Gun Barrel Shed..Wolsingham 2020

I had seen a few pics of this last pop up somewhere. So a quick look by knowing the area the person lives in, and comparing photos with a member on another forum who posted some on Flickr some years ago. I had the place found in about ten mins and pinned. So heading to Scotland I made the trip to it and finding myself in what is quite an ornate shed of some size. This place got quite busy later that summer. And looking at photos I could see a train had been moved out making it easier to take a nice pic of the remaining ones from the front. Otherwise it was a tight place for shots. Getting in the carriages was nice like the buffet bar and the first class carriage was nice.
The iron works was opened in 1864 by Charles Attwood. His nephew took over the firm in 1930 after his uncle died and was rebranded as John Rogerson & Co till 1930. The firm modernised and installed electric arc furnaces in the 50s. The main works shut in 1984 but a worker co cooperative continued to run on a reduced scale till 2008. The shed here got it's nickname by the fact it produced gun barrels for the navy. The company produced a lot of stuff for the military and the ship building industry.

Fantastic bit of railbex, beautifully photographed mate.

HughieD said:

Fantastic bit of railbex, beautifully photographed mate.

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Thank you mate. It was a great place.

That is lovely, one I would like to visit tbh

Very nice piece of work there Mikeymutt that first class carriage looked worthy of the royal train. I can imagine that being a gun works. I used to have a book when I was an apprentice which had all the engineering stuff I needed in it. There were photos of guns on Lathes which the blokes rode on. I should never have lent it to an apprentice I had because I never got it back. I hope the place stays that way

The website 28 Days Later has some good photos of the Gunbarrel Shed, which it says is listed. Both sets of photographs show what can happen when an attempt at railway preserviation fails - or at least falters. This one appears to have stalled because of the Covid pandemic; thank you, China, again!

BikinGlynn said:

That is lovely, one I would like to visit tbh

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I am not sure if it's still a thing, worth it if it is.

night crawler said:

Very nice piece of work there Mikeymutt that first class carriage looked worthy of the royal train. I can imagine that being a gun works. I used to have a book when I was an apprentice which had all the engineering stuff I needed in it. There were photos of guns on Lathes which the blokes rode on. I should never have lent it to an apprentice I had because I never got it back. I hope the place stays that way

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Thank you. The first class one was prob the nicest one I have been in, and been in a few now. You can definitely tell it was an old industrial building. I can imagine the set up you had would have been similar. Don't get settings like that now.

Hayman said:

The website 28 Days Later has some good photos of the Gunbarrel Shed, which it says is listed. Both sets of photographs show what can happen when an attempt at railway preserviation fails - or at least falters. This one appears to have stalled because of the Covid pandemic; thank you, China, again!

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My report is on there as well. I think the railway preservation company is still there in the yard. I did visit this just after we were let out after COVID.

Mikeymutt said:

My report is on there as well. I think the railway preservation company is still there in the yard. I did visit this just after we were let out after COVID.

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Let's hope for a positive outcome.

Cool stuff, I remember we had a look at this back in the day when the fab sheds at Weardale Steel were explorable (long since demolished, there's just the office block left now, and it's quite empty). The Weardale Railway guys seemed to be quite active then, and this building seemed to be secure. Good to see what's inside it.