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View Full Version : Woolworths Distribution Warehouse, Rochdale. April 09



greyseer
01-04-2009, 08:42 AM
I went to this site purely on the off chance that something would present itself...and it did.... and this is the result :)

The explore didn't start off too good though. The warehouse was VAST chambers filled with metal stacker racks. It boasted nothing more exciting than a dead pigeon, so I didn't even bother with the camera.

In another area there was a huge oil spill caused by our friends the pikeys.. but what's a bit of oil to an explorer ?!

The slick had been caused when they tried to get the oil out of this beast. (The fan casing to the far right was over 6 ft high)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3545/3403949898_73ee8193e4.jpg

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There were electric cables as thick as my arm leading from the beast, to this contraption.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3403140261_358020fa86_o.jpg

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And a short distance away ......

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3426/3403950978_4331caab54_o.jpg

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I went back into the main warehouse, this time in the admin areas. The receivers had beaten us to it though, and the place was a barren shell, stripped of all value and interest. Or so I thought, until I found these.....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3444/3403141007_4737bc929c_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3403141243_2b29734e41_o.jpg

Yes, it would appear that, for some reason, the Woolworths Distribution Warehouse had an equipped (and by the smell in the smoke chamber - a well used) laboratory. Feel free to insert your own conspiracy theory here !

Still scratching my head at the lab, I walked through a large open plan office (admin area) and into a boardroom of sorts. I can just imagine the bosses discussing the stuff on this board while the clerks outside carried on without a second thought.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3403141439_f102a52c7c_o.jpg

So now we'd done the warehouse.

I had learnt that the site originally belonged to an engineering firm, and that a warehouse had also existed that was serviced by the local railway. The original warehouse had burnt down and been replaced by the one standing today. I had seen remnants of the older building at the back of the site on an earlier patrol. Time to move on.... :)

As we crossed the car park, and old brick walls materialised out of the gloom, I saw that the car park itself held secrets. Tracks lay embedded in the road, partly covered by the tarmac but still clearly visible in places.

So then we came to the old building. The railway head. A good 200 metre long platform on one side of the track, with a line of arches on the other side.
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I jumped of the platform, fully expecting the underside of the platform to be solid. But....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3403952066_2ccf36bc10_o.jpg

I was quite surprised when I pulled the camera out of the pitch black and inspected the screen. Also, quite happy that I hadn't reached a further few inches and put my hand through that glass !

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3403142169_246b931a92_o.jpg

I was now determined to find a way into this area, so walked back along the track. But my feet are clever feet and told me that I was not stood on solid ground. I quickly found a hatch which surprisingly opened easily, and found these oil storage tanks under the tracks.

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Back under the platform and I spied another hole just wainting for an inquisitive camera arm....

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Now to find a way in.....

I soon found an entrance, so we pressed on.

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Two of the five massive boilers we found.

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Their tops

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3463/3403954088_bf845dd88c_o.jpg

And innerds

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3403144107_09860c9107_o.jpg



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A little bit more rummaging, and an Alice in Wonderland moment as a full sized human comes to a three quarter size door, which opens into a half size door..

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And what's behind that half size door? Well, looks to me like another full size blast door on a central pivot hinge.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3403954484_11ef35025f_o.jpg

Behind that door appears to be another corridor / tunnel / void space, but co -Explorer lost his nerve and I didn't want to go alone. Cos I'm scared...... so it was time to make an exit.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3403144725_cceaf84697_o.jpg

Once back outside, a little more history revealed itself. During WW2 the railway embankment behind this site played host to the local air raid shelters. Some of the shelters are, apparently, still visible. I'm now wondering if they're still accesible.... :thumb

boxfrenzy
01-04-2009, 08:57 AM
Mate, that is a great report, well written and great pictures. Nice to have a exploring partner! Really like this. :thumb

KingElvis
01-04-2009, 09:22 AM
Excellent work, you are really getting the hang.

Good Credit Crunch stuff there.

sqwasher
01-04-2009, 10:04 AM
Good report & pics (considering it was dark!). Looks like there's more to this site than the first views suggested-get back in there! :thumb

ERNIE99_UK
01-04-2009, 11:09 AM
Lol, that particular contract was ran by the firm i work for.. glad im tied into a distribution contract which is much safer.

Nice explore, i work just down the road in middleton.

skin
01-04-2009, 02:38 PM
Great report and some nice finds, well done.

greyseer
01-04-2009, 04:55 PM
Looks like there's more to this site than the first views suggested-get back in there! :thumb

That's true, I didn't realise the site covered such a large area with so many nooks and crannies.

Next time I go, I'll take a spare bag of courage and brave the dark half door tunnel! Knowing my luck though it'll turn out to be a tunnel straight to dead-ends-ville :jester

Rebel
01-04-2009, 08:55 PM
Nearly thought this was going to be EUK. Not sure what the lab is for..maybe testing for recalls or returns??

greyseer
02-04-2009, 07:37 AM
Nearly thought this was going to be EUK. Not sure what the lab is for..maybe testing for recalls or returns??

Or maybe where they invented new flavours for the pick n mix stand !

It just seemed really out of place. There is a big, seperate office building on the site (which I couldn't get into), and I would have expected something like that to be in there, with the rest of the corporate management team. But no, this was in the small line of mezzanine offices overlooking the loading bays in the warehouse. Crazy.

Personally I think the whole warehouse thing was a front for a top secret scientific research lab :secret :laugh

T-bar
02-04-2009, 05:46 PM
any shots of the outside??? any shots taken of the rooms as a whole???

greyseer
02-04-2009, 05:57 PM
any shots taken of the rooms as a whole???

In a word, no.

I struggle with lighting and have no tripod so close up torch aided shots (and a little bit of flash ! :( ) are all you're gonna get at the moment ! The outside was pitch black so well beyond my technical ability. Hopefully it'll still be accessible later in the year when the quiet mornings are lighter. :)

**MudLark**
02-04-2009, 06:41 PM
wow, what a cracking find!
this is what exploration is all about to me, just getting stuck in and finding your way around.....
nice one!
:thumb