Contributions of the group Old industry

Rope changing

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 13 May 2026 05:50:49 +0000

tarboat has posted:

The former shaft rope changing engine ex Agecroft No 4 pit now resides at the Lancashire Mining Museum at Astley Green. It was always run on compressed air at Agecroft.

Slag plant

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 11 May 2026 06:39:39 +0000

tarboat has posted:

Slag processing plant at Scunthorpe steelworks with the Four Queens blast furnaces in the background.

Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s. In 1918 the company purchased the Francis Flower business in the UK which included the GBSS processing plant at Scunthorpe steelworks.

Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) is produced by quenching molten iron slag from a blast furnace in water or steam, to produce a glassy, granular product that is then dried and ground into a fine powder. It replaces up to 70% of the Portland Cement in concrete, and can significantly reduce CO2-emissions. Francis Flower produced GGBS in Scunthorpe on the grounds of British Steel upgrading their blast furnace slag. LKAB is also a significant supplier of highly upgraded iron ore products to British Steel, the first deliveries were made in the 1930’s. Francis Flower was the second largest supplier of GGBS in the UK.

Old Halifax

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 09 May 2026 14:08:20 +0000

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This steep setted road links Old Lane with the Woodside area of Halifax. Used mainly for car parking these days the scene is dominated by the chimney of Crossley's former carpet mills at Dean Clough.

Tobacco warehouse

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Thu, 07 May 2026 10:57:05 +0000

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The Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse is a grade II listed building and is the world's largest brick warehouse, with a net floor area of 1.6 million square feet. It stands 125 feet high, and at the time of its construction in 1900-01, claimed to be the world's largest building in terms of area. The 14 storey building spans across 36 acres and its construction used 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel. The overall design was by A. G. Lyster, the Dock Engineer, but Arthur Berrington almost certainly played a part. The warehouse was a late addition to the Stanley Dock complex and was built on land reclaimed from the dock. It has now been converted to apartments with retail and commercial uses on the ground floor.

Mountsorrel

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 05 May 2026 04:47:38 +0000

tarboat has posted:

Primary stone processing buildings at the Lafarge (now Tarmac) granite quarry at Mountsorrel.

Weizigou shunt

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:46:09 +0000

tarboat has posted:

SY 1299 shunts at the Weizigou coal mine and washery on the Nanpiao Coal Railway.

Winding Enginehouse

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 03 May 2026 06:33:33 +0000

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The Florence ironstone mine near Egremont continued in use until 2008. It was the last working deep iron ore mine left in Western Europe and produced ore, products for the cosmetics industry and high quality haematite for jewellery. Production ended when BNFL ended the contract for the mine to supply water and the cost of pumping rendered the mine uneconomic.

Oil terminal

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:20:17 +0000

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The southernmost of the two berths at the Tranmere oil terminal on the Mersey. The tug Svitzer Amazonas is seen tied up here covering the contract to have at least one tug available on the river at all times.

Hardendale kilns

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 06:03:02 +0000

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Four Maerz PFR (parallel flow regenerative shaft kiln) limekilns at the Tata Steel operated Hardendale Quarry at Shap. A Maerz kiln can process up to 800 tons of burnt lime per day.

These kilns are currently mothballed whilst the Port Talbot steelworks is remodelled with electric arc melting technology.

Shap Beck

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:43:38 +0000

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The Shap Beck Quarry received a new plant in 1999 and since 2009 supplies around 650,000 tonnes of crushed kiln feed limestone from Shap Beck to Shap Fell processing plant nearby (Tata steel) and used in the large scale production of lime for steelmaking. The quarry also supplies around 300,000 to local and regional markets and has an on-site plant for making asphalt for road surfacing. There are 21 people employed directly and the quarry supports a further 30 jobs for drivers and contractors. The site extends to 118 hectares and is now operated by Heidelberg Materials

Asphalt

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 05:33:05 +0000

tarboat has posted:

A section of the asphalt plant at the Lafarge (now Tarmac) granite quarry at Mountsorrel.

Draw holes

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 06:04:26 +0000

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Draw holes inside one of the large derelict limekilns at Porth-y-Waen. The banks of kilns here burned limestone from the Llynclys quarry on the hillside above.

Coal power

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:16:48 +0000

tarboat has posted:

Cottam power station on load on a cold January day.

Upcast

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 06:44:07 +0000

tarboat has posted:

Upcast shaft headgear at the preserved Pleasley Colliery, Derbyshire.

Chlorine world

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:52:41 +0000

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Compressed chlorine storage at the INOVYN ChlorVinyls Limited Rocksavage chemical works. This plant mainly produces chlorine, caustic soda and chlorinated derivatives. I believe that these spheres are no longer used.

The signal was once used to control vessels using Weston Marsh Lock which links the Weaver Naviagation to the Manchester Ship Canal. The Weston Canal running across the image linked the Weaver to the docks at Weston Point and also the now derelict Runcorn and Weston Canal.

Coal power

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:36:12 +0000

tarboat has posted:

Coal fired generation hard at work at Fiddler's Ferry, seen from Wigg Island across the Mersey.

The old kilns

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 05:50:10 +0000

tarboat has posted:

The shaft limekilns at Tunstead quarry before recladding. Six of these eight kilns have been in use for around 90 years.

Gone

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 06:30:52 +0000

tarboat has posted:

The iconic Big Mill at Leek was part of the Wardle & Davenport Belle Vue Mills complex. It was built in 1857 and stood empty for over twenty years whilst plans to convert the building to apartments were discussed. On 27th March 2026 some idiot burned it down.

Church Farm Enginehouse

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:52:32 +0000

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The Church Farm Deep Pit worked two seams at depths of 215ft and 229ft. The pits stopped work in 1815 and it wasn't until 1875 that reopening was begun. A 50 inch Cornish pumping engine was installed in this house in 1880-81 and srained the colliery until it was finally abandoned in 1891. One of several extant enginehouses visited during the recent Early Engines Conference in Bristol.

Rusty gas

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 06:08:07 +0000

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The surviving gasholder at Great Yarmouth was built in 1884 to the design of the consulting engineer Robert P Spice of London for the Great Yarmouth Gas Company.

National Grid has a national programme agreed with OFGEM to bring redundant sites such as these back into use, but the Grade II Listed status of the Victorian gasholder and its condition requires a different approach. Following detailed technical assessments it was agreed that the tank at the bottom of the gasholder should be removed and the large visible frame should then be refurbished in-situ. Work was due to start at the end of 2025.