Driving back from a walk in the Peak District, Google maps took me past a little military-style building surrounded by Heras.
The grassy hillocks behind seemed familiar - looking it up this was an aviation fuel depot, and there are several reports on here from between 2007 and 2014.
paulpowers https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/telytubbies-fuel-depot-twemlow-cheshire-may-2014.89419/
stopford_lad https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-sep-13.84054/
paulpowers https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-june-2012.72270/
oldskool https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-macclesfield-01-2011.56595/
tigger https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/psd-goostrey-aviation-fuel-depot-photo-heavy.117799/
romanian1 https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-plus-bits-goostrey-10-02-07.8926/
I’d never been round a fuel depot before and it was a nice evening so I went for a wander.
Not much has changed compared to previous reports except that some of the concrete tanker loading area has been grubbed up together with the pipework.
Starting with the former offices.
Storage tank teletubby-land with the Jodrell Bank radio dish in the background - some surface features.
There’s a drainage system but nothing down there except a small chamber and orange rust-sludge.
You can get inside most of the tanks - this is one of the cleaner ones, although it still smelt strongly of kerosene.
The most interesting thing about the tanks is the acoustics - a week later Junior agreed to give his guitar an outing while I wandered around with a phone.
Some proper history copied from tigger’s post.
“Built in 1955/56 by Shell Refining Co. Ltd for the distribution of white oil products. Fed by pipelines with onward distribution by rail and road. Connected to the GPSS pipeline network via the P/B pipeline to Backford PSD. When we talk of a pipeline it is misleading as almost all of the runs used multiple pipelines. In the case of Goostrey there were four 8" pipelines to bring segregated fuel in. Six 4000 ton C2 tanks with earth covering for main storage along with one slop tank. If you look at the area of the site you probably wouldn't realise it's importance and actual throughput......the rail sidings would have told a different story but they are long removed (memory suggests mid to late 70's....certainly before the Falklands conflict) . Four lines of forty tankers could be filled and there were extensive shunting areas to accommodate movements on site when required. Two shunters were stabled in their own shed/workshop. The paved road tanker yard had seven gantries capable of simultaneously serving ten road tankers. The offices of the Manchester Jetline (operated by Unipen) were also based on the site until they moved to Backford North. Post fuel depot usage the office block was used by a local sprout group and strangely they seemed to have left some of their camping eqiuipment in storage there when they stopped using the building. Taken out of use after the Falklands conflict and finally sold off by Defence Estates in 2011. The new owner planned to use the site for electricity generation using anaerobic digesters of cow farming effluent. This wasn't popular with locals and the project seemed to have stalled. More recently some parts of the site have been cleared but I don't know if this is related to that project or something else. It is certainly worth removing the metal from the tanks for their scrap value now (which is what the owner of PSD Beeston has been doing).”
To this I can add that the former asbestos-ridden offices now have planning permission for demolition https://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/news/16382579.former-mod-building-set-to-be-demolished/, permission for a waste-driven CHP plant has been refused, and part of the site is occupied by a currently active business.
The grassy hillocks behind seemed familiar - looking it up this was an aviation fuel depot, and there are several reports on here from between 2007 and 2014.
paulpowers https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/telytubbies-fuel-depot-twemlow-cheshire-may-2014.89419/
stopford_lad https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-sep-13.84054/
paulpowers https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-june-2012.72270/
oldskool https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-macclesfield-01-2011.56595/
tigger https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/psd-goostrey-aviation-fuel-depot-photo-heavy.117799/
romanian1 https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/twemlow-fuel-depot-plus-bits-goostrey-10-02-07.8926/
I’d never been round a fuel depot before and it was a nice evening so I went for a wander.
Not much has changed compared to previous reports except that some of the concrete tanker loading area has been grubbed up together with the pipework.
Starting with the former offices.
Storage tank teletubby-land with the Jodrell Bank radio dish in the background - some surface features.
There’s a drainage system but nothing down there except a small chamber and orange rust-sludge.
You can get inside most of the tanks - this is one of the cleaner ones, although it still smelt strongly of kerosene.
The most interesting thing about the tanks is the acoustics - a week later Junior agreed to give his guitar an outing while I wandered around with a phone.
Some proper history copied from tigger’s post.
“Built in 1955/56 by Shell Refining Co. Ltd for the distribution of white oil products. Fed by pipelines with onward distribution by rail and road. Connected to the GPSS pipeline network via the P/B pipeline to Backford PSD. When we talk of a pipeline it is misleading as almost all of the runs used multiple pipelines. In the case of Goostrey there were four 8" pipelines to bring segregated fuel in. Six 4000 ton C2 tanks with earth covering for main storage along with one slop tank. If you look at the area of the site you probably wouldn't realise it's importance and actual throughput......the rail sidings would have told a different story but they are long removed (memory suggests mid to late 70's....certainly before the Falklands conflict) . Four lines of forty tankers could be filled and there were extensive shunting areas to accommodate movements on site when required. Two shunters were stabled in their own shed/workshop. The paved road tanker yard had seven gantries capable of simultaneously serving ten road tankers. The offices of the Manchester Jetline (operated by Unipen) were also based on the site until they moved to Backford North. Post fuel depot usage the office block was used by a local sprout group and strangely they seemed to have left some of their camping eqiuipment in storage there when they stopped using the building. Taken out of use after the Falklands conflict and finally sold off by Defence Estates in 2011. The new owner planned to use the site for electricity generation using anaerobic digesters of cow farming effluent. This wasn't popular with locals and the project seemed to have stalled. More recently some parts of the site have been cleared but I don't know if this is related to that project or something else. It is certainly worth removing the metal from the tanks for their scrap value now (which is what the owner of PSD Beeston has been doing).”
To this I can add that the former asbestos-ridden offices now have planning permission for demolition https://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/news/16382579.former-mod-building-set-to-be-demolished/, permission for a waste-driven CHP plant has been refused, and part of the site is occupied by a currently active business.
