tarboat's photos

Mist rises on the River Weaver as it passes the dust cone over the stocking point at the Meadowbank Mine in Winsford .

On our walk in the hills, whilst Eagle1942 was photographing the approaching rain rain in the west, I was pointing the camera north-eastwards across the valley of the Shell Brook to the sunlit slopes of Shutlingsloe.

SGS 2471 heading for the shed at Malakwal Junction having just come off a passenger train in the station.

A chilly morning at the Jalainur opencast mine and my good friend Channel Packet had gone off in search of the perfect excavator shot. Left behind and waiting for the morning 'passenger' to emerge from the pit my attention was drawn to the sound of a hard working SY drawing a heavy spoil train onto the tip, The exhaust seemed to be going up for ever.

One of two steam engines at the Mill Meece Pumping Station in Staffordshire. This example was built by Ashton Frost of Blackburn in 1914. Cylinders 49" and 26", running at 16rpm it generates 308 indicated horsepower.

The morning loaded coal train has just entered the long straight towards the Wufeng interchange sidings on the Pingzhuang Coal Railway.

SPS 2997 ready to depart from Malakwal Junction.

The Bullstones is a stone circle around a large standing stone and associated with a burial. Shutlingsloe broods in the background.

Dark and gloomy but very atmospheric. SY1052 on test inside the maintenance depot of the Pingzhuang coal railway.

The pumping station at Mill Meece lifted water from boreholes for the Staffordshire Potteries Water Board which was then supplied to Stoke and Newcastle via a reservoir at Hanchurch. The two compound steam engines at Mill Meece have been preserved and are operated on certain weekends during the summer. There are three Lancashire boilers and this is the one currently used. The pipework contains the underfeed stokers and forced draughting whilst the red hoppers contain the coal.

On my summer holiday I spent an afternoon exploring industrial remains in North Yorkshire. My peregrinations led me to the spoil heap of the Kilton ironstone mine from the top of which the views were extensive and fascinating. To the north could be seen the last remaining blast furnace in the area at Redcar. With a 300mm lens it actually looks quite close! At one time the output from the Kilton mine would have gone to Skinningrove rather than Redcar and also possibly the West Bank furnaces at Middlesbrough.

Although diesels were beginning to appear in the area the environs of Malakwal were one of the strongholds of steam in Pakistan in 1992. There was a distinctly Edwardian feel to the motive power which comprises SPS (Standard Passenger Superheated 4-4-0) and SGS (Standard Goods Superheated 0-6-0) oil fired locomotives. To get here it was a long drive down from Islamabad and into the recently flood devastated area adjacent to the Indus Valley. In several places the road had washed away and detours into the desert-like landscape were necessary to find our way to this remote town. We were made very welcome by the station staff and given tea and cake in the telegraph (yes, real telegraph machines) office and later the same at the locomotive depot. It was very hot but the opportunity to photograph the twilight years of these veteran locomotives made it worthwhile. Here (Vulcan Foundry built 1911, I think) SPS 3191 gently leads a westbound departure past just a few of the magnificent array of semaphore signals around the station.

Typical scenery viewed from a train on the Jitong Railway just east of Chabuga. Spring comes late in the Mongolian Autonomous Region and sowing the crops is just completed.

Double heading QJs thunder into the loop at Liudigou on the westbound climb of the Jinpeng pass. They are running through wrong line due to track repairs just behind where I was standing. It's still a bit worrying looking through the viewfinder and seeing 3000+ tonnes heading right for you just before it swings off to the right.

There are very few gasholders left in the Potteries and this one at Adderley Green is one of the tallest survivors when fully extended.

West Coast Main Line looking north to the Ship Canal bridge at Moore.

I have always enjoyed seeing acid etched glass in windows and pubs have been a great source of examples. These days the selection is greatly reduced through unsympathetic modernisation or maybe just accidental or deliberate breakage by the local philistines. This well known Macclesfield watering hole sports a particularly fine personalised example. Now I need to dig out my books on Macc pubs to identify which brewery was responsible for it. Robinson's now provide the ale but they will have obtained the pub through a buyout at some time in the past.

Not much room for many more dishes on the Croker Hill tower.