On the northern edge of my town there's an industrial complex dedicated to making paper since the 40's. While there are modern facilites still running, the original factory lays derelict. Internet says it opened in 1941 and closed in 1983. In 1986, an investment group from Kuwait re-opened the factory but closed again in the mid-90's. Not much to see in terms of machinery, but it's also not ultra-vandalised, just and old, dismantled, but still beautiful factory. Here's how it looks from above:
We explored the site on a hot June morning, I have a few local pins to check out during the summer, this one turned out to be nicer than expected!
Access was right in the middle of an active road, with houses nearby, but we didn't seem to bother anybody... in we go!
First sight upon entering. I'm no expert in the paper-making process but I know they must use lots of tanks with different mixtures of stuff.
My mate in the picture for scale. As we then progressed through the place, we realised this must've been the oldest part, still with wooden stairs and structures.
We then got to the main 'hall'. It was a loooong building where I guess the main paper-rolling machinery must've been?
Some original features: the fire extinguisher holder and a control sheet for the pulping machine, dated 1980.
Walking the lenght of this main hall, we come across some side rooms, this one with some nicely tiled tanks.
The generator room itself was super trashed, so just some arsty details of pipes & signage.
This next room was pitch black, but packed with wooden crates. At this point some of you might have noticed that I've ditched the auto mode on the camera
and have started experimenting. I'm still not great and there's some blurry pics, but I'm happier having gone full-manual. Bye bye flash!
It was a little hidden, but we found the archive room! Didn't spend too much time there as it was moldy and damp, but it was packed with 4 rows like this one,
plus a myriad of other documents strewn on the floor. Makes me think about the useleness of paperwork that everytime we go to an abandoned factory,
old files are usually there... good for us explorers, but shouldn't they have been destroyed? We could've spent hours there had we brought a mask.
And to finish it up, a workshop space in the upper floor where a bird made its home inside an electrical box.
Oh, and the chimney!
Felt good to be surprised by a local place 10 minutes from home! Until next one!
We explored the site on a hot June morning, I have a few local pins to check out during the summer, this one turned out to be nicer than expected!
Access was right in the middle of an active road, with houses nearby, but we didn't seem to bother anybody... in we go!
First sight upon entering. I'm no expert in the paper-making process but I know they must use lots of tanks with different mixtures of stuff.
My mate in the picture for scale. As we then progressed through the place, we realised this must've been the oldest part, still with wooden stairs and structures.
We then got to the main 'hall'. It was a loooong building where I guess the main paper-rolling machinery must've been?
Some original features: the fire extinguisher holder and a control sheet for the pulping machine, dated 1980.
Walking the lenght of this main hall, we come across some side rooms, this one with some nicely tiled tanks.
The generator room itself was super trashed, so just some arsty details of pipes & signage.
This next room was pitch black, but packed with wooden crates. At this point some of you might have noticed that I've ditched the auto mode on the camera
and have started experimenting. I'm still not great and there's some blurry pics, but I'm happier having gone full-manual. Bye bye flash!
It was a little hidden, but we found the archive room! Didn't spend too much time there as it was moldy and damp, but it was packed with 4 rows like this one,
plus a myriad of other documents strewn on the floor. Makes me think about the useleness of paperwork that everytime we go to an abandoned factory,
old files are usually there... good for us explorers, but shouldn't they have been destroyed? We could've spent hours there had we brought a mask.
And to finish it up, a workshop space in the upper floor where a bird made its home inside an electrical box.
Oh, and the chimney!
Felt good to be surprised by a local place 10 minutes from home! Until next one!
