August 2019
The Visit
I’ve had my eye on this one for longer than I care to admit and had all but given up on it, however driving past one morning I couldn’t believe my luck when I spotted a way in, a few hours later I was back and inside the building, spending nearly 5 hours wandering around this vast 15,000 m² space. Work is currently underway to demolish this part of the works with half of the building already gone and only a few weeks before the rest meets the same fate, this part of the works fell out of use around 2007 with all work moving to a neighbouring building to the East which is still live today.
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The History
In the early 1840s the Grand Junction Railway Company began construction on a small railway works to the north of their station at Crewe, with the first locomotive being completed in 1843. By 1848 the works employed over 1,000 men producing one locomotive per week. Over the next 100 years the works expanded at a rapid rate with the town growing around it. During World War I the works becomes heavily involved in the production of munitions, it was at this time that women were first employed in the works.
In 1926 production begins on a new Erecting Shop that would eventually become known as ’10 Shop’. To help with the war effort in 1939 the works produced over 150 Covenanter tanks for the British Army, during this time between 7,000 and 8,000 men and women were employed. In 1956 the last steam locomotive was produced at Crewe, this was the 7,221st locomotive to be built in the works. Over the next 50 years the works slowly began to decrease in size as vast areas were redeveloped in the name of progress, with the last electric locomotive rolling off the production line in 1991. Following the break-up of British Rail the works has seen multiple owners and now employs around 250 staff.
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Cheers for looking.
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18mm EFS
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