done to conserve the site. The local council has complete paranoia about health and safety, far beyond what is sensible in my opinion, and will not allow visitors on the rare open days to see anything much of interest. Meanwhile there is a Friends group for the site, but they have never yet answered any of my emails and do not seem interested in actually gaining support from anyone outside their own closed circle. All-in-all a sad state of affairs.

34028 banked by 44767 above Winkhill and heading for Caldon Low. The Lafarge cement works stands prominent in the background. Maybe one day cement will come from there by rail.

34028 passes under the accommodation bridge just before the site of Winkhill Station during the Sunday of the steam gala on the Caldon Low line.

A pair of draw kilns with associated quarry. These were working in 1888 and had a standard gauge railway siding running from the kilns to the Amlwch branch railway. The quarry had a narrow gauge line which ran up an earth incline to feed the kilns. There is also an embankment from the top of the kilns which appears to have carried another narrow gauge line over a bridge across the standard gauge siding into the quarry. By 1900 the kilns were disused and the railway lifted.