IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Regent Road, LIVERPOOL, L3 0BF

The former Sandon River Entrance is to the left of the picture. Seen from the promenade south of the ferry terminal, at Seacombe. The tidal marker is in the foreground.

From Egremont Promenade on the Wirral. Both docks opened in the 1850s, but have been rebuilt to varying degrees. They are still in use today.

On board the tug/tender Daniel Adamson Image This is the starboard engine by J Jones & Sons, Liverpool. It is 14" & 30" x 20" and good for 291.5 ihp at 150 rpm. This is looking aft and to starboard with the high pressure cylinder forward. The engine is part dismantled for an extensive refurbishment. The frames and crosshead slippers are prominent with the cylinders at the top of the frame. The bracket bottom left is for the Brown Bros reversing engine and this actuates the weighshaft at the top. The columns against the hull (furthest from the camera) incorporate the newly rebuilt surface condenser. The crankshaft and valvegear are absent.

This is a very unusual view (I've waited over 30 years to take this picture) of the inside of the Scotch boiler seen here Image The majority of the small fire tubes are out, allowing this view through the front tubeplate. Each small hole (including the one I'm shooting through) should contain a fire tube as represented by the three that are left in situ. At the bottom you can see the three corrugated furnace tubes that would have the grates inside them. At the rear are the combustion chambers that are stayed together and to the shell (not visible). The tubes carry the gases forward from the combustion chambers to the funnel uptake. The tubes are mechanically expanded into the tubeplates.

On the left is Dar Mlodziezy (built 1982), a steel full-rigged ship from Poland. On the right, Statsraad Lehmkuhl (built 1914), a three-masted steel barque from Norway. Behind the ships is United Utilities waste water treatment plant.

This vessel was built in 1903 as the Ralph Brocklebank as a steam tug and passenger tender. Later becoming the Daniel Adamson and acting also as the directors' inspection launch for the Manchester Ship Canal. Retired in the 1980s she was on display at the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port Image but by 2004 was derelict and about to be scrapped. Fortunately she was saved by dedicated enthusiasts and is now being restored to planned steam operation. This is hoped to be in 2012, Lottery funding willing.

This is the vessel's third boiler, built in 1953 by Kincaid in Scotland. The internal diameter is 13' 6" and there are three coal burning furnaces 194 tubes. Working pressure was 120 psi and hopefully will be again when restoration is finished. The tube opening would normal be obscured by the uptake assembly that sits between the front of the boiler and the funnel. The majority of the tubes were out when I took this and it was possible to see the internal arrangement.

This is part of the United Utilities Waste Water Treatment Plant. Immediately in front of the photographer are a pair of enclosures for Jenbacher gas engines that are using methane produced by the digestion of sewage. There is a gas holder to the left. This is a 'green process' as the electricity generated is used on site and there is the potential to export any excess to the grid (usually - although I don't know the specifics for this plant). This was seen on a Heritage Open Day visit to the steam tug Daniel Adamson.

Visited as part of Heritage Open Days 2010. On the dock wall is one of the four wind turbines constituting the Port of Liverpool windfarm that is owned by Peel Energy. This is a Nordex N90 turbine producing 2.5 MW. The turbines are 125 m to the tip of the blades. The farm was commissioned in 2009. In the background it is possible to make out the tug-tender Daniel Adamson undergoing restoration whilst in the foreground the preserved steam tug Kerne awaits its next outing. It is a pity that her owners had not considered including it in Heritage Open Days. Public access to the docks is a rare treat.

The blue bridge crosses the channel to Huskisson Dock and was in the open position. The sheds are in Huskisson Dock. A blade on a wind turbine is seen top left. The vessel is Scan Scarab registered in Fleetwood and is a salvage vessel built by Charles D Holmes in Beverley in 1971. I do not know what its current status is.