Federal Mogul Camshafts, Elstead July 2017

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mookster

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This was a factory I thought had long bitten the dust until I saw a thread pop up on here recently...

Whilst in the area checking other things out I thought it'd be rude not to pop in and have a look, access was as easy as it comes and despite it's trashed nature it's a rather photogenic old place.

The company announced in May 2007 that it was seeking 70 redundancies in its 140-strong workforce at the long established engineering premises but it said it would continue to manufacture out of the Elstead factory, supplying customers such as BMW and Perkins.
remaining workers were informed that the factory would almost certainly close in October 2008.

The Elstead works started life at the beginning of the 20th century as Weyburn Engineering, and in recent years was merged to become Weyburn Bartel before being bought by Federal Mogul.
It has always been the only real factory in the village, and it employed about 300 people in 1937 when it manufactured lifeboat engines and parts for cars and aeroplanes.
When soaring asbestos liabilities forced Federal Mogul to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in 2001, its UK subsidiaries were placed under the control of court appointed administrators.

The Elstead workforce, who carry out precision engineering for a number of high profile clients on the four-acre site, believed the business still had a future, despite the company’s decision to make 70 redundancies.

However, hopes faded after most of the site was sold to a property developer.

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Thanks for looking, more here as always :) https://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/albums/72157682845898022
 
Great take on this place mate. Glad those old optics haven't wandered off. I'm sure they will. Grom and I had great fun lifting that machine up! Thanks for sharing!
 
That's not as screwed as I expected, darn good pics as always Mook and that self portrait to finish,,, words fail me, Loved It, Thanks
 
Love that last shot!

Looks like the wire strippers have been busy, a nice artistic installation of plastic cups too:glee:

Thanks I liked that!
 
Nice set of images. Particularly like the image of the old projection microscope. The probable reason it was abandoned is the fact that this model was a bloody pain to move around a lab, it sat on that cast-iron pillar and once installed, that was it. The model made by Vickers was far better, sat on/in a nice wheeled, square wooden cupboard base and was a useful piece of kit.
 
Cheers all..

It's a good mooch, hasn't changed much in the last five years! Great set of photos.

I had managed to convince myself that it was one of those places that must have been quietly demolished as I hadn't seen anything from it for about that long. Imagine my surprise when Gromr pops up some photos from this exact place on here a couple of weeks ago!
 

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