tarboat's photos

During my recent look at Oldham area cotton mills I was circumnavigating the Fir Mill at Royton when, in an enclosure behind the enginehouse, this Nissen Hut came into view. In the background is the enginehouse in which a 1600hp Scott & Hodgson engine was erected during 1905.

JS 6246 has just split its coal train and shunted it into the yard at Xizhan on the Yuanbaoshan Coal Railway. The locomotive will now retire to the depot for servicing whilst the diesel from the nearby power station takes the wagons to be unloaded.

Limekilns of Capital Iron and Steel Group on the outskirts of Beijing at Dahuichang. This is a confusing site with old stone built running kilns on one side and these more modern steel cased kilns amidst a complex range of buildings and other processes.

I have always loved to see historic boats in use on the waterways. This is the Phoenix which was built in 1872 to the design of Andrew Horn at the Neptune Iron Works, Waterford (Malcolmson Bros.) The boat was built for Francis Spaight of Derry Castle on Lough Derg, possibly as a wedding present for his son, William. For most of its life the boat has been based on the Shannon and around Killaloe in particular. The steam engine was replaced by a two-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine, made by Ellwe of Sweden. It had a compressed-air start mechanism and developed 36ihp at 475rpm. In 1966 the Ellwe engine was replaced with a Perkins S6. Still based at Killaloe the Phoenix is seen here leaving Dromineer on Lough Derg after a regatta. More history of this vessel can be found at iwn.iwai.ie/v26i2/phoenix.html .

It would appear that the school authorities in Oldham think that their education system is so poor or the kids too stupid to realise that climbing on a spiked fence might be a risky idea. Every school fence in the area was liberally festooned with these notices. :-(

Devon Mill in Oldham was constructed in 1908 by Devon Mill Ltd to the design of G Stott. In 1915 it was operating 91,000 spindles. During the 1950s it was taken over by the Cyril Lord group and production ceased in 1962. It has since been used as a mail order warehouse and is currently split into commercial units.

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 at least two large 18th century earthen kilns can be seen in this view looking up to Solomon's Temple. On average these kilns would have been operated for seven months each year.

It's shortly after 6am and another westbound freight is arriving at Chaganhada along with the morning sun. Train locomotive QJ 7081 is now preserved in the United States.

The crew on 6233 are keeping their eyes on the road ahead as they pass through Chelford with the Scarborough Flyer.

Another complete mystery. This was found on a terrace demolition site at Fegg Hayes, close to the Chatterley Whitfield Colliery. The houses dated from the 1860s or thereabouts and I would not have expected the bricks to have been carried any great distance. There were examples from a number of local brickworks on the site, but this one is an unknown manufacturer. Capitol 203 reckons that this does not have the same feel or texture as the local products, so it may well be a stranger in the camp.

Another product of Messrs Clayton & Brooke, Norbury Colliery. The brickworks, on the opposite side of the current A6 from the colliery, closed in 1892 along with the colliery. These square bricks were used as pavers at various properties around the district.

Under an Act of 1825 the New River Ancholme was straightened, widened and deepened, with existing bridges replaced with single span structures. At Horkstow a bridge served a brickworks on the western side and this was replaced by this, the only suspension bridge designed by Sir John Rennie. It was completed in 1836 under the supervision of site engineer Adam Smith, with the ironwork supplied by Messrs John and Edward Walker of Gospel Oak Ironworks, Tipton, Staffordshire. In 1979 the bridge was severely damaged when the tractor unit of a 23 ton articulated lorry fell through the deck into the river destroying a quarter of the wooden bridge deck and damaging the attached suspension rods. During the 1990s the deck was rebuilt in tropical hardwood and the underground sections of the suspension chains replaced with high tensile steel. It is now listed Grade 2*.

Differing styles of huts on the periphery of the Snape Farm POW camp at Weston.

SY 0965 sits on the jacks undergoing a major overhaul at the Baiyin Mining Railway workshops. The refurbished driving wheelsets and trailing truck sit in front awaiting reassembly. The gloomy interior of this steam repair shop is typical of all those I have seen in China, although this one was rather tidier than many.

QJ 2758 has just backed on to a westbound freight in Hailar station. Another QJ has brought the train in from the Russian border beyond Manzhouli and has departed for servicing at the nearby depot.

This horizontal cross-compound was built in 1903 by Stott & Co of Haslingden and had operated until 1960 at the premises of Messrs A Barton & Sons, wadding manufacturers, of Hazel Grove, Stockport. Nowadays it is preserved at the excellent Anson Engine Museum in Poynton.

Whilst the wealthy toffs occupied their paid-for lockable box pews downstairs at Christ Church, the great unwashed were banished to the free seating upstairs. This large town church was built in 1775-76 at the expense of Charles Roe, founder of Macclesfield’s silk industry.

The Sunday visit for Heritage Open Days was the Plaze Cinema in Mersey Square, Stockport. This 1930s gem is now in the care of the Stockport Plaza Trust and has so far seen over £3 million spent on restoration. The Compton Organ , seen here in the raised position, survived in working order right through the 30+ years that the building was used for Bingo.