cctransuk Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Well - thanks to RMweb I was made aware of the recent slide / negative scanner offer at Lidl, and at £24.99 I availed my self of this excellent device. I've had two other means of scanning slides for some years, but the time-consuming process of loading up four slides at a time, and the slow rate of scanning, meant that only a token start was made on scanning my slides. The Lidl scanner may not be quite up to the standard of my previous scanners, but it scans a stack of twenty-five or so slides at one go, and does it quickly and efficiently. Given that many of the slides were taken on cheapo film anyway, I'm quite happy with the results that digitisation has produced. I'm no photographer, and my photos were simply snaps taken when the opportunity arose - usually as a tolerated adjunct to family holidays !! (That's not to say the holiday venues weren't carefully, but discretely, chosen) !! Anyway, the first set of slides were taken during a holiday on the Portuguese Algarve in June 1977. I managed to persuade the family that a couple of days over the border in Spain would be a pleasant diversion. I probably mentioned that there might be some railway interest in the area - but only in passing! First, CP 1217 waits to leave Lagos on 13/06/77 with an Algarve coast local. Now, on 16/06/77, across the border and into Spain, we find No.7 Corrales of the Tharsis Railway, (the Directors' Train 'pet'), being pulled out of the workshops to be photographed. The Tharsis Railway belonged to a mineral mining company with Glasgow origins - hence the 4'- 0'' gauge; (shades of the Glasgow Underground). Regards, and more tomorrow, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 The Tharsis Railway photos in yesterday's post were taken at Tharsis within the railway's engineering headquarters; as were those below. For those wanting to understand the context of the Tharsis and other mineral railways in the Huelva area, http://www.infoayamonte.com/index.php/the-snug/snug-articles/249-huelva-s-vanished-railways gives a basic grounding and Google will find much interesting material related to Huelva, Tharsis, La Zarza and Rio Tinto. The resident chief mechanical engineer was, in 1977, an expatriate Englishman who had previously had experience on South American railways. My request for a photographic visit was readily granted, and I was made very welcome wherever I went on the system. More images of No.7 CORRALES; the tender was, I believe a recent fabrication on an old chassis, to enable No.7 to pull the directors' coach the full length of the line. As the line had been dieselised for some time, watering facilites were probably few and far between. The director's coach probably dated from the days when the line carried passengers; it was certainly maintained in good condition. A couple of Ruston Hornsby four-wheeled shunters had been used to pull the directors' train out of the loco shed for photography. The British influence is clearly evident in the style of the original rolling stock; short wheelebase four-wheeled vehicles, and even double-ended guard's vans of unmistakeably UK inspiration. Note the modern bogie tipplers behind wagon No.19, and the extremely crude through vacuum piping that has been added to the permanent way wagon No.7 and the adjacent van. Other locos on site were further evidence of the British connection; a Ruston Hornsby four-wheeled shunter No.65 and a heavier 0-6-0 trip loco No.60 LA ZARZA by, I believe, North British. The original 0-4-0T No.1 ODIEL (Dubs 231/1867) was also present, albeit stored out of use. Finally for today, some under-exposed views inside the main workshops; most work at that time seemed to be connected with the heavy maintenance of excavating plant. Regards, and more tomorrow, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Some links to images of the area in question :- La Zarza - https://www.flickr.com/photos/16809752@N05/12466841015/in/pool-mines Tharsis - https://uoginternationalstory.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/students-of-the-nineteenth-century-metallurgy-and-mining-economy-in-spain/ugd_57_11_5_tharsis-railway-station/ http://wealden.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/8/3/1683933/9335294_orig.jpg?453x306 http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-113211571/stock-photo-abandoned-facilities-freight-cars-old-trains-wagon-in-mines-tharsis-former-mine-in-spain.html?src=&ws=1 http://wealden.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/8/3/1683933/1513713_orig.jpg?464x314 Rio Tinto - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rio+tinto+railway+spain&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=bvzlVIDfLsz5aN23gJgG&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAw&biw=1536&bih=730 Regards, and more tomorrow,John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 More photos from Tharsis, this time of the operational motive power and rolling stock. The weather continued in its gloomy mood, hence the poor photos. Tharsis station - though passenger trains had long been withdrawn. On the way down from Tharsis to the coast, we were stopped at a broad gauge RENFE level crossing, manned by a very friendly crossing keeper. That's it for today. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 These are interesting photos, John. I hope you won't mind me suggesting that a little post-scanning may bring out more of the detail which I'm sure is there (as on your UK Prototype thread). These little scanners are great for being able to scan a batch of slides or negatives quickly, but the settings are fixed and some remedial work may be necessary for best results. Though the Tharsis system closed in 1999, many of the locomotives (and some rolling stock) is displayed in and around Tharsis on roadside plinths (Tharsis, Alajarque, Corrales - you can spot them on Google Streetview), as well as inside and outside the mining museum at Tharsis. I think some of the Alsthom diesels remain in the shed/workshops in Tharsis. Three North British 0-6-0Ts were sold for scrap to Industrias Lopez Soriano in Zaragoza many years ago (late seventies/early eighties), which as far as I know, are still there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 These are interesting photos, John. I hope you won't mind me suggesting that a little post-scanning may bring out more of the detail which I'm sure is there (as on your UK Prototype thread). These little scanners are great for being able to scan a batch of slides or negatives quickly, but the settings are fixed and some remedial work may be necessary for best results. Though the Tharsis system closed in 1999, many of the locomotives (and some rolling stock) is displayed in and around Tharsis on roadside plinths (Tharsis, Alajarque, Corrales - you can spot them on Google Streetview), as well as inside and outside the mining museum at Tharsis. I think some of the Alsthom diesels remain in the shed/workshops in Tharsis. Three North British 0-6-0Ts were sold for scrap to Industrias Lopez Soriano in Zaragoza many years ago (late seventies/early eighties), which as far as I know, are still there. Eddie, I do a bit of post-scanning tweaking via Corel Photopaint and ArcSoft MediaImpression, but I'm not really very skilled in that area - most of my attempts end up looking washed-out if I'm not careful! I've had a look at Google Earth and it would seem that the Tharsis Railway track is still extant on the upper half of the line from Tharsis down towards the coast. I have also been comparing my photos with the same views on Streetlevel, where coverage exists; I think that our visit was only just in time. Regards, John. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 The only sight of the Rio Tinto Railway that we managed - dead straight empty track running towards Huelva, parallel to a broad gauge electrified line. Back on the Tharsis Railway at Corrales shed we found quite a bit of stored stock - note the bogie brakevan, though not quite up to SR Queen Mary standards! We came across these apparently broad gauge open container wagons; not sure what their purpose had been. Having left Corrales, we met an up with an empty mineral train, hauled by an outside framed Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 diesel. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Fascinating pics John, thanks! Whereabouts was this system, please? I used to travel a fair bit (with my folks) pretty much all along the Spanish coast between Algeciras (?) and through to Faro (Portugal!) through the seventies to the early eighties, I was a 100% train nut even then but I don't remember anything other than broad gauge RENFE. Thanks, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Fascinating pics John, thanks! Whereabouts was this system, please? I used to travel a fair bit (with my folks) pretty much all along the Spanish coast between Algeciras (?) and through to Faro (Portugal!) through the seventies to the early eighties, I was a 100% train nut even then but I don't remember anything other than broad gauge RENFE. Thanks, John E. John, Huelva was the shipping port. Google on Tharsis Railway Spain and Rio Tinto Railway Spain for quite a bit of background information. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Next day, before we returned to Portugal, we called in at Huelva RENFE station, to find an interesting group comprising German railbuses, an Italian railcar and a very American-looking locomotive !! Having crossed the Guardiana by a somewhat primitive car ferry; (we drove the car on and off via a couple of planks and the ferry was just wide enough for one small car) .... .... we drove back into the Algarve and on to Faro station. All in all, a fascinating couple of days, for which I will always be grateful to my long-suffering family. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 I have posted extensive coverage of my 1981 Douro Valley metre gauge steam expedition in post 16 at :- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/96411-mostly-european-railways-in-the-1960s-70s-80s-retitled/ Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 June 1983 Algarve Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted April 4, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 4, 2015 Very interesting photos. I had not known of the Tharsis railway at all. That Fiat railcar very much a clone of a Renault. I really must get a slide scanner and get mine (mostly 1975-1980) digital. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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