Derbyshire

Driven around 1750 the Goyt's Moss Sough drains the Yard seam under moorland at the head of the Goyt Valley.

The Hindlow Quarry buildings and plant cut a stark contrast to the greenery all around. In the centre is the bridge carrying the former Buxton to Ashbourne railway which now runs as far as Dowlow for stone traffic. Hindlow Station once stood to the right of the bridge.

Two men to run the kilns and blending of the cement at the Lafarge Hope works. This is the control room in the new administration block constructed when the old premises were demolished to make way for the railway improvements on site. The large centre screen shows both rotary kilns and details of feed, temperature etc. The middle screens left and right are showing the flame area within each kiln. The further man is controlling production whilst the man in the orange jacket deals with quality and blending.

Dump trucks at the Lafarge limestone quarry above the Hope cement works.

A took a trip on the Robin Hood line to Nottingham and this required a change of train at Worksop. Looking from the platform end towards Sheffield a Lincoln bound train can be seen approaching and the Nottingham line veers of to the left in the distance.

The ferrous alloys plant at Glossop was always controversial due to the emissions from the very tall chimney that dominated the town. The landforms around Glossop are such that even such a tall structure did not mean that fumes were dissipated quickly. Today the production of Ferromolybdenum is long finished and the plant is being demolished.

Having photographed the Buxton Spa Express as it passed Combs it was then a case of seeing whether I could get back to the car and traverse the single track road to Dove Holes in time for a second shot by the station. In the event it was a very close run thing. It took ages to climb the hill to the car and then at Dove Holes there was nowhere to park. The exhaust from the locomotive looked very close and I finally abandoned the car by the station bridge and dived into the crowd by the parapet. No time to think, just lens cap off and shoot! I suspect that the sunny side would have been too tight for a decent view so I am quite happy with the result here.

The annual Buxton Spa Express with Black 5 45407 in charge climbs past Combs on the ex LNWR line from Stockport to Buxton on a fine sunny day after overnight frost and fog.

Storage and rail loading hoppers plus other storage buildings at the Dowlow Quarry operated by Omya UK. The plant extracts and processes calcium carbonate to produce a range of fillers and extenders used in a variety of industrial applications. The large angular building to the right of centre brings to mind the wireframe graphic spaceships encountered in the BBC computer game Elite back in the 1980s.

A further stagger across the hillside in the dark gave this overview of the Lhoist quarry plant at Hindlow. The two tall structures to the right with chimneys sticking up above are the limekilns with the hydration plant slightly lower right.

As the light fades I set out onto the sheep-infested hillside for some night shots of the Lhoist operated Hindlow Quarry. The steam is from the hydration plant adjacent to the two limekilns. The lights in the left background are Tunstead Quarry and cement plant . Best viewed original size .

At the entrance to the Lafarge and Omya operated Dowlow Quarry stands a relic of the days when stone was moved from the face by rail.

A patch of light caught my eye whilst I was on the Derbyshire hills last night. Use of the 300mm zoom showed up the cement works at Tunstead quarry. Perhaps not my sharpest photograph but I was pleased with the result as it was taken from a hillside nearly 5 miles away.

Two limekilns and hydrating plant just to the right of centre of this view of the Lhoist Hindlow Quarry processing buildings.

Whilst wandering the mean streets of Glossop this yellow bus caught my eye as it set off on the school run for Speedwellbus Ltd of Hyde. Thanks to my good friend Renown I now know that it is a Dennis Dominator with East Lancs bodywork. Further research reveals that it was delivered new to London & Country in May 1989 and subsequently went to Thamesdown Transport (Swindon Corporation) before migrating north.

I don't often get angry, but to see the devastation that once was Cresswell Colliery really upset me. A fine example of a whole community thrown on the scrapheap for political ends. What was once one of the most productive collieries in the East Midlands is now a wasteland where even the underground cabling has been stripped out for scrap. The village institute, originally provided by the Bolsover Colliery Company, stands almost derelict and the sports fields appear to be under attack by bulldozers. Only the model village still stands after a massive investment of public money, but what future for the people who live there? I came away very depressed with a society that is prepared to throw people's lives away as they have been throughout the coalfields. The abandoned track of the former tub circuit leads to one of the shaft buildings which was retained after closure in 1991and used for ventilation and emergency winding for (I think) Welbeck colliery.

The former central Co-operative Society shop premises in Glossop. Nicely dated 1930 on the panels between first and second floors. I wonder what the large bronze fixtures mounted on the upper walls were for. I suppose they might have carried flagpoles?

We took a walk into the Derbyshire Dales this afternoon in glorious sunshine. On the higher ground above Elton stands this lonely barn with an accompaniment of crows.