The Springs

The Springs – Richard Broom Photography

The Big Fan

The Big Fan – Richard Broom Photography

The Bomber Cockpit

The Bomber Cockpit – Richard Broom Photography

The Fixer

The Fixer – Richard Broom Photography

The Suck, Squeeze, Bang and Blow…

Join me for my rather warped idea of what it would sound like if you were sitting in the middle of an internal combustion engine. Best with headphones on….

All done on my Machine Mikro.

The Suck, Squeeze, Bang and Blow
The Suck, Squeeze, Bang and Blow…

The Gear

The Gear – Richard Broom Photography

The Engineer

The Engineer – Richard Broom Photography

The Engine

The Engine – Richard Broom Photography

The Engineer

The Engineer – Richard Broom Photography

The Smallest Trawler on the Slip…

Compared to most, this trawler is one of the smallest I have seen on the slipway at Macduff Harbour.

The Smallest Trawler on the Slip – Richard Broom Photography

The Engineer

The Engineer – Richard Broom Photography

The Monkey Island

Monkey Island: According to this theory, some people believe that as the monkey island was located at the top of the main mast of sailing ships, sailors had to scramble up the ship’s rigging to free or repair the sails and rigging or to keep a lookout for icebergs , reefs, or land. Because the sailors had to climb as the monkeys do, this topmost place was termed as Monkey Island.

The Monkey Island – Richard Broom Photography

The Cypher Machine

A WW2 Enigma Machine used for encoding and decoding secret messages…

The Cypher Machine – Richard Broom Photography

The Pulley and Hook

The Pulley and Hook – Richard Broom Photography

The Plucky Little Tug

The Plucky Little Tug – Richard Broom Photography

The Clean Bottom

You can’t beat having your bottom scraped…

The Clean Bottom – Richard Broom Photography

The boat on the slip…

The boat on the slip – Richard Broom Photography

The Ocean Reaper

The Ocean Reaper – Richard Broom Photography

The Roller Boys

The Roller Boys – Richard Broom Photography

The Voe Jarl Returns

The Voe Jarl is back in the harbour at Macduff

The Voe Jarl Returns – Richard Broom Photography

The Crane Engineer

The Crane Engineer – Richard Broom Photography

The Boat on the Slip

The Boat on the Slip – Richard Broom Photography

The Other Screw

The Other Screw – Richard Broom Photography

The Screw

The Screw – Richard Broom Photography

The Rois Mhairi

The Rois Mhairi – Richard Broom Photography

The C-Fenna

A cross between a barge, a tug and a dive-support vessel. The C-Fenna is currently helping to connect offshore wind turbine cables to a shore station close to Banff, Scotland. The wind turbine are way out there in the Moray Firth.

The C-Fenna – Richard Broom Photography

The Freshly Painted Bottom

You just can’t beat having a new coat of paint on your bottom…

The Freshly Painted Bottom – Richard Broom Photography

The Slip is Open!

The Slipway at Macduff is open again…

The Slip is Open! – Richard Broom Photography

The Engine Starter

The Action End…

The action end of a modern trawler…

The Action End – Richard Broom Photography

The Tiny Boat

The Tiny Boat – Richard Broom Photography

The Voe Jarl at dawn this morning

The Voe Jarl at dawn this morning – Richard Broom Photography

The Happy Crewman

The Happy Crewman – Richard Broom Photography

The Harbour

All quiet and peaceful at MacDuff…

The Harbour – Richard Broom Photography

The Other Rusty Gizmo

The Other Rusty Gizmo – Richard Broom Photography

The Rusty Gizmo

I have no idea what it is but it has seen better days (a bit like me really!)

The Rusty Gizmo – Richard Broom Photography

The Hole Series (6) – the new and not yet installed deadlight…

(AKA a port hole)

The Hole Series (6) – the new and not yet installed deadlight – Richard Broom Photography

The New Starboard Winch

The New Starboard Winch – Richard Broom Photography

The High Rollers

The High Rollers – Richard Broom Photography

The Rock-Hoppers

In case you are wondering, these ‘wheels’ stop a fishing boat’s trawl net getting caught on rocks on the sea bed.

The Rock-Hoppers – Richard Broom Photography

The Lifting Tackle

The Lifting Tackle – Richard Broom Photography

The Chains

The Chains – Richard Broom Photography

The Crane Operator

Cranes, these days, controlled from a radio-control box. Clever stuff!

The Crane Operator – Richard Broom Photography

The Rusty Crank

Don’t forget to lubricate your parts…

The Rusty Crank – Richard Broom Photography

The Missing Wheels

After this posting, there was some debate about where the front wheels for this crane truck were. This image solves the mystery. The front wheels are set back and, in front of the front wheel assembly, there are the extendable jacks which keep the truck from tipping over when the crane part of the truck is lifting heavy weights.

The Missing Wheels – Richard Broom Photography

The Low Rollers

I’m sure they’re used for something…

The Low Rollers – Richard Broom Photography

The Bollard

We all need something to stop us drifting away…

The Bollard – Richard Broom Photography

The Alongsiders

The Alongsiders – Richard Broom Photography

The Painters and Decorators

The Painters and Decorators – Richard Broom Photography

The Wheel

A wheel that carries a considerable amount of weight.

The Wheel – Richard Broom Photography

The ‘not quite the ticket image…’

Do you ever take a photograph which is terrible, breaks all the rules, and yet you still like it? Here’s an image, shot into sun, badly composed, loads of lens flare, cluttered, lots of grain and probably not entirely in focus but, who cares. There’s no such thing as a bad image!! Maybe this will be the moneymaker!

The ‘not quite the ticket image…’ – Richard Broom Photography

The Not So Mobile Telephone

I can’t remember the last time I used one of these (and this one looks as though it hasn’t been used in a while…)

The Not So Mobile Telephone – Richard Broom Photography

The Charisma

The Charisma – Richard Broom Photography

The Slip

Please see last post

The Slip – Richard Broom Photography

The Shed on Legs and Wheels

Doesn’t everyone want a mobile shed? This shed is high above the slipway (next post) at MacDuff Harbour and it is where the chap who controls the winches stands when the pull a boat up the slipway.

Please see the next post

The Shed on Legs and Wheels – Richard Broom Photography

The Ocean Bounty

The Ocean Bounty – Richard Broom Photography

The trawler at rest…

The trawler at rest – Richard Broom Photography

The Simple Things (2: electricity distribution).

Electricity…we really do take it for granted these days but, distributing electricity to all parts is a complex business…

The Simple Things (2: electricity distribution). – Richard Broom Photography

The Cherry-Picker Panel

Every home should have one!

The Cherry-Picker Panel – Richard Broom Photography

The Pipework

In today’s plastic and electronic world, we often seem to lose sight of how important engineering skills are to us. And, we especially lose sight of how important solid engineering training is. We certainly don’t always seem to make things like we used to. Perhaps it is because our politicians mostly read PPE at Oxford or are former lawyers. They wouldn’t know a spanner if it hit them on the head! That leads me to ask the question…what exactly are our politicians good for? Answer (as in the song): ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

The Pipework – Richard Broom Photography

The Radiator Grille

The radiator grille must have been inspired by honeycomb made by bees?

The Radiator Grille – Richard Broom Photography

The Piston Broke

The Piston Broke – Richard Broom Photography

Le Robuste 40

Le Robuste 40 – Richard Broom Photography

The Inner Harbour

The Inner Harbour – Richard Broom Photography

The Crystal Sea

See a larger version of the image here.

The Crystal Sea – Richard Broom Photography

The MacDuff Harbour Slip at Night

The MacDuff Slip at Night – Richard Broom Photography

The Inner Harbour, MacDuff

The Inner Harbour, MacDuff – Richard Broom Photography

The Doors (or Otter Boards)

These great big lumps of metal are towed behind trawlers. Their aquadynamic shape help to keep the ‘mouth’ of the trawl net open (a bit like wings flying through the water) and the hapless fish are caught in the net, never to escape.

The Doors (or Otter Boards) – Richard Broom Photography
Old fashioned otter boards (image courtesy Wikipedia)

The Bulbous Forefoot

The Bulbous Forefoot or, Bulbous Bow, greatly increases fuel efficiency and the fins help with stability. More about this technology (an American invention) here. The ‘snoot’ shown below belongs to a trawler but most ships are built with bulbous bows these days.

The Bulbous Forefoot – Richard Broom Photography

The Stairway

The Stairway – Richard Broom Photography

The Slip

The Slip – Richard Broom Photography

The Boat on the Slip (4)

The Boat on the Slip (4) – Richard Broom Photography

The Boat on the Slip (3)

The Boat on the Slip (3) – Richard Broom Photography

The Boat on the Slip (1)

A boat on the slip at MacDuff Harbour

The Boat on the Slip (1) MacDuff Harbour – Richard Broom Photography

The Lilly Oak on the slip…

The fishing vessel Lilly Oak sits on her cradle on the slip at MacDuff Harbour, Scotland. The slip is a long sloping concrete ramp (image coming soon) used to haul boats out of the water for repair and repainting. The cradle that supports the ships runs on railway lines on the slip.

See a larger version of this image here.

The Lilly Oak on the slip – Richard Broom Photography

The Jaguar

The Jaguar – Richard Broom Photography

The Ocean Way (rest and repair).

The Ocean Way (rest and repair) – Richard Broom Photography

The meaning of ‘GR’

If you visit the United Kingdom and see a post box (like the one below) with ‘GR’ on the front, this means that the postbox was installed during the reign of King George V (1910-1936). In those days we British folk used to build thing that would last for a long time. The ‘G’ stands for George of course and the ‘R’ stands for Rex (Latin for King).

The post box below is still very much in service and it is located near to Banff High Street and long may it remain there. Let’s hope this post box and many other things can survive the complete pillock who is currently living at No 10 Downing Street.

The Ticking Clock…

They just don’t make ’em like they used to…

The Ticking Clock – Richard Broom Photography

The Man in the Tunnel

The Man in the Tunnel – Richard Broom Photography

The Harrison Clocks

Without John Harrison’s clocks we would have been, quite literally, lost at sea. Nobody could underestimate the importance and brilliance of John Harrison’s clocks (or marine chronometers as we know them these days).

I satisfied a long-held ambition this morning when I went to see John Harrison’s beautifully made (and priceless) clocks at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. All the clocks Harrison designed and built are still working just fine……ticking away happily in glass display cages in a quiet corner of the observatory.

And, John Harrison (1693 – 1776) was a son of Lincolnshire. So am I but I have yet to knock out a clock or two!

The Harrison Clocks – Richard Broom Photography

The Engineer

The Engineer – Richard Broom Photography

The Squirter

The Squirter – Richard Broom Photography

The Hunk

The Hunk – Richard Broom Photography

The Streetcar

Amsterdam public transport – second to none! I just love riding on the trams.

The Streetcar – Richard Broom Photography

The Steam Traction Engine

The Steam Traction Engine – Richard Broom Photography

The First Engine

The First Engine – Richard Broom Photography

The T1154 and R1155

The T1154 transmitter and the R1155 receiver were the first radios I used to transmit and receive signals (in my teens in the 1960s). These transmitters and receivers were used in Royal Air Force heavy bombers and other aircraft during World War 2. These transmitters and receivers used Morse code and the morse code signal used to ‘chirp’ (sounded a bit like a demented bird on drugs!). Some ‘chirping’ Morse code here.

Transmitter (top), receiver (bottom) – Richard Broom Photography
Courtesy Wikipedia and the Imperial War Museum

The time before computers…

There was a time when aircraft flew without the aid of computers….

The time before computers…..

The Lamp

The Lamp

The Engineer

The Engineer

The Metal Monster

The Metal Monster

The Welder (3)

The Welder (3)

The Chain

The Chain

The Boat Builder

The Boat Builder

The Welder (1)

The Welder

The Inspector

The Inspector

The Canals

The drainage canals – where else but the Netherlands…

The Canals

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