tarboat's photos

P class and vintage train descending Tenterden bank on the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Detail of the Brunner Mond works at Lostock. The limekilns peep over the manufacturing buildings in the foreground.

The Bury Art Picture House is on Knowsley Street. The first theatre here was in a converted warehouse that had formerly been a Baptist chapel. This was demolished in 1922 and replaced by the present building, to the baroque design of Albert Winstanley, which was completed in 1923. It seated 1,136 divided between stalls and pit and a 12 row balcony with 2 bow fronted boxes each side. In the 1940s it was operated by the Bury Cinematograph Co., Ltd. There was an L-shaped cafe, originally known as the Oriental or Indian Lounge. The cinema closed in 1964 and it has since been used for Bingo, Pool and now as licensed premises. The white terracotta faience still looks good with the descriptive lettering. It is listed Grade II.

Running round at the end of the yard in Huanan, C2 041 pauses briefly alongside the pointsman.

It was a fine evening so I took myself off to the Brunner Mond, Lostock works near Northwich. A panorama overview from the newly diverted public footpath near the railway.

Railway warehouse in Longton, still advertising pre-1923 joint ownership.

Ghost sign at Lower Heath, Congleton.

As far as I can tell this is the West Pit of the Butterley Park Colliery of the Butterley Company at Swanwick. Today it stands with adjacent engine house in the middle of a farm park where visitors can feed and watch a range of animals. I think that the colliery was open from 1848 to 1946 with the main shaft known as Britain Pit.

Having brought the afternoon passenger service up to the mine station at Sanjiazi on the Nanpiao Coal Railway, SY 1299 undertakes a little shunting whilst the track gang looks on.

My annual outing to Aldford on the Dee took place in perfect weather conditions for watching dragonflies. It didn't take long to find this teneral female Common Clubtail ( Gomphus vulgatissimus ) basking on the nettles.

McAlpine livery on the crusher control desk at an abandoned limestone quarry.

Sunset at the Shaguotun power station, Nanpiao.

One of the joys of arriving in Beijing in the early 2000s was the ability to be seeing steam within a very short time of arrival by travelling to the Dahuichang Limestone Railway operated by Capital Iron & Steel. Whilst the C2 class locomotives were fairly small, they dwarfed the tiny trucks that they hauled in long rakes over this short line between quarry and works. On the crossing shortly before the loading point is the crudely but clearly marked No.3. The line only had a few months left to run and closed in 2005.

The Harzquerbahn has provided a viewing platform adjacent to the depot at Wernigerode. For photography it is rather too close to the subject and makes for some significant distortion due to use of wide angles to capture the action. Nothing daunted, it does give a different view after perspective correction is applied.

A deflector fitted SY drops across the road with a long load of empties from the China Rail exchange sidings at Pingzhuang Nan.

Having turned on the triangle at Huanan the C2 heads for the servicing point before its next run over the hills to the mine loading point. Meanwhile, the gleaners work on the empties to ensure that no coal makes the return trip.

Peering across the ochre mud towards the narrow section of the 1847 Caldon Tramway Tunnel.

The operations at Nanpiao are a mystery to me. There appears to be no consistent traffic flow with loaded and empty coal trains apparently running in all directions. In this case we were sitting on a hilltop drinking beer and eating peanuts whilst waiting for the afternoon passenger. Lo and behold, we were presented with a long train of empty coal wagons heading away from the washery and collieries towards the power station. SY 1299 heads east towards Hongshila whilst the beer froze in our bottles. That's the fun of chasing steam in China. :-)