Cheshire

Advanced Battery Supplies continues to trade amidst the steady decline of Avenue Street in Stockport.

156 461 is passing the distant signal for Norbury Crossing as it approaches the stop at Middlewood on the Buxton Branch

This pub on the corner of Wellington Road North and Heaton Lane in Stockport was once an inter-war gem. Built in a subdued art deco style for the Liverpool brewers Higsons it was their only pub in the Manchester area. It was a popular and busy place for many years but after Higsons were taken over by Boddingtons the original interior was ripped out - remade remodelled, in the deeply unattractive, anti-vernacular, sub-disco style de jour. After that it was downhill all the way and after a number of rebrandings it closed in 2010. Reopened in 2012 it struggled on until 2018 and the tin curtains have been up since then.

This pub on the corner of Wellington Road North and Heaton Lane in Stockport was once an inter-war gem. Built in a subdued art deco style for the Liverpool brewers Higsons it was their only pub in the Manchester area. It was a popular and busy place for many years but after Higsons were taken over by Boddingtons the original interior was ripped out - remade remodelled, in the deeply unattractive, anti-vernacular, sub-disco style de jour. After that it was downhill all the way and after a number of rebrandings it closed in 2010. Reopened in 2012 it struggled on until 2018 and the tin curtains have been up since then.

Terracotta signage on a former police house in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

Winter sunshine on the Brunner Mond soda ash plant at Winnington viewed from Winnington Bridge. Soda ash production has long ended here and the limekilns and much other plant has been demolished.

Advertising the free entertainment for the long and slow journey to London on this London Midland service just setting out from Crewe.

The extension to the Salvation Army Citadel on Middle Hillgate, Stockport, was built in 1920 with large amounts of terracotta detailing. The font used for the lettering is particularly fine and to me seems to lean towards Art Nouveau rather than Art Deco.

A little bit of stone sculpture guarding the doorway to the former Brookfield Hotel on Wellington Road South, Stockport.

A stone face watching over the doorway to the former Brookfield Hotel on Wellington Road South, Stockport. It's little details such as this that are lacking from modern buildings.

6233 approaching Goostrey with the Scarborough Flyer on a fine late summer morning.

Fiddler's Ferry power station hard at work on a moody, steamy January day in 2006.

The sun goes down over the power station at Fiddler's Ferry which was still hard at work in 2010. It is now closed and silent, never to work again. This view from Kerridge Hill near Macclesfield.

There are some fine roof details on this old kiosk close to the bowling green at West Park in Macclesfield.

Two Black 5s on the Buxton Spa Express digging into the climb after being stopped at Norbury Crossing to allow the scheduled dmu stopping service to get far enough ahead not to cause problems later on. This view is from the bridge that once carried the Macclesfield Bollington and Marple Railway over the top of the LNWR line at Middlewood Station. The weather forecast said fair - it was raining!

Ex Thomas Clayton tanker Spey takes the turn under the old railway bridge between locks 11 and 12 at Bosley on the Macclesfield Canal. The boat was built in 1937 at Uxbridge and spent its career moving gas oil from Ellesmere Port to Oldbury and also gasworks byeproducts around the West Midlands. It has been in preservation since the 1960s.

Whilst waiting for a hospital appointment I wandered up to Bramhall Moor Lane Bridge between Hazel Grove and Woodsmoor on the LNWR Buxton branch. For my troubles I was rewarded with 66 797 at the helm of an aggregate train from Peak Forest to Hope Street Peakstone terminal in Salford.

Yesterday I was surprised to look over the bridge at Middlewood and find 66 564 with a permanent way train sitting shut down and silent. I am unsure what users of the footpath crossing in the background are supposed to do.