Thamesteel - Sheerness
This is a large and interesting complex, located at the northern end of a tight triangular junction with the Sheerness-on-Sea branch. First proposed in 1969, the construction of Sheerness Steel Works was given the go-ahead in 1971, building work beginning in that September on land largely occupied by Army playing fields. The building cost was priced at £10,000,000 (£105,921,790 at 2008 prices), and included swallowing up a goods yard recently made redundant by British Rail, in addition to a dock siding at Sheerness-on-Sea. The former was in fact the remnants of Sheerness’ first terminus station, which had seen its last passengers on 1st January 1922. It became dedicated to freight traffic thereafter, and was formally closed on 6th May 1963.
The works, a private venture under Canadian ownership, commenced operation in November 1972, and was designed to recycle scrap cars into steel coils and rods. The latter were for use in reinforced concrete and the steel mill had the capacity to process 180,000 tons of scrap metal per annum. It was envisaged that the mill’s yearly capacity could be increased to 400,000 tons within four years and, indeed, an additional £5,000,000 was invested in the works in 1975 to meet this target. Steel was produced using the electric arc process, and the mill remained a profitable venture until the second half of 1980. Much of the scrap metal dealt with originated from Mayer Parry Recycling of Erith, this being shipped down the Thames. Scrap metal and finished steel were also carried to and from the works by rail.
For many years the Sheerness Steel Mill was owned and operated by Canadian-based ''Co-Steel'', but with this company's struggling finances, it was sold to ASW Holdings Limited of Cardiff, Wales after a deal was finalised in December 1998. The latter could only keep the operation going until July 2002, the company subsequently going into receivership on 10th of that month - the end seemed nigh for the works. However, in January 2003, Sheerness Steel was taken over by ''Thamesteel'', but they f*cked things up, so now it lies empty.
On with the pics
Video of Thamesteel when it was operational: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU1WzBZAdBc
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