tarboat's photos

Clock on a former chemist shop in Market Street, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Clocks such as this on shops and commercial premises were once common but are disappearing fast.

QJ 6639 and 6882 on an eastbound freight approaching the summit of the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway at Shangdian. There they will take a well earned rest whilst waiting to cross a westbound train.

Towpath bridge over the river channel leading to the sluices above Dutton locks on the River Weaver in Cheshire. This is a replacement of an earlier wooden structure.

Victoria Tower in Liverpool docks was designed by Jesse Hartley and constructed between 1847 and 1848. It was completed in conjunction with the opening of Salisbury Dock. It was used as a navigation aid by shipping sailing in and out of the Port of Liverpool. It was also referred to as the 'docker's clock' because it had six clocks around its hexagonal column. These large timepieces allowed marine traffic to synchronise their ship chronometers as they sailed out into Liverpool Bay. The tower had a bell which was used to warn of impending changes to meteorological conditions such as tides, storms, and fog. There was also living quarters for the Port's Pier Master. Behind is the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse which is the world's largest brick warehouse, with a net floor area of 1.6 million square feet. Standing 125 feet high, the building was, at the time of its construction in 1901, claimed to be the world's largest building in terms of area. It has now been converted to apartments and retail use. Both structures are listed Grade II. Also visible is the Scherzer rolling bridge on the Dock Road.

The crossing keeper acknowledges the passage of QJ 6828 on the Jitong Railway just west of Reshui.

Having made the westbound climb over the pass QJs 6981 & 6905 have stopped to take water at Jinpeng on the Jitong Railway.

The pumping engine at Harvey's Shaft of the Kadina copper mine housed a 60 inch diameter Cornish beam engine manufactured by Harvey of Hayle. Electric pumps replaced this engine in 1904 and production ended in 1923 when the Wallaroo Mining Company went into voluntary liquidation. The enginehouse survives with the pump rods still sticking out of the flooded shaft.

The Ketton cement works was established by the Ketton Portland Cement Company in 1928. It is currently owned by Heidelberg and comprises two kilns (nos 7 & 8) which were completed in 1975 and the mid-1980's. Kiln 7 was mothballed in 2008. The plant produces around one tenth of the UK's Portland Cement needs.

The rising sun catches the exhaust of two QJs as this westbound freight dig into the climb of the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway just west of Reshui.

Water tower and blast furnaces at Scunthorpe Steelworks.

Shunter on the buffer beam of C2 16 as it approaches its train outside the colliery at Yue Jin Qiao on the Shibanxi Coal Railway.

Welcoming committee outside an arts shop close to the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin.

Below Harboro Rocks in the High Peak of Derbyshire stand what some say are the remains of a mill for processing silica sands and iron oxides which were used in the production of paints and the former also for refractory bricks. Little is known about this particular plant and it has been suggested that it never went into production. Another suggestion is that this was an abortive wartime scheme for extracting magnesium from the local limestone.

The shunter is coupling SY0366 to a rake of loaded coal tippers before taking them to the local power station on the Nanpiao Coal Railway. He can then retake his seat next to the ash pit.

The Bestwood Hotel was already closed and up for sale when I took this photograph. It was built in 1896 for the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company in the Italian Gothic style with plenty of terracotta detailing. It has since been converted to apartments.

British Coal closed Tower Colliery on 22 April 1994 but the workforce refused to give up and after pledging £8,000 each from their redundancy money bought the pit On 3 January 1995 the Colliery re-opened under the ownership of the workforce buy out company Goitre Tower Anthracite. Having extracted the economically attainable reserves the colliery was last worked on 18 January 2008 and the official closure occurred on 25 January.British Coal closed Tower Colliery on 22 April 1994 but the workforce refused to give up and after pledging £8,000 each from their redundancy money bought the pit On 3 January 1995 the Colliery re-opened under the ownership of the workforce buy out company Goitre Tower Anthracite. Having extracted the economically attainable reserves the colliery was last worked on 18 January 2008 and the official closure occurred on 25 January. The company went on to be involved in a joint venture with Hargreaves to extract a further 6 million tons of anthracite from an opencast operation nearby.

The Clocktower in Macclesfield was built in 1871 as the administration block and part of the former Parkside Hospital (earlier known as the Macclesfield Union Workhouse and West Park Hospital). The stone chimneys are notable. It has now been converted to apartments and is listed Grade II.

LNWR Coal Tank 1054 arrives at Darley Dale with a freight consist on the Peak Rail line towards Matlock.