tarboat's photos

1934 English Electric built ex-Blackpool tram No.236 passes the fine gates at the entrance to the depot at the Crich Tramway Museum. This tram first ran as part of the permanent fleet at Crich in 1912. It is a great thing to ride on a fine day and this was the first such occasion during the 2024 season.

HNLMS De Ruyter leaving Plymouth. This Dutch Frigate was commissioned in 2004. The accompanying tug is SD Powerful operated by Serco Marine Services in support of the UK Naval Service.

Disused roadway in the Hill Top Colliery near Bacup. This was the last small mine in Lancashire, working the 4ft 6ins Union Seam. All now blocked off and closed.

Corrugated iron extension to the factory of Numold (UK) Ltd at Gloucester. The business designs and make moulds for concrete castings. I suspect that this extension was used as a drawing/design office as it has a wall of windows to allow as much light in as possible. The building seemed to be out of use.

Cross Country Voyager class 221 136 awaits departure from Plymouth with a service to Leeds.

The Red Lion stood opposite the Potteries Electric Traction Tramway Depot in Stoke-on-Trent and outlived the tramway by many years. The Red Lion was much frequented by tram staff and later by the PMT bus staff who took over from the PET in the 1930's. It finally closed in 1973 to allow for street widening for the A500 Queensway road - but it was carefully demolished brick by brick by members of the Tramway Society and was eventually rebuilt at Crich using original materials wherever possible and reopened in 2002 at a cost of £500,000.

Corrugated iron barn on a farm at Windmill, Great Hucklow. In the vicinity there were the carcasses and remains of at least ten tractors of varying vintages!

The workshop at this boatyard in Reedham has developed a marvellous patina.

As the light fades 71000 Duke of Gloucester blasts up the curving 1 in 45 past Cliff Farm crossing before entering the Bradnop cuttings on the initial climb away from Leekbrook Junction on the Churnet Valley Railway. Pushing hard at the back is Black Five 44767.

Detail of the superb glazed tile exterior of the Lord Clyde in Southwark. The brewer Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co Ltd. was absorbed into Grand Metropolitan empire in 1971 and then merged with Watney Mann. This proved to be disastrouse for the brewery which closed in 1989. In 2010 the Truman brand was purchased by two London businessmen and in 2013 they opened a new brewery in Hackney Wick allowing Truman's beer to be stocked in a number of London pubs once again.

There are four very large draw kilns at the Cowdale limeworks near Buxton. By 1930 there were problems with the face of the kiln bank falling forward and massive concrete buttresses were added in late 1931. Cowdale Quarry was opened by the New Buxton Lime Co c1901. The company was taken over by the Buxton Lime Firms in 1908 and eventually became part of the ICI empire. The quarry and works closed in 1956.

Standard class 4 No.75014 posing as Stoke based 75035 works hard towards Cliff Farm crossing on the climb towards Bradnop on the Churnet Valley Railway.

The Duke Street Scherzer Rolling Bascule Bridge at Birkenhead spans the channel between East Float and West Float. It replaced a swing bridge in the 1930s.

Nelstrop's Albion Flour Mills at Stockport continue in business after more than 200 years.

The L&NWR goods warehouse at Heaton Norris was opened in 1882 and served as a distribution centre for rail hauled goods until the 1980s. It is now used for self storage and remains a rare survivor in reasonable condition.

QJ 6991 is on station pilot duties at Chabuga on the Jitong Railway.To improve visibility whilst shunting this locomotive had had the smoke deflectors removed and looked very different from those on main line service.

Huts at the top of the beach at Port Mulgrave. This is not the easiest place to access as there is just a sketchy path down the cliffs that sometimes slips away.

Coke being pushed from an oven into the coke car at Monckton coke works at Royston. The Monckton Coke & Chemical Company was owned by Hargreaves Services plc and had been producing metallurgical coke for more than 130 years at its site near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. At the time Monckton was the only independent coke works in the UK, producing more than 200,000 tonnes per year of the highest-quality coke for markets worldwide. The works closed at the end of 2014.