tarboat's photos

I do seem to spend a lot of my time photographing trains as the light disappears. In this case it is on the Lishu system at Jixi and we waited all afternoon for the injectors to be repaired on this locomotive, and hoping that it would make the run to the Qikeng Mine before it became dark. The sun was already behind the hills when it finally came up the bank past the Sijing Cokeworks heading a short train that included several wooden bodied hoppers. The train had reversed just below the small colliery visible in the (right) background. Sadly this branch to Qikeng has now closed.

A delve into the Tarboat archives found a couple of images of the Wheatly & Co Ltd. Springfield tileries at Trent Vale. Wheatly's was established before 1819 and was famous for its 'Triton' brand roofing tiles. In 1978 the company was taken over by Daniel Platt Ltd of Brownhills Tileries in Stoke, then in 1982 works was closed and demolished soon afterwards. This is an intermittent downdaught kiln.

Intermittent downdraught kilns at the Wheatly & Co Ltd works in Trent Vale. shortly before demolition in 1982.

My last visit to the Pindingshan Coal Railway saw the regulation dark and gloomy weather that seems to hang like a shroud around this area of Henan Province. The morning passenger service is departing Mine 8 at Bakuang headed by one of the well maintained JS class locomotives that were the mainstay of traffic on this system. This is 9.30am but it was almost like night. Everything was coated in a thick layer of ice after the overnight rain had frozen as it hit the ground, and walking to this spot proved extremely hazardous. Later in the day it snowed and this was followed in the next day or two by the terrible ice storms that completely paralysed much of central and southern China. Luckily, we managed to escape to the western deserts before the airport was closed, but not until we had experienced a mad drive of 100+ km on roads entirely surfaced with thick ice and littered with crashed cars and lorries.

Another detail from the Northern Mill Engine Society open day.

At the beginning of January the Northern Mill Engine Society had an open day at their Bolton Steam Museum. A grand day out was had by all, with most engines in action. They are very friendly and I was able to spend ages with the camera and tripod without any problems. This is a detail of the Diamond Ropeworks, Royton, engine. It is a 300hp inverted vertical compound mill engine and was built by Scott and Hodgson of Guide Bridge in 1914.

On the Nanpiao Coal Railway just before 3pm there are passenger departures from Xiamiaozi onto the two branches to Linghe and Sanjiazi. Even in 2009 it is possible that they can both be steam hauled, although more often than not the Linghe train is diesel hauled due to the town authorities at Nanpiao, from where the train starts, not liking steam locomotives in the town. The diesel must have been indisposed on this particular afternoon as steam was in charge of all services. Here the Linghe train sets out whilst the locomotive for the Sanjiazi service can be seen backing onto the coaches in the station. If you look carefully a third locomotive can be seen on the servicing point . On very rare occasions both trains would set out at the same time giving a photographer stood between the two lines a very fine opportunity. Steam is due to finish here at the end of 2009.

Naming railway locomotives is not a great tradition in China. However, there have been occasions where locomotives have been chosen to be specially decorated and named. In these cases there were no half measures and the locomotives were kept in splendid external condition. Back in 1992 whilst linesiding at Suihua, QJ6800 passed with a heavy coal train. This locomotive was named 'Iron Bull' (Tieniu Hao) and was the favourite of the Suihua depot. It has survived and is now plinthed at Jixi diesel depot Bob Turner advises that: 'The Iron Bull movement was founded soon after the war and revolution to encourage young workers to restore equipment that had been out of service from damage or lack of parts, etc. At that time the Chinese economy was in very poor shape and reconstructing China's railways was a very high priority of the new Communist government. The Iron Bull movement also focused on improving reliability and maintenance standards of the locomotives.' According to a posting in the Steam in China mailing list by Robin Gibbons: 'On 15 February 1949, Suihua depot's MK1 No 96 created an unprecedented domestic record in running over 106,000 kms, spanning two [No 1 overhauls], and was named "Tieniu Hao" by the North East Railway Bureau. Not long after, the Tieniu movement spread vigorously throughout the railway network. Afterwards, No 96 was sent to help in the Korean war and remained in Korea as a gift from China. In 1988, Suihua depot named QJ 6800 to promote the 'Tieniu' spirit in the modern era. ('tieniu' is a nickname for a tractor, i.e something indefatigable.)'

Detail of the William Hollins & Co. Ltd mill at Radford, Nottingham. As far as I can remember this section of the mills was built in 1913.

With the announcement of the Viyella company going into administration I thought I would post this reminder of its origins. William Hollins & Co. Ltd., was the originator of Viyella fabrics and built mills at Radford in Nottingham during the nineteenth century. Part of the Norton Street Mills was erected in the early twentieth century and includes some nice terracotta details including this company logo on the keystone over a doorway.

First day on the lineside during the December 2008 trip and we decided to go to the Donghaikuang colliery system at Jixi as we had not been there before. There are not many trains to be seen on this line so we were lucky to get the loaded wagons being taken to the interchange during the afternoon. There was much debate as to whether the line was uphill away from the colliery at this point and we soon learned that it was downhill as the train coasted past with just steam showing from the brake pump exhaust. The Donghaikuang mine can be seen in the background.

In the very last of the daylight SY 0863 came thrashing up the bank from Dongchang colliery with another load of coal for the exchange sidings in Jixi. The man from the control office was very concerned about the lack of clearance between the speeding train, the photographer, and his cabin. He made it clear he wanted me to move as soon as I had made this shot. I'm glad he didn't make me move sooner.

Boulton & Co, (Longport) Limited, Midland & Port Vale Tileries, Longport, Stoke.

I found this brick whilst mooching around Etruria but for a long time I could not read the name on the frog. After much consideration and searching the trade directories the penny finally dropped. The lettering is R TILSLEY and this is a product of the brickworks of Richard Tilsley, Lodge Tileries, Trent Vale. He resided at, High Grove, Trent Vale. The works appears in trade directories between 1865 and 1870 but is absent in the 1873-74 edition.

The Broomhill Firebrick Co was located at High Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire and operated from 1915 - 1980. This firebrick was seen at a small limekiln at Denwick Lane Ends, Rennington, Northumberland.

The Bridgewater Collieries operated extensive brickworks at Mosley Common adjacent to the pit.

Seen at at Littlemill limeworks Northumberland. The location of the Burn-Axe works was unknown to me, but thanks to information from another enthuisiast it can now be put down as from the Burn Fireclay Co., at Stobswood near Morpeth.

A Lancashire brick from Bolton but, once again, I do not know which brickworks.