Building materials

Preheater tower and silo at the Hanson owned Ribblesdale Cement Works at Clitheroe. Dust collection to the fore and the chimneey on top was as a funny angle after storm damage. The company was waiting for a shutdown when it would be reattached properly. One of the One of two 1975 built GEC Traction locomotives lurks on the railway headshunt.

A panorama of the industrial activity on Scotland's east coast.On the right is the 1,364 Mw Torness nuclear power station that was commissioned in 1988, On the left is the Dunbar cement works at Oxwellmains. Now operated by CRH it has an output of around 867 tonnes of cement clinker daily.

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.

Grab crane on the wharf at Engis near Liège on the River Meuse. This facility is operated by plaster and plasterboard manufacturers N et B Knauf Et Cie S.C.S.

Class 20s numbered 3 and 82 at the Breedon Hope Cement works along with No.5 (Andrew Barclay 613 of 1977) during an Industrial Railway Society visit. The railway was very busy with cement being loaded and coal hoppers arriving and discharging.

Former main line shunter 08 865 trundles through the middle of the loading sidings at Hope Cement Works.Two different crossing signs and a 'Give Way' guard the scene.

Two 1975 built GEC Traction locomotives stand with a couple of cement tank wagons at the Ribblesdale Cement Works at Clitheroe.

Gas oil tanks for when the kiln requires lighting up at the Clitheroe cement works. The tilting chimney on top of the preheater tower is obvious from here. It was damaged in a storm but has now been reseated.

A corner of the timber yard operated by R.G. Holz Ltd at Viseu de Sus, Romania. Timber is brought down to the yard for processing via a long narrow gauge railway which stretches up into the mountains close to the border with Ukraine.

Small industrial operations are are well worth recording whilst out and about. This example is the Hanson operated concrete batching plant in Halifax. It will provide foe the small-scale ready-mixed concrete demand over this part of West Yorkshire.

The Delwart cement company at Tournai was founded in 1926 and at one time employed 170 people. Production included quicklime and cement. This shaft kiln remains in derelict condition whilst still advertising the manufacturer many years after closure.

Stone store at the Clitheroe cement works. The machine on the right is referred to as a "reclaimer" or "stone harrow" and keeps the stone moving down the heap and levels it across the floor.

Class 20s on hire from the Harry Needle Railroad Company and hard at work at Hope cement works. On the right the coal empties are being removed by No.82 which is former 20 066 whilst working the cement loading hoppers is No.3, formerly 20 906.

Control room at the Hanson/Heidelberg cement works at Clitheroe. The left ceiling mounted screen is showing the flame in the kiln.

It was in March 1962 that work first began on the modern works at Oxwellmains, near Dunbar, and on April 1st 1963 the first kiln was lit. Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Limited (later Blue Circle Industries PLC) selected Dunbar because it had the ideal proportions of raw material (shale and limestone) for the production of cement; for much of the works’ existence it has been the only cement producer in Scotland. The plant was modernised in the 1980s. The current kiln has an output of around 867 tonnes of cement clinker per day. Ownership passed to Lafarge in 2001 and from Lafarge Tarmac to CRH in July 2015.

The Quinn Cement plant at Ballyconnell has a production capacity of 3,800 tons per day. This business has now been renamed Mannok Cement following the 2014 takeover of Sean Quinn's industrial holdings by US hedge funds and a local consortium.

Hope Cement No.2. Formerly 20168 this class 20 was in use at Cement works of Hope Construction Materials and named Sir George Earle. It is owned by the Harry Needle Railroad Company and remains at the site which is now owned by Breedon Cement Limited.

Loading railway wagons at what then was Hope Construction Materials' cement works in Derbyshire.