Better in black and white

One of the few photography blogs I do look at is Better in black and white published by Jeff Damron which features some really nice black and white photos .Jeff does not post that often but when he does his photos are very accomplished .Recently he has been featuring photos of the declining coal industry and infrastructure in his environs.I believe that he should be looking to do a book on the subject as the photos are very engaging.Jeff's strength is not actually black or white but all the grey tones in between which he captures so well .
Certainly viewing his photos has encouraged me to do a few more of my digital photos in black and white ( as well as the B&W photos I am taking with my Hasselblad) .Jeff does a very nice job of converting his landscapes to black and white from RAW files.I used Lightroom 4 but I need to find his secrets.
As I have said previously in the blog I have an enthusiasm for machinery so here are a couple of black and white machinery photos from my recent trip to Germany -- the vintage clock mechanism in Freiburg Munster and a section of a Pratt and Whitney radial engine from a Lockheed Constellation from the Deutsche Museum in Munich.Both Leica X1 shots.
And finally to complete the set a film black and white photo of an Aston Martin ( well a Lola Aston Martin ) at speed at Spa in a round of the WSCC at Spa in 1989. Taken on a Leica M6 with a 90mm lens.