tarboat's photos

My friend Andy enjoys a birthday outing to the loco depot at Baotou steelworks in the Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. He was happily working on his next shot when I spotted him silhouetted against the steam from an SY class locomotive that had but a few weeks left before dieselisation was complete. View On Black

Black 'Fives' 45407 + 45231 lead 'The Tin Bath Extra' off the viaduct at Penistone. There were a lot of people watching from the main road here, but the light was bad by the time the train came, and the exhaust blew down and obscured the locomotives for most of the way across the viaduct. You win a few, you lose a few! :-)

I do love the Irish loughs, particularly on days when the clouds scud across the sky and the sun makes sudden and fleeting appearances. The light changes so quickly and there are so many different moods to the water and sky. Rainbows are a regular feature and the wide-open spaces across the water makes it possible to see the whole arc, as in this example, snatched on a wild October day on Lough Derg, looking north-east from Williamstown Harbour.

Seen from inside the coach, departure from Moyasta Junction on the West Clare Railway in typical weather for the area. No prizes for guessing which way is west!

The wreck of the Monreith. On the 12th November 1900, the two masted sailing schooner Monreith, from the Galloway port of Wigton, was carrying a load of 110 tons of granite kerb stones from Newcastle in County Down, Northern Ireland to Silloth in England. A storm blew up and she attempted to take shelter in the mouth of Kirkudbright Bay (behind Little Ross Island, the island with the lighthouse on the horizon.) The bay was not yet deep enough and she grounded and was driven onto the sand banks of Goat Well Bay where her timbers were pounded by the surf until she sank. Her crew were able to launch a boat in her lee and made their way safely ashore just as the Kirkcudbright lifeboat arrived.

Sunset at Nordhausen station on the Harzquerbahn. The station lamp is a typical example from the DDR.

SY1257 pushes a heavy spoil train out of the opencast pit at Jalainur on a very cold morning. View On Black

It was a rough and squally day for a trip on Lough Derg on a barge, but the changeable weather made for some fine atmospheric scenes as we headed home in the late afternoon. This view was taken looking south-west whilst heading between Williamstown Harbour and Dromineer.

West Clare Railway No.5, Slieve Callan , heads east from Moyasta in the howling gale and driving rain so typical of this remote part of Ireland. The exhaust was running well ahead of the train on the last day of regular operations for 2009. The Dübs (1892) built locomotive returned to service this year after a major restoration by Alan Keef which included a new boiler from Israel Newton.

The Albert Edward Bridge was erected in 1863 to the design of Sir John Fowler, engineer. The cast iron single span double track railway bridge carries the railway line from Shifnal to Ironbridge Generating Station over the River Severn. The segmental arch has a span of 201 ft. Plaques on the bridge commemorate the engineer and also Messrs Brassey and Field, Contractors, and that it was cast and erected by the Coalbrookdale Company.

It isn't just the Romans who left us tiled floors to discover. A recent visit to the site of a large tile factory yielded several fine floors in the former office area. I presume that these were used to demonstrate the wares to potential customers. Now they lie unloved amidst dereliction and waste whilst awaiting better economic times and the inevitable redevelopment that will see them gone for ever.

QJs 7119 and 6977 slog westwards on the Jitong Railway towards lindong with a heavy train of tank wagons. The train arrived before I had reached my preferred position and I had to run to get near enough to the curve to get it into the shot with the train. This was the last photo of the day even though it was only midday, as the line seemed to go into suspended animation after this with no trains until after dark this day. It was a frustrated bunch of photographers that arrived back at the hotel that afternoon.

I spent today walking around bits of Cheshire looking at coal mining remains. In the afternoon the weather improved considerably and the sun came out over the city. This view from the top park area of Poynton looks over Stockport to Manchester. In the foreground, under and just to the right of the pole are the surface remains of a mine that was probably worked in the 1630s.

Rusting tubs and rotting timbers lie around on the surface at a disused stone mine.

Originally closed in 1966 the Barnsley Main pit was reopened to transfer workers from the Barrow pit, which closed in 1985 owing to geological problems. It finally closed in 1991 and the headgear and engine house are now preserved in the 'care' of the local council.

The pigs pay no attention to the passage of a pair of QJs crossing the viaduct at Er Di on an eastbound freight over the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway.

45407 + 45231 head 'The Tin Bath Extra' out of Disley Tunnel on their way to Sheffield. The Disley cutoff line does not see many steam specials so it was a pleasure to see this on a line that is very much part of my childhood steam memories.

Two of the crew on a QJ class locomotive awaiting the signal to leave a loop on the Jitong Railway. The message was 'come ride with us'. The price would have been negotiable. Enthusiasts paying for footplate rides soon led to an entrepreneurial culture amongst the employees and whilst their desire to generate a little extra income was understandable, it also spoiled the friendly atmosphere of earlier times as crews vied for business. Personally, I would rather be lineside taking photographs than on the footplate getting my camera covered in oil and dirt.