Hi everybody, this is my first post.
Until now, I enjoyed browsing through this forum very much and I was surprised that there is so much to explore in the UK. In Switzerland, space is rare and abandoned buildings get demolished very soon. It is unusual that things like this stay for a longer period of time.
Now I’m happy to give something back and I hope you will enyoy my report.
Please excuse my bad english, some words might sound a bit strange.
The cotton spinning mill was founded in 1863.
In 1889, it was bought by Blumer Söhne+Cie AG.
Production was going on until 1982. Then, decay begun.
In 1995, a fire destroyed the roof of the main building. It was just a question of time that the wooden floors collapsed.
In an outbuilding, there is an old Sulzer tandem cylinder steam engine, built in 1903, which is a real beauty! Unbelievable that this beauty has not been restored but there is not much hope. The owner and the state office for the preservation of monuments could not reach an agreement so time goes by and decay continues.
A club that already has restored a similar (one year younger) Sulzer steam engine in a gasworks near Zurich (see tgvzu) wanted to buy that engine but the deal failed.
As most of such locations, it is used as scrapyard and all those sprayers have to put their tags to the walls. But what really hurts ist that some ignorant people smashed all those beautiful controls in the steam engine room. Recently, some copper thiefs stripped the generator and some transformers. They just spilled the oil to the floor.
Even though that sounds sad, it was an fascinating explore, If you were there once, you will come back one time. The pictures were taken during 3 visits from 2006 to 2009.
A site overview
We started at the main building.
On the front wall, there is a staircase which gives the wall some stability. The other walls of the main building looks quite unstable but here we could climb up without any doubts.
From the top, you get a nice view.
In the main building, we found an old Rieter spinning machine, built in 1958.
We didn’t venture into the collapsed area, fortunately, this machine was quite close to the staircase.
Some gears inside...
Don’t know the function of this rubber belt.
We walked along the main building.
All windows were walled up but some of them have been opened by some people. You could see the collapsed floors through the holes but it was too dangerous to enter.
At the end of the main building, we found a bigger hole. It didn't look too dangerous, so we entered.
The door on the left leads to a chamber where some (fire?)-tubes were hung up for drying.
There was an underground channel where I found a big fan.
At the end of the next building, we found a Francis turbine.
Generator belonging to it
Control cabinet
Detail
At the end of that genarator room, there was a door to the main building, in 2006, it looked like this:
And now to the steam engine.
Next to the turbines, there is a small power station which is in a better condition than the main building.
Even before you enter, you see a crankshaft and the huge flywheel through the door. Impossible not to enter that building after seeing this.
That dust-coated steam engine and the whole building with the tiled floor and the arched windows has a very special aura. You automatically speak quiet like in a church.
I wish I had a time machine and could see it in operation!
The generator is not directly driven, there is a rope transmission to an intermediate shaft. That shaft drives the generator by a huge leather belt. That belt is approx. half a meter wide!
I don’t know why the generator is not directly driven, I guess the eralier spinning machines were directly driven through a transmission.
Rope drive
The generator
View from the intermediate shaft. Now, in 2009, the generator is stripped. They have stolen the cupper coils.
Panorama of the rope drive.
On the left, you can see part of the claw clutch.
The controls
Smashed ampmeter
In the basement, under the steam engine, there’s some more stuff.
The boiler
There is still some coal
The site as „little planet“ panorama. On the left, you see the main building with the staircase.
I've made some qtvr panoramas (requires Quicktime).
Here I was on the bridge:
videoupload.eu
Another one of the steam engine:
videoupload.eu
Until now, I enjoyed browsing through this forum very much and I was surprised that there is so much to explore in the UK. In Switzerland, space is rare and abandoned buildings get demolished very soon. It is unusual that things like this stay for a longer period of time.
Now I’m happy to give something back and I hope you will enyoy my report.
Please excuse my bad english, some words might sound a bit strange.
The cotton spinning mill was founded in 1863.
In 1889, it was bought by Blumer Söhne+Cie AG.
Production was going on until 1982. Then, decay begun.
In 1995, a fire destroyed the roof of the main building. It was just a question of time that the wooden floors collapsed.
In an outbuilding, there is an old Sulzer tandem cylinder steam engine, built in 1903, which is a real beauty! Unbelievable that this beauty has not been restored but there is not much hope. The owner and the state office for the preservation of monuments could not reach an agreement so time goes by and decay continues.
A club that already has restored a similar (one year younger) Sulzer steam engine in a gasworks near Zurich (see tgvzu) wanted to buy that engine but the deal failed.
As most of such locations, it is used as scrapyard and all those sprayers have to put their tags to the walls. But what really hurts ist that some ignorant people smashed all those beautiful controls in the steam engine room. Recently, some copper thiefs stripped the generator and some transformers. They just spilled the oil to the floor.
Even though that sounds sad, it was an fascinating explore, If you were there once, you will come back one time. The pictures were taken during 3 visits from 2006 to 2009.
A site overview
We started at the main building.
On the front wall, there is a staircase which gives the wall some stability. The other walls of the main building looks quite unstable but here we could climb up without any doubts.
From the top, you get a nice view.
In the main building, we found an old Rieter spinning machine, built in 1958.
We didn’t venture into the collapsed area, fortunately, this machine was quite close to the staircase.
Some gears inside...
Don’t know the function of this rubber belt.
We walked along the main building.
All windows were walled up but some of them have been opened by some people. You could see the collapsed floors through the holes but it was too dangerous to enter.
At the end of the main building, we found a bigger hole. It didn't look too dangerous, so we entered.
The door on the left leads to a chamber where some (fire?)-tubes were hung up for drying.
There was an underground channel where I found a big fan.
At the end of the next building, we found a Francis turbine.
Generator belonging to it
Control cabinet
Detail
At the end of that genarator room, there was a door to the main building, in 2006, it looked like this:
And now to the steam engine.
Next to the turbines, there is a small power station which is in a better condition than the main building.
Even before you enter, you see a crankshaft and the huge flywheel through the door. Impossible not to enter that building after seeing this.
That dust-coated steam engine and the whole building with the tiled floor and the arched windows has a very special aura. You automatically speak quiet like in a church.
I wish I had a time machine and could see it in operation!
The generator is not directly driven, there is a rope transmission to an intermediate shaft. That shaft drives the generator by a huge leather belt. That belt is approx. half a meter wide!
I don’t know why the generator is not directly driven, I guess the eralier spinning machines were directly driven through a transmission.
Rope drive
The generator
View from the intermediate shaft. Now, in 2009, the generator is stripped. They have stolen the cupper coils.
Panorama of the rope drive.
On the left, you can see part of the claw clutch.
The controls
Smashed ampmeter
In the basement, under the steam engine, there’s some more stuff.
The boiler
There is still some coal
The site as „little planet“ panorama. On the left, you see the main building with the staircase.
I've made some qtvr panoramas (requires Quicktime).
Here I was on the bridge:
videoupload.eu
Another one of the steam engine:
videoupload.eu