tarboat's photos with the keyword: ice

SY 0959 leads its train back into the pit at Jalainur opencast coal mine. An impervious layer of rock within one of the coal seam meant that water flows erupted from the face at this level and formed a row of ice waterfalls in the bitterly cold conditions.

On the last day of the recent freezing conditions and after five consecutive nights with the temperature -10 or less I was not surprised to find the waterfall in the local woods had frozen along with most of the river. This is fairly unusual for this part of Britain. Next morning saw a significant rise in temperature and this scene was gone.

It was worth the walk and a long wait in the cold for this one. Having seen the train being prepared at Yuzhou the chance of a shot of a deflectorless QJ was great opportunity on the Ruhe River bridge at Xiancheng as it took the coal towards Pingdingshan. The river was largely frozen but the heavily laden sand barges were slowly navigating the ice free channel. One of these is visible under the bridge.

It's astonishing what you find in the streets of a Chinese city in winter. This was on one of the main shopping thoroughfares in Harbin.

The coldest day I have ever experienced. SY 1601 was shunting the Jalainur washery in a temperature of -40C. The crew seemed strangely reluctant to leave the cab.

More winter entertainment for the masses on the Songhua River at Harbin. There were plenty of takers for the whipping top option when they had tired of hovercraft and sliding around on chairs.

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is an annual winter festival that takes place with a theme and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world. The 2017 theme is apparently "Ice Snow Joy Ode, Meet in Harbin", whatever that means. The ice section was an interesting selection of illuminated ice structures and made for an entertaining evening. Subtle it isn't and the event had an air of the circus about it. People were sliding down bits on little plastic sleds that were available to purchase. There was also a wide range of stalls selling food and souvenirs alongside the reindeer sleigh rides. I am glad we went but am not hankering to return. The snow sculptures at Sun Island were just as interesting and a lot less commercialised.

The Songhua River at Harbin becomes a plaything for both locals and visitors when it freezes over each winter. With a background of one of the railway bridges a mother and son slide across the ice on a sled comprising a couple of chairs attached to runners. These can be rented for a small fee from a number of entrepreneurs to be found trading on the ice.

Shunting at the Jalainur coal washery in temperatures around -40C. Grab the shots and don't hang around as the cameras soon stop working when it gets that low.

Over-successful cooling at the Enthoven lead recycling plant at South Darley. This is an interesting example of a manufacturing plant remaining long after the mine that supplied the raw materials has closed. On this site was Millclose Mine, once one of the largest lead mines in the world. Closed due to flooding in 1940 the site has continued to maintain links with lead production and is now the largest single site producer in Europe of recycled lead.

I walked the dogs along the canal towpath today but there were no boats moving as the cut was frozen over. The ice had been broken by a boat a day or so ago, but the channel was now well frozen.

We had been out to the Lishu system at Jixi and heading back towards town we decided to call in it Lijing Mine on the Hengshan system. Most of the work at Hengshan had been dieselised, but spoil tipping at this mine was still handled by steam. SY 0804 was loading at the bunkers as we arrived in rapidly failing light and soon headed off into the gloom pushing the tippers to the waste dump. Every time I visited this mine it was icy and windy and this day was no exception. It was a blessed relief to retreat to the relative warmth of our vehicle.

Christmas Day 2010 saw the Bollin frozen to the maximum extent for the winter. It was certainly a cold spell and I don't suppose we shall see anything like this for the next few years.

Seasons greetings to all my Flickr friends. I took the dogs for a walk along the Bollin this morning after a night when the temperature went down to -11. Much of the river was frozen over and with a mist rising from the surface in places it looked very picturesque. Jefferson found a place where there was some open water and went for a swim! He had icicles in his whiskers but soon dried off by running around very fast!

A lone worker keeps his hands in his pockets as he trudges home from the Jalainur washery in temperatures around -30C. The washery pilot meanwhile prepares another rake for loading. The use of spoil wagons behind the locomotive was to allow it to reach under the loading bunkers which were too low for it to go in itself.

Loaded coal train from Yuzhou crossing the river bridge at Xiancheng on the way towards Pingdingshan on a cold winter afternoon. I shall never forget the sound of the chime whistle as it approached the village crossings just beyond the bridge. The wait in the ice and snow was around two hours and I was getting very cold by the time the train arrived. At least I was able to amuse myself watching overloaded sand barges navigating the narrow ice-free channel on the river. One of these can be seen in the distance between the spans.

As requested by Eagle142. Somewhere under all that ice and snow is a lurcher. She didn't seem to be bothered at all. She is so well insulated that the ice stayed on until I took her indoors to melt all over the carpet. Photo courtesy of my niece Hannah.