tarboat's photos

This bridge crosses the Swift River just before it enters the Saco River at Conway in New Hampshire. Constructed in 1869 it replaced the original structure that was destroyed in a flood in that year. It is 129 feet long and 21 feet wide. There are sixty-six covered bridges in New Hampshire and six of them are in the North Conway and the surrounding area. All were built in the 1800’s and all but two of them are still in operation. These bridges were covered to help protect the wooden structure from the weather.

Even in a small village there are opportunities to find interesting terracotta. This is a butcher's shop in Tattenhall, Cheshire, where I presume the terracotta came from one of the works around Ruabon. I like to think that the oval once contained images of pigs, cows and sheep! Sadly I fear that the business has now closed.

Intermittent earthen limekiln remains below Copy House at Wycoller. Limestone would have been collected from the nearby river or washed out of the boulder clay in the nearby hills by 'hushing' - releasing stored water from ponds and watercourses made above the valley slopes. There is no native limestone nearby but the clay can contain as much as 25% limestone brought by glacial ice from Craven district of Yorkshire.

On a typically wet Yorkshire day ex Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 52322 hauls a permanent way train into the station at Embsay during a 30742 charters event.

Trans Pennine Trail bridge at Turnhole Clough in Trawden Forest. Getting the materials for this bridge to such a remote spot must have been challenging and I have doubt whether there will be resources to maintain the structure. The ramps down to the previous crossing can be seen in the background.

A Braithwaite modular tank at a farm in Taddington, Derbyshire. Water is scarce on the limestone uplands and it will be well worthwhile collecting the rain off the large sheds here. The Braithwaite company dates back to 1884 under the name of Braithwaite and Kirk at Crown Bridge Works, West Bromwich. Today the business continues as part of the Rowecord Group. www.braithwaite.co.uk/

Palmerston and Prince with a vintage set of coaches climbing towards Ddualt on the Festiniog Railway.

Ghost sign advertising Jennings' beers at the rear of a former pub in Cockermouth.

Darwen became a municipal borough in March 1878 and civic leaders decided it was necessary to procure a town hall and a market hall: the original concept was to have two separate structures but after some debate it wasdecided to have a combined facility. The scheme was subject to a design competition which was supervised by Alfred Waterhouse and won by Charles Bell. The finance for the scheme was authorised under the Over Darwen Improvement Act 1879 and, after the River Darwen had been diverted into an underground culvert, the foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, Alderman William Snape on 2 October 1880. The structure was built by a local contractor, J. Orrel & Sons, and the building was officially opened by the local member of parliament, Frederick Grafton on 21 June 1882. The building served as the headquarters of Darwen Borough Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council was formed in 1974. The council chamber became the home of Darwen Town Council when it was formed in 2009.

This faience clad building on the corner of Great Moor Street and Newport Street in Bolton was built as Waller & Riley's Chemists in 1929-30. Upstairs was Scottish Legal Assurance. Today the shop remains a chemist as the Newport Pharmacy but the original Crittall windows have sadly been replaced with upvc.

Valve chest on the Sandfields pumping engine at Lichfield. This 65 inch Cornish engine has a 9 foot stroke, and once developed 190 hp at seven strokes a minute, whilst pumping water at the rate of two million gallons per day with a delivery head of 355 feet on the force pump. It was supplied and erected for the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company by Jonah and George Davies of Tipton and completed in late 1873 after their business had ceased trading. The engine finished working in 1927.

08 472 brings the set of merry go round hoppers into Chasewater Heaths during the Industrial Railway Society AGM event at the Chasewater Light Railway.

Steam fun with Sentinel 0-4-0VBT during the Industrial Railway Society AGM event at the Chasewater Light Railway. The locomotive was new to the Tottenham Gas and Light Company and was No 11 in their fleet. It is chain driven to all wheel through a two speed gearbox from a 100hp two cylinder vertical engine.

Ellenfoot Bridge across the middle of Maryport Harbour. It was completed in 2007 using a number of grants including a significant sum from the EU.

The Holmen Iggesund integrated pulp and paperboard mill at Workington. Bleached mechanical pulp is processed to suit the special demands of paperboard manufacture and is combined with purchased bleached chemical pulp into a multi-layered board construction which is ideally suited to the demands of modern paperboard packaging. Under the trade name 'Incada' folding board from the mill is used in packaging for confectionery, cosmetics, wine, spirits, frozen and dried foods and tobacco products, plus greetings cards and covers. Other products incluse fibre based ready-made food packaging and specialist card for a range of applications and printing techniques. Since 2013 it has been powered entirely by biofuels including locally grown willow.

Parkend station on the Dean Forest Railway with Pannier 9681 passing through with the ballast hoppers.

Droylsden formed its own industrial Co-operative Society in December 1861, with 71 members and £104 4s 1d. The Society thrived and in 1876 it opened this large meeting hall above shop facilities. The architects were John Eaton & Son. In more recent imes it has been used as a nightclub but is currently empty.

Hudswell Clarke 1173 of 1924 - 0-6-0WT+T 'ALPHA' in action at the Statfold Barn Railway. The locomotive was restored to working order in 2016 by the team at Statfold Barn.