tarboat's photos

A friend brought me this photo today and I thought it might be of interest to the bus afficionados. I gather that it is a Tilling Stevens B10A chassis with a Tilling 32 seat body. Reg DB5155, fleet number 255, introduced in 1928 and withdrawn in 1936. The photo is almost certainly dated 1935. It is on the Bollington via Bollington Cross service and has been posed with driver, conductor and inspector (plus passengers) outside Central Station with the Buxton Road bridge visible behind at the left side.

A dumptruck competes with a trainload of steel slab at the Corus Lackenby works.

Crosfield's transporter bridge across the Mersey viewed across the Celanese Emulsions site in Warrington.

The Redcar blast furnace is the sole survivor in the Teesside steel industry.

The second of the the two working coal mines left in Nottinghamshire is Thoresby.

An oldish shot of a typical small cement works in north-east China. These factories only work seasonally, being closed down throughout the winter period.

The flagman on his icy perch signals ok to proceed as a trainload of coal pushes up the zig-zags out of the Jalainur opencast mine.

Intex Yarns in Radcliffe were taken over by Unifi and in the early years of the 21st century the mill was run down and closed with production transferred to Ireland. Today the buildings stand idle with the site due for redevelopment.

A pair of QJ class locomotives and a heavy train in fine evening light as they climb the last section towards the summit of the Jinpeng Pass at Shangdian.

Dump truck moving across the dirt tip at Welbeck Colliery in Nottinghamshire, one of only two working pits left in the county. Downcast shaft on the right and ventilation fan evasee lower left.

Inside the mine tunnel at Port Mulgrave was well worth the effort of getting in but the roof conditions a short way in did not encourage exploration. Ironstone ceased to be brought through here to the jetty in 1917 due to the danger of submarine attacks on coastal shipping.

Mrs Tarboat and I took a holiday in Whitby and she seemed quite enthusiastic when I suggested a visit to Port Mulgrave. I think she expected a nice fishing village with cream teas and souvenirs. What she got was a stagger down a steep cliff path and a look at a derelict harbour and ironstone mine. Originally known as Rosedale Wyke, ironstone was first worked he around 1855 and shipped out to Jarrow from a wooden jetty. By 1859 a stone harbour had been constructed at a cost of c£50,000 and this was named Port Mulgrave. Stone was shipped from here to the Tyne by 400 ton motorised barges and returning coal ships. Shafts were sunk to seams below sea level and a quarry was worked in the cliffs. Eventually a tunnel was driven into the cliff and a mine opened out. In 1875 the Grinkle Mine was opened further inland and the tunnel entrance was extended through to this new mine. It appears that the Port Mulgrave Mine ceased production in 1881 but stone continued to be brought through the tunnel for shipping until 1917 when Grinkle was connected to the main line railway because of the threat of submarines to coastal shipping. In 1934 the loading machinery was dismantled (some of it caught fire) and the harbour was blown up in World War II to prevent invasion use. Today there is a fine selection of ramshackle fishing huts, a few boats, broken down harbour structures and the tunnel entrance (seen behind the rusty Drott). There were no cream teas and no souvenirs but an interesting hour spent looking at the remains.

Taking a well earned breather before driving the NER Q6 up the bank from Grosmont on the train to Pickering.

The old gasworks site has been transformed with the development of a large modern apartment complex. The only reminder of the previous use is this conversion of this gasholder into apartments. The framework has the name 'S Cutter & Sons Contractors London 1885' cast into the uprights. The developer took deposits on many of the apartments but has subsequently returned them and none has been occupied. There is now a planning application to convert the building to a 520 bed hotel.

Black Five 45212 storms up the last few yards of the bank and into Goathland Station on a train from Grosmont whilst Standard 4 Mogul 76079 waits for the road with a Whitby train.

A chat with the driver before leaving Grosmont was followed by a volcanic ascent of the bank to Goathland behind the NER Q6. On arrival I dashed across the footbridge and ran for the road bridge to record the departure. It then became apparent that the train did not have the road and shortly after the LNWR Super 'D' arrived light engine from Pickering. By then the Q6 had stood for so long that it started blowing off at the safety valves as the preparations made by the fireman for the bank ahead were wasted in a cloud of escaping steam.

The tarmacadam plant in the Lafarge operated Graig Quarry at Llanarmon.

A blowing off SY 1450 heads a steam crane on a track maintenance train on the deep mining system at Jalainur. In the background is the washery whilst tarboat junior stands on the right looking cold.