tarboat's photos

QJ 6828 running hard with an eastbound train near Biligou on the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway.

The Swan with Two Necks, Chestergate, Macclesfield.

The bones of a wooden-framed coal wagon lie on a siding next to the running line at Chasewater Heaths on the Chasewater Railway. The chassis and drawbar arrangements are all laid bare.

This water tower at Longsdon in north Staffordshire is operated by Severn Trent Water.

The fan house at Duke Pit in Whitehaven was built in a castellated style on the hillside above the harbour. It is a scheduled monument. The first installation in this building was an 8ft diameter 1836 fan wheel which moved 23,000 cubic feet of air per minute. This was the first attempt at mechanical ventyilation in the Whitehaven coalfield. In 1870 it was replaced by a 36ft diameter Guibal fan to move 70,000 cubic feet of air per minute.

Water tower at the Celsa steelworks in Cardiff. This is the site formerly operated by Allied Steel & Wire.

S3 'Portbury' (Avonside 1764) at Bristol Docks. The ship is former Royal Navy Insect class supply vessel 'Bee'.

J D Wetherspoon’s Reginald Mitchell pub is part of what was formerly a building known as The Tontine. This was developed in 1831 by Hanley’s Market trustees for use as a meat market. It later functioned as Hanley's public market until 1987. As well as a pub the building also now contains shops. It is listed Grade II.

BT Tower on the corner of Clough Street and Marsh Street South, Hanley. This brutalist building is now largely unused but still provides a good spot for Peregrine Falcons.

A suitably grubby 46447 takes a rake of milk tanks towards Mendip Vale during a 30742 Charters event on the East Somerset Railway.

Quarry Bank Mill in Styal which was founded in 1784 by Samuel Greg for cotton spinning. It was designed to use water frames, which had just come out of patent, and the increased supply of cotton caused by the cessation of the American War of Independence. The mill was extended on several occasions in the 19th century with weaving introduced from 1836. The mill was given to the National Trust in 1939 and production continued until 1959. It is now open to the public with excellent demonstrations of various cotton processing machinery.

Class 185 Desiro unit arrives at Scarborough on a dark and damp summer day.

This little stone bridge is over the leat overflow at Quarry Bank Mill in Styal which was founded in 1784. The channel carried water not required to power the mill back to the River Bollin below.

QJ6981 to the fore through the loop at Liudigou on the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway.

Hoben International is owned by Goodwin PLC and is the UK’s largest processor of ground silica flours. This is the Brassington site adjacent to the former Cromford and High Peak Railway opposite Harboro Rocks. Silica flours are used in a wide cross-section of applications inducing refractory products, construction products, drilling muds, glass fibre manufacture and many more applications. Products and Services within the Hoben International portfolio include silica flours, fire mortars, specialist blends concrete and grouts, non-ferrous foundry moulding plasters.

In 1717, work began on The Bluecoat Hospital School, one of the first charity schools outside of London. The school, owned by The Chester Corporation, would house up to forty boarding boys at any one time who dressed in a distinctive blue uniform. The building is now occupied by the Chester Bluecoat Charity and is listed Grade II*

Whilst sitting on a bus in Chester I espied this sign through the window whilst we waited at the traffic lights. This building dates from 1880 and was owned by a company that operated four such establishments at one time. It was a part of the temperance movement offering an alternative to pubs. As with most temperance businesses it closed in the first half of the twentieth century, In an ironic twist the premises now house a bar.

SY 0785, 0939 and 0989 are at the forefront of a number of SY class locomotives during the morining shift change at one of the servicing points on the Fuxin Coal Railway.