December 2024
I managed to knock this one off as a solo visit after spotting access during an early morning drop at Crewe railway station, after a quick dash home to grab my camera bag I was back and in. I’ve been aware of this one for years having first spotted it whilst doing the neighbouring Virgin Trains Training School back in 2016 before it was demo’d. The bunker is fairly small but I spent a good 45 minutes shooting it, one thing I hadn't accounted for was the family of rats that now call it home, likely because the area immediately outside is home to a large assortment of Biffa bins belonging to the station. I had a good poke around the structure and the few things that had been left in situ and after mentioning it to @raisinwing later that day we both returned the following evening for another look. Unsurprisingly there is very little information available online about this one but I have managed to piece together a brief history below.
A unidentified DECC of the same design, giving an idea of what conditions would have been like inside.
History
Built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway in the build up to World War II, this plain concrete building once served as the Crewe Railway Emergency Control Centre. It features walls that are 2 meters thick, made of inner and outer concrete layers with soil filling the space in between. The structure has no windows and is equipped with an airlock at each end, both fitted with steel gas-tight doors. At the back, there is a large rectangular room that runs along the length of the building. The front has a central corridor with three smaller rooms branching off. Inside, very few features remain, mainly some electrical equipment, doors, light fittings, and a toilet.
There were several similar buildings along the LMS network from London to Carlisle, but most have been torn down since the war. More recently, British Rail used the site for storage until it was sealed up in the late 1980s. After British Rail was privatised in the 1990s, the building became part of the British Rail Board’s Residuary portfolio, which managed leftover properties. In 2013, this organisation was dissolved by the coalition government, and ownership transferred to Network Rail, which still maintains the structure today.
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Fujifilm X-T2, 10-24mm f4 R OIS WR
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