IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Chiltons Avenue, BILLINGHAM, TS23 1JD

A basketball/football court on Roscoe Road. A number of these have been put up around Stockton, usually with a striking colour scheme.

Methanol Plant: see Image] etc.

One of a number taken of the vast ICI Works at Billingham, perhaps the largest in the world. It was a Sunday and I drove all the way round the edge of the Works, "very impressed by its vastness and the mysterious, powerful pulsating and hissing of the great chemical complex". See also Image] etc. [I did not record precise locations and I leave it to others more familiar with the Works to offer descriptions]. [??].

A view of the Billingham ICI plant in early 1980s from the back of nearby houses (Grange Avenue, Billingham). The ivy covered Administration office of the plant can be seen below and to the left of the cooling tower. These houses were local council owned properties at the time that the photo was taken.

ICI built a coal to petrol plant at Billingham (known as the Oil Works) in 1935 and this was of great use during WWII. In the post war era it was adapted to produce more mundane chemicals such as detergents and plasticisers. It was decommissioned in the early 1990s and demolished. This building originally contained a row of ten Belliss & Morcom compound steam engines (nearest the camera) direct coupled to Belliss and Morcom gas circulators (in the background)). These were good for up to 685 bhp each. They circulated either hydrogen or a CO/hydrogen mix at 260 bar. When visited, eight were intact, one was scrapped and one was being rebuilt from the bedplate up (never finished). Obviously, permission was needed to enter this plant and photography was another layer of difficulty as no batteries were allowed on site (even wrist watches were checked in to an office away from the plant). The pictures were therefore taken on guessed and bracketed exposures with an SLR that had some mechanical shutter speeds (B was mechanical). This has been scanned, converted to monochrome and manipulated to make it acceptable. One of these engines and two others from the plant were removed to Markham Grange Steam Museum for possible preservation but were ultimately scrapped.

ICI built a coal to petrol plant at Billingham (known as the Oil Works) in 1935 and this was of great use during WWII. In the post war era it was adapted to produce more mundane chemicals such as detergents and plasticisers. It was decommissioned in the early 1990s and demolished. This shows the hydrogen compressor. Nearest the camera is an Ashworth and Parker inverted vertical compound (enclosed) steam engine that was direct coupled to a multiple cylinder compressor beyond its flywheel. As seen here the engine was receiving some maintenance and the governor case was open and the cylinders off. The white horizontal cylinder in the foreground is the oil cooler. The red linkage was the emergency stop. The engine was built in 1955 as No. 2110 with cylinders 15" & 24" x 10". It was rated at 525 bhp maximum with a speed range of 80-340 revolutions per minute. It was later removed to Markham Grange steam Museum for possible preservation but was ultimately scrapped.