# A factory in the woods.....



## strider8173 (May 15, 2012)

Let me take you back to 1937.
The surrey countryside. On the outsirkts of a small village was a factory owned by Weyburn Engineering.




1 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

At that time it employed about 300 people and manufactured parts for cars and aircraft and lifeboat engines.

Jump foward to the 21st century we find that same factory is owned by Federal Mogul Camshafts Ltd, now with a workforce of around 140 people, produces precision engineering for a number of high profile clients including BMW.

2001. trouble over seas, when in the US Federal Mogul was forced into bankruptcy due to soaring asbestos liabilities all its UK subsidiaries were placed under the control of court appointed administrators.

In 2007 the company made 70 redundancies and the fate of the remaining workers remained unclear as the factory would almost certainly close in October 2008.
Not long after most of the site was sold to a property developer.

It now lies empty and forgotten hidden in the woods with only the birds to fill its great spaces.

This is my vist of The Federal Mogul Camshaft Factory...

Walking up to the front gates,as seen above, the size of this place is hidden from veiw. Seeing only a couple of buildings from the gate i made my way down the road and was please to find the security post had been used for a while..



2 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

This was one of the easiest accessable sites ive been to.

The Pinks Hil Stone Center gave me shelter from the rain..



3 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr



4 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr


offering cheap drinks...



5 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

and live music.



6 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr



7 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

I Took part in a Raffle..



8 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

but i didnt win so i had a quick half..



9 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

and went up to the office. 



10 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

Not a lot remains but there was a couple of things left to look at..



12 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr




11 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

not sure who this guy is?..



13 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

The main part of the site is taken up these large warehouse buildings..



14 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr




15 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

Some Fire extinguisher art ...




16 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

the building just went on and on 



17 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr




18 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr




19 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

more extinguishers




20 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr




21 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

endless rooms..



23 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr




22 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

A nice old hook and lifting system..



24 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr



27 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

Heading back out the way i came i wondered towards the front gates i wanted to find some offices..

i found the random chair of the site.(theres allways a random chair)



28 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

and cups...hundreds of cups..



25 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr



26 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

But time was getting on...



29 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

so i locked up before dark...



30 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

and clocked off to head home..



31 by SMCGILL09, on Flickr

This was a fun sight to vist didnt have any trouble, apart from the skip collection man who asked me if the boss was in.... i said he aint been in for about 5 years mate and left.
The building next door is offices and the windows from there overlook the front gates of the site and the office buildings. This had a smashed front door but the interior doors were all locked, that was annoing. Also people making tea in the office next door had a good veiw of me so i left it at that.

till next time.


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## Silent Hill (May 15, 2012)

Looks a superb relaxed mooch does that mate. Like this lots


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## sonyes (May 15, 2012)

Nice report, some quality pics


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## daimo_45 (May 15, 2012)

Damn you, this was my find but I've not edited my pics! I guess I did the same to you at Robins cinema! haha


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## John_D (May 15, 2012)

Nice find . The area that you have identified as 'warehousing' is actually the camshaft manufacturing area and would have been full of very noisy smelly machines. The 'lifting systems' are the loading part of the electrical induction heat treatment ovens that are still there, minus the top covers.

A lot more history of the site here:-

_*The Demise of Weyburn*

'In 2007 the American owners of an Elstead engineering works announced its closure despite being a profitable arm of the then ailing US auto parts supplier Federal –Mogul.

The business had been founded by Hamilton Gordon in 1913 and named Weyburn. Rapidly developing a reputation for producing quality machined parts Weyburn became a public company in 1935 and managed a workforce of over 500 during the Second World War when it produced camshafts for fighter aircraft and tanks.

Continued success saw expansion including the establishment of subsidiaries in America, Europe and elsewhere in the UK during the 1970s. In 1980 the firm in taking over a German company was renamed Weyburn-Bartel, and by the time it was bought by Federal-Mogul in 1998 had been in the hands of two other owners.

Derek Watson, the son of one of the firm’s directors, who worked for Weyburn from 1922 to 1958, is staged an exhibition celebrating the company’s achievements in conjunction with Godalming Museum and the Rural Life Centre in Tilford. Watson works for the museum.

“It’s incredibly sad when a company of that standing, which has employed so many local people, closes its doors,” said Alexa Barrow from the Rural Life Centre. “It’s important the history of such a company is recorded for future generations and it’s marvellous to be able to work with Godalming Museum on this project.”

“We already have come up with a lot of artefacts,” said Graham Nicklen, engineering director for Weyburn 1981 to 2008. “The original hand-written accounts and notes of meetings were stored in a room and they would just have been thrown away but are now preserved.” Source:Surrey Advertiser 10th April 2009

More than 150 employees attended the event (August 2009) where a wide range of memorabilia related to the history of the firm was on display, this including hand written accounts and minutes of past meetings.

"Weyburn Engineering was the largest employer in the area, and a lot of people have stayed living nearby, but we also had former employees coming from as far away as Spain, Shropshire and Devon and Cornwall to see their old colleagues and again," said Alexa Barrow from the Rural Life Centre. "It was a really good afternoon. We had far more people than we expected and it was really touching to have everyone reunited again." Source: Surrey Advertiser 21st August 2009_'


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## strider8173 (May 15, 2012)

daimo_45 said:


> Damn you, this was my find but I've not edited my pics! I guess I did the same to you at Robins cinema! haha



ha ha now i am the master.

@ john_d thanks for the extra info john it really is a fasinating place. quite spooky when your there alone tho, swear i heard whispers.


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## UEP-Wales (May 15, 2012)

Great pics! I wish there were more like this near me!


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## UE-OMJ (May 15, 2012)

Why is there a piano in a Cam Factory...?


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## John_D (May 15, 2012)

UE-OMJ said:


> Why is there a piano in a Cam Factory...?


 Social club?


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## smiler (May 15, 2012)

Great Find, lovely pics and wonderfully described, most enjoyable, Thanks.


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## daimo_45 (May 15, 2012)

UE-OMJ said:


> Why is there a piano in a Cam Factory...?



That building had office facilities upstairs and was a kind of social club downstairs. It was used recently used by some kind of stone supplier as before I went I did a Google street view recce and it was still open. I think they started rolling out street view less than 7 years ago so some of the units were used after federal left and only shut up shop recently.


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## perjury saint (May 15, 2012)

Great report! Really enjoyed it!!


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## strider8173 (May 15, 2012)

daimo_45 said:


> That building had office facilities upstairs and was a kind of social club downstairs. It was used recently used by some kind of stone supplier as before I went I did a Google street view recce and it was still open. I think they started rolling out street view less than 7 years ago so some of the units were used after federal left and only shut up shop recently.



yea a littlr social club and upstirs the stone samples were laying about.


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## borntobemild (May 15, 2012)

Intrigued by the 'Balti at Tilbury'

a whole container of it?


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## flyboys90 (May 15, 2012)

strider8173 said:


> Let me take you back to 1937.
> The surrey countryside. On the outsirkts of a small village was a factory owned by Weyburn Engineering.
> 
> 
> ...


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## strider8173 (May 16, 2012)

Thanks for quoting the entire report. The skip man wanted the skip, he thorght people still worked in the factory.


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## adzst24 (May 16, 2012)

Looks like a cracking mooch thanks for posting.


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## the|td4 (May 16, 2012)

strider8173 said:


> Thanks for quoting the entire report.



hehehe a rookie mistake


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## inceptionwave (May 16, 2012)

Thanks for posting, love the size of the place, cracking pictures too!


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## jongriff (May 16, 2012)

Great pictures mate. Lone explores can make imagination work overtime eh? same happens to me


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## daimo_45 (May 16, 2012)

I beat you to the last working extinguisher, Strider!




IMG_3089 by Daimo_45, on Flickr


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## strider8173 (May 17, 2012)

you no that discharging a fire extinguisher without an acctual fire is illegal dont u? 



and unfair you didnt leave one for me  
wheres your report anyway daimo? i like comparing pictures.


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## Carlh (Jun 14, 2012)

great pics, interesting place!


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## Rachael Putt (Jun 15, 2012)

I love these shots, and this place. I wonder why they had a piano there..


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## night crawler (Jun 15, 2012)

Great report such a shame it had to close like that.


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## pablo73 (Jul 20, 2012)

used to drive past there regularly always wondered what it was
might have a mooch about soon


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## prettyvacant71 (Jul 21, 2012)

great detailed report and shots mate....i like


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