Another one thats been a rather long time in the making.. Metro Cammell stopped making trains in 2004 after they had finished producing the Pendolinos for the West Coast Mainline. By then the company had been taken over by GEC Alsthom (Latterly just 'Alstom Group') This French owned firm had gained a contract for new Juibilee line trains, no doubt under the pretence that they would be made here in the UK. As soon as the contracts were signed however they stated that producing the trains in the UK would not be economical and pulled out of the country entirely closing several plants, the largest of which was here in Washwood Heath. 1900 employees lost their jobs...
My first encounter with Metro Cammell would have been when we explored the adjacent LDV factory back in 2008. At this time the works had been put partially back into use, one part for making pallets, another being occupied by Network Rail. At the time we found this to be a good excuse not to bother with it. A mistake maybe but at the time we really didn't bother with anything too live as there was just too many other derpy bits about to occupy us. LDV came and went and MC was kind of forgotten about until quite recently when it was announced that this site, along with part of the former LDV was to become a depot for HS2. It was clear changes would be afoot and this time there was no option to leave it for another day.
Over several visits, some solo, some with Dweeb i think ive managed to get round 90% of this huge site, almost the size of a car factory really. I was presently surprised with what we found.
Starting at the back of the site where the trains would have left the works
Rails here join up with the back of what was once known as 'F shop' where the final assembly of the carriages took place
Inside was really one big massive space with only a few partitions between what would have been C, D and F shops. Its hard to capture the scale of the place in photos really..
The one part i was really heading for in here was right at the other corner of the building, the former boiler room and powerhouse.
The boiler room was totally empty, clearly there had not been boilers in there for quite some time and it was just another empty shed. The ony part remaining to really hint at its original use was the stub of the original chimney
Heading through to the powerhouse there was a bit more left. Tiles, switch gear and a few gauges. Not quite what id hoped for but then again i didn't really think i was going to find turbines so not that bad.
Under the watertower the access to above had been removed and all there really was to suggest its original use were a few pipes and the remains of the old water level gauge
Now ready to head across into 'A' Shop i snapped a token external and a few nice signs
'A' Shop appeared to be where the pallets were being made, the whole lot was knee deep in fetid sawdust. I checked the front offices here but they were pretty empty too.
The end of 'A' Shop had been used as offices and had a rather funky notice board but it also had a rather extensive basement some of which had been converted to document stores. I didn't bother with any photos but the exploring was much better round here. Lots of rooms to check and some cool little finds
Heading through the remains of the old canteen i spotted an old Gents that had been hidden above the now removed false ceiling.
BirminghamRondabout said:
My first encounter with Metro Cammell would have been when we explored the adjacent LDV factory back in 2008. At this time the works had been put partially back into use, one part for making pallets, another being occupied by Network Rail. At the time we found this to be a good excuse not to bother with it. A mistake maybe but at the time we really didn't bother with anything too live as there was just too many other derpy bits about to occupy us. LDV came and went and MC was kind of forgotten about until quite recently when it was announced that this site, along with part of the former LDV was to become a depot for HS2. It was clear changes would be afoot and this time there was no option to leave it for another day.
Over several visits, some solo, some with Dweeb i think ive managed to get round 90% of this huge site, almost the size of a car factory really. I was presently surprised with what we found.
Starting at the back of the site where the trains would have left the works
Rails here join up with the back of what was once known as 'F shop' where the final assembly of the carriages took place
Inside was really one big massive space with only a few partitions between what would have been C, D and F shops. Its hard to capture the scale of the place in photos really..
The one part i was really heading for in here was right at the other corner of the building, the former boiler room and powerhouse.
The boiler room was totally empty, clearly there had not been boilers in there for quite some time and it was just another empty shed. The ony part remaining to really hint at its original use was the stub of the original chimney
Heading through to the powerhouse there was a bit more left. Tiles, switch gear and a few gauges. Not quite what id hoped for but then again i didn't really think i was going to find turbines so not that bad.
Under the watertower the access to above had been removed and all there really was to suggest its original use were a few pipes and the remains of the old water level gauge
Now ready to head across into 'A' Shop i snapped a token external and a few nice signs
'A' Shop appeared to be where the pallets were being made, the whole lot was knee deep in fetid sawdust. I checked the front offices here but they were pretty empty too.
The end of 'A' Shop had been used as offices and had a rather funky notice board but it also had a rather extensive basement some of which had been converted to document stores. I didn't bother with any photos but the exploring was much better round here. Lots of rooms to check and some cool little finds
Heading through the remains of the old canteen i spotted an old Gents that had been hidden above the now removed false ceiling.
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