tarboat's photos

Tapping molten iron into the torpedo wagons beneath the blast furnace for transfer to the steel plant at Redcar.

Not long left for the Redcar furnace that produces 10,000 tonnes of iron a day.

The terminus of the Wirral line of the Chester Canal is at Ellesmere Port where the paired Whitby Locks once led to the Mersey and now lead down to the Manchester Ship Canal. Currently home to the Boat Museum the site is well worth a visit. The locks can be seen to the right of this shot with the hydraulic enginehouse, boilerhouse and chimney left of centre. The island warehouse stands behind with the three hipped roof sections just visible.

Another scene already gone for ever. An empty spoil train begins the descent into the opencast mine at Jalainur having just made the first reversal. Until the conveyor was built from deep down in the pit, all coal trains also had to work right up here and two more levels above before taking the final run to the washery.

GEC Traction 6 wheel diesel-electric No.268 of 1977 hauls slab within the mill complex at Lackenby. This locomotive was once named Kirkleatham, but I couldn't discern any evidence of this now.

Gasholders adjacent to the coking plant and blast furnace at Redcar. Renown gives scale whilst making his own shot.

I made a sad trip to Teesside to say goodbye to the blast furnace and steel plant that are due to be mothballed (closed) by Corus by the end of January. The Redcar furnace and associated coke and chemical plant are seen here over the conglomeration comprising the encampment of the South Gare Fishermen's Huts Association.

Conveyor from the primary crusher at a disused limestone quarry.

When the Dinorwic quarries closed in 1969 the workers at this level left their coats hanging on the wall in the caban where they took their meal breaks. More than forty years later the remnants still hang there, occasionally nibbled by the feral goats that use the buildings for shelter. It is remarkable that these reminders of the hard working life on the high exposed levels have survived for so long.

The pink church at Hassall Green is a much loved corrugated iron gem.

An early frogless brick from this manufacturer The Cannon Street Brick Company operated from its central Hanley works during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It appears in trade directories for 1912 but not 1921.

The Cannon Street Brick Company operated from its central Hanley works during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It appears in trade directories for 1912 but not 1921.

Obverse of a Cannon Street brick. The Cannon Street Brick Company operated from its central Hanley works during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It appears in trade directories for 1912 but not 1921.

I first thought that this brick must have been made at the Basford family's works at Dale Hall, Burslem, but now realise that is actually a product of Thomas Williams, Basford Tileries, Brick Kiln Lane, Hartshill. This is a reloaded image of another example which has Williams on the other side. Thanks to Capitol 203 for helping to sort this one out properly.

A cyclist dodges the trains on the level crossing outside the Fushun Special Steel plant.

A heavy load for the US (Davenport) built 62-020 at the Catici coal washery, Kakanj.

As requested by Eagle142. Somewhere under all that ice and snow is a lurcher. She didn't seem to be bothered at all. She is so well insulated that the ice stayed on until I took her indoors to melt all over the carpet. Photo courtesy of my niece Hannah.

Terracotta date plaques and fancy work over the windows on the Tomkinson Heating shop at the bottom of Buxton Rd, Macclesfield. The centre section and window have been omitted here. I would guess that this is made in Accrington and that the shop was at one time a Co-operative branch.