I've been in the NorthEast for 3/4years now, and have always been attracted to the vast sprawling industry the area has to offer, redcar blast is one of the big ones, her 400ft+ gasometer & blast structure can be seen for upto 20miles up the coast at Sunderland and I would imagine the same in the other direction.
Ever since British Steel fell into Corus steel, its been a downward spiral on a national scale, one mill or plant closing pretty much every year since Corus's inception, then Tata took over Corus, and the situation got even worse [this is a grosse generalistion here, so no fussing!].
This past few months have been especially dark for the Redcar plant with major contracts being terminated or reduced, the future for the plant is dimm, and the general wellbeing of the south Tee-side area even worse. Predictions are once the furnace has been shut down, thats 2000jobs, the knockon effect in the local area & supply chain feeding & feeding on this teutonic plant will be closer to 10,000jobs, a major blow.
Onto the explore...
Arriving from all directions by the great ripoff that is public transport (and late too!) Dempsey, UrbanFox & myself arrived in Redcar town, all in need of sustinance & a place to sleep.
'what are you taking pictures of 'that' for', asked the old woman.
'erm, because i liek fucking ue'
Beds where easy, there was much choice on the harbourfront...
food on the otherhand, scarse and of poor quality, rubbish import run takeways aplenty, proper chipshops nil
after an EPIC 1.5hour walk, and a ride in the back of a car from a guy who carried his very own personal axe in the boot!
we hit the beach for a chillout before the thrash & clag of the furnace.
Got attacked by sandflies, sent all of us running different directions, you really don't want them in your pants :S
dempsey surveys the perimeter. engage...
after a good sweep of the perimeter, made our move, albeit with bags, because we forgot to do a kit dump. que extrem slow manouvres & embarressing reaction times on our part :S
urbanfox hides from the fairly vigilent security force, I say force because there are so many of them, literally everywhere, cars, vans, pickups etc.
moving in yet closer, check that bucket to catch the drips.
the place is falling apart, theres rust & holed high pressure steam pipes everywhere.
Dempsey may be 6'2" but these are bigger, they are the bosse. He might also be taking a leak at the same time or just touching himself to the tune of live industry
This was the original target, the 400ft furnace gasOmeter, but its so incredibly exposed, you'd have to be lugging knutts the size of beachballs to attempt it, let alone get back off it again.
The flame was verging on green in colour in real life.
moving down the vast site, we were already filthy, stinking, and I'd licked Coke (I couldn't resist), found out it tastes like metal after all.
The main attraction steals the show, the noise alone would humble even a level 7 ninjor
moving yet closer, another brush with security, and then, oh noes! the ultimate in ANTI-Explorer, sticky furnace mud! Seriously this stuff sucks, it sucks you down and holds you down :S
between all the above, you've got to rememeber, this is a live site, there are at least 200-250 workers on site & working. They scurry in and out of doorways & huts at lightening speed, sometimes they are there, sometimes they are not.
But, cautiously we made it onto a building roof ajoining the furnace shed & steelwork itself.
check the size of those pipes, masshove, walkway, pipes, pipes walkway, yes, its a big pipe. Next time I'm riding it
mandatory group shot, most of these digi shots arenarrow & constrained, hopefully film shots will turn out better. Also didn't help I had a piece of smut in my eye the size of new jersey so couldn't see from my right eye (camera eye), most of these are lined up from guesswork, or left eye.
and yes that is the sunrising just a little bit, time to get out. Quick glance at the time its been 2, or is it 3hours inside now? Either way, was epic.
appauling flared out pic, but looking back down site at where we'd come from, a long lng way, an achivement in itself, getting pics was a bonus.
quick look from the top of the building to the west side of site. This bit is for next time
Redcar is such a VAST site that it would take at least 5 decent 3hour stays to see even the briefest bits. And I fully intend to see all of it before she closes down. It will be the LAST great furnace in the north, and in a few years, I doubt the UK will have one atall, that will be a sad sad day.
Ever since British Steel fell into Corus steel, its been a downward spiral on a national scale, one mill or plant closing pretty much every year since Corus's inception, then Tata took over Corus, and the situation got even worse [this is a grosse generalistion here, so no fussing!].
This past few months have been especially dark for the Redcar plant with major contracts being terminated or reduced, the future for the plant is dimm, and the general wellbeing of the south Tee-side area even worse. Predictions are once the furnace has been shut down, thats 2000jobs, the knockon effect in the local area & supply chain feeding & feeding on this teutonic plant will be closer to 10,000jobs, a major blow.
Onto the explore...
Arriving from all directions by the great ripoff that is public transport (and late too!) Dempsey, UrbanFox & myself arrived in Redcar town, all in need of sustinance & a place to sleep.
'what are you taking pictures of 'that' for', asked the old woman.
'erm, because i liek fucking ue'
Beds where easy, there was much choice on the harbourfront...
food on the otherhand, scarse and of poor quality, rubbish import run takeways aplenty, proper chipshops nil
after an EPIC 1.5hour walk, and a ride in the back of a car from a guy who carried his very own personal axe in the boot!
we hit the beach for a chillout before the thrash & clag of the furnace.
Got attacked by sandflies, sent all of us running different directions, you really don't want them in your pants :S
dempsey surveys the perimeter. engage...
after a good sweep of the perimeter, made our move, albeit with bags, because we forgot to do a kit dump. que extrem slow manouvres & embarressing reaction times on our part :S
urbanfox hides from the fairly vigilent security force, I say force because there are so many of them, literally everywhere, cars, vans, pickups etc.
moving in yet closer, check that bucket to catch the drips.
the place is falling apart, theres rust & holed high pressure steam pipes everywhere.
Dempsey may be 6'2" but these are bigger, they are the bosse. He might also be taking a leak at the same time or just touching himself to the tune of live industry
This was the original target, the 400ft furnace gasOmeter, but its so incredibly exposed, you'd have to be lugging knutts the size of beachballs to attempt it, let alone get back off it again.
The flame was verging on green in colour in real life.
moving down the vast site, we were already filthy, stinking, and I'd licked Coke (I couldn't resist), found out it tastes like metal after all.
The main attraction steals the show, the noise alone would humble even a level 7 ninjor
moving yet closer, another brush with security, and then, oh noes! the ultimate in ANTI-Explorer, sticky furnace mud! Seriously this stuff sucks, it sucks you down and holds you down :S
between all the above, you've got to rememeber, this is a live site, there are at least 200-250 workers on site & working. They scurry in and out of doorways & huts at lightening speed, sometimes they are there, sometimes they are not.
But, cautiously we made it onto a building roof ajoining the furnace shed & steelwork itself.
check the size of those pipes, masshove, walkway, pipes, pipes walkway, yes, its a big pipe. Next time I'm riding it
mandatory group shot, most of these digi shots arenarrow & constrained, hopefully film shots will turn out better. Also didn't help I had a piece of smut in my eye the size of new jersey so couldn't see from my right eye (camera eye), most of these are lined up from guesswork, or left eye.
and yes that is the sunrising just a little bit, time to get out. Quick glance at the time its been 2, or is it 3hours inside now? Either way, was epic.
appauling flared out pic, but looking back down site at where we'd come from, a long lng way, an achivement in itself, getting pics was a bonus.
quick look from the top of the building to the west side of site. This bit is for next time
Redcar is such a VAST site that it would take at least 5 decent 3hour stays to see even the briefest bits. And I fully intend to see all of it before she closes down. It will be the LAST great furnace in the north, and in a few years, I doubt the UK will have one atall, that will be a sad sad day.
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