Monochrome Monday… Pit Wheel

Pit Wheel, February 2018Pit Wheel, February 2018.
Canon Sure Shot Sleek, – Kentmere 400

A pit (colliery) wheel memorial at the gates of the Midland Railway-Butterley site at Swanwick Junction displayed ‘in remembrance of the miners of the highedge district who gave of their lives in local pits and those of their comrades who for nine hundred years worked in darkness and danger to help turn the wheels of industry.’

Another shot from my first roll of Kentmere 400 film, one of three that was a Christmas present from my wife, the Canon Sure Shot Sleek was yet another charity shop find.

Scan by AgLab with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Monochrome Monday… Trent Lock

Barges on the Cranfleet Canal, February 2018Barges on the Cranfleet Canal, February 2018
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 35mm f/2 – 1/125s, f8, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

Trent Lock is a major canal navigation junction on the borders of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, south of Long Eaton. Here the 11½ mile Erewash Canal from Langle Mill and the River Soar meet the River Trent. The Cranfleet Canal (or ‘Cut’) allows boats to access the Trent heading downstream/east (avoiding a weir) and boats heading upstream/west soon arrive at the beginning of the Trent & Mersey Canal at Derwent Mouth, the point at which the River Derwent flows into the Trent.

Trinity, Erewash Canal, February 2018Trinity, Erewash Canal, February 2018
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 35mm f/2 – 1/125s, f8, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

The area is still home to a couple of boatyards and a dry dock facility is available on the Erewash Canal immediately north of lock no.60 (the last lock before the River Trent). Visitors can also enjoy the Lock House Tea Rooms and the Trent Lock and Steamboat Inn public houses… (the food and beer in the latter being particularly good!)

Erewash Canal, February 2018Erewash Canal, February 2018
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 35mm f/2 – 1/125s, f8, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

Scans by AgLab with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Monochrome Monday… Turntable

Turntable, February 2018Turntable, February 2018
Pentax MZ-30 + 35-80mm f/4~5.6 FA at 35mm – 1/180s, f8, – Kodak T400CN

Another shot from the Midland Railway-Butterley in Derbyshire, this time taken on my last roll of the much missed Kodak T400CN film.

The turntable was used to turn steam locomotives at Chinley railway station (also in Derbyshire) and is a 60ft diameter, hand-operated type built by the Midland Railway. It was dismantled in 1973 and stored for a number of years before arriving at the MR-B’s Swanwick Junction site in 1981. Sadly, 37 years later it is still awaiting reconstruction…

Scan by AgLab with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Monochrome Monday… Tin Tabernacle, February 2018

Tin Tabernacle, February 2018Tin Tabernacle, February 2018
Canon Sure Shot Sleek, – Kentmere 400

A shot from my first roll of Kentmere 400 film, one of three that was a Christmas present from my wife, the Canon Sure Shot Sleek was yet another charity shop find.

St Saviour’s Church dates from 1898 and was originally built with support from the Midland Railway in Westhouses, Derbyshire, a village that grew up around the company’s locomotive shed there.

Now relocated to Swanwick Junction station at the Midland Railway-Butterley in Derbyshire, the ‘Tin Tabernacle’ is now used for various events including the occasional wedding blessing.

Scan by AgLab with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Single frame… Leawood Pumphouse

Leawood Pumphouse, January 2018Leawood Pumphouse, January 2018
Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon XF 18-135mm f3.5~5.6 R LM OIS WR at 24mm, 1/105s, f8, ISO 400

Leawood Pumphouse was built in 1849 to supply water to the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire. A Watt-type beam engine draws water from the River Derwent through a 150 yard tunnel to a reservoir in the basement and then up 30 feet and into the canal.

The pump’s piston has a diameter of 50 inches, a stroke of 10 feet and works at seven strokes per minute and is capable of moving 39,000 tons of water in 24 hours! The immense size of the pump is due to the fact that there were restrictions on removing water from the river, doing so was only allowed between 8pm on Saturdays and 8pm on Sundays.

The pump house closed along with the canal in 1944 but it was restored in 1979 and is regularly steamed.

Monochrome Monday… The old Post Office, Ilkeston

The old Post Office, Ilkeston.The old Post Office, Ilkeston
Minolta Dynax 505si Super, Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 – 1/45s, f4, – Ilford FP4+ rated at ISO 200

I have a fondness for what are known as ‘Ghost’ signs… that is to say old painted, carved or tiled signs advertising long defunct businesses and I photograph them whenever possible.

Hogarths Gin Palace now occupies the building that this particular sign adorns, while the Post Office resides in a tiny, nondescript location closer to the centre of town.

This is an image from the roll of film I shot for January’s Emulsive FP4 Party.

Scan by AgLab with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.