Barnbow

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Tue 09 Oct, 2007 8:46 pm

I'll have to have a look down there Buffalo. Thanks for the e-mail by the way i'll get back to you soon. Good find with the goods yard as i think i've only ever seen one picture of it before. Does anyone have any pics or links to pages that do?

rangieowner · Post by **rangieowner** » Wed 10 Oct, 2007 9:55 pm

Darn it! you beat me to it buffalo!!!! there are one or two pics on that display was gonna post them myself!!!

peterg · Post by **peterg** » Tue 29 Jan, 2008 3:17 pm

As a newbie I have just discovered this thread. I seem to remember in the summer of 1939 somewhere along Manston Lane sitting on top of some triangular mounds of earth having a brick wall at the end. During the war I remember seeing the plane spotters on the roof of the factory buildings, Finally, one day a green West Riding bus that was coming to pick up workers at the end of Austhorpe Road caught fire and burnt out somewhere between Tranquility Avenue and Marshall Street.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Tue 29 Jan, 2008 10:15 pm

I seem to remember being told in connection with work (I work for a company that repairs crawler mounted construction equipment) that in the late eighties Vickers/Barnbow were seriously looking at building excavators on the site - does anyone have any information about this?

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Tue 29 Jan, 2008 11:02 pm

Well, Vickers was a huge company, with much heavy engineering experience. I think they bought the newly privatised Barnbow in '86? There seemed to be much speculation and rumour (as there will be in any business takeover) though a lot of this was laid to rest after Vickers invested heavily in the Barnbow site with the new buildings.The Barnbow Story by Peter McKenzie doesn't mention looking at excavator production, but obviously Vickers wouls have had the expertise. Especially having just bought a company that built many armoured recovery vehicles!I'm sure they must have looked at all sorts of options, but the Gulf War came along and that filled the order books for a while.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Wed 30 Jan, 2008 12:55 am

rikj wrote: Well, Vickers was a huge company, with much heavy engineering experience. I think they bought the newly provatised Barnbow in '86? There seemed to be much speculation and rumour (as there will be in any business takeover) though a lot of this was laid to rest after Vickers invested heavily in the Barnbow site with the new buildings.The Barnbow Story by Peter McKenzie doesn't mention looking at excavator production, but obviously Vickers wouls have had the expertise. Especially having just bought a company that built many armoured recovery vehicles!I'm sure they must have looked at all sorts of options, but the Gulf War came along and that filled the order books for a while. This is certainly true.Vickers certainly diversified into bulldozers after WWII. They were exported all over the world and were used in the UK on open cast sites, imports of American earthmovers was restricted in the immediate post war period.http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/image ... y.shtml?10

sri130 · Post by **sri130** » Fri 08 Feb, 2008 6:27 pm

There was a display tank outside vickers. apparently when the place shut, (it had been sitting there for years) they just walked up to it with a new battery and drove it down! Anyone know anything about it? I heard that from a crossgates rumour...

Croggy · Post by **Croggy** » Fri 08 Feb, 2008 8:29 pm

I know a couple of people that worked there ... will have to ask about that.I've also seen on the net about the tank that was cut in half - I'll try and find that link too.

liits · Post by **liits** » Fri 08 Feb, 2008 9:44 pm

Croggy wrote: I know a couple of people that worked there ... will have to ask about that.I've also seen on the net about the tank that was cut in half - I'll try and find that link too. Can't tell you about the gate guardian [other than it was a Mk3 Chieftain] but the tank that was cut in half.... I was one of the apprentices who worked on that for the last nine months of the project, and have no end of pics, well, lots anyway. What would you like to know?!

Tel. 0532 · Post by **Tel. 0532** » Fri 08 Feb, 2008 11:54 pm

Just reading through the plethora of information on Barnbow - didn't realise there was so much to it - very interesting.I walk my dog most mornings past Barnbow - South side of the main line & through the woods to up to the new Thorpe Park development. I may be able to help with a few 'on the ground' observations which are not obvious from Google Earth, particularly the route of the old railway lines.Google Earth ref. 53 48.13' N, 1 25.86' W is a raised line of trees on an embankment, almost certainly the remains of an old line (corblimey10 I think refers to this). Any other obvious signs, following the line of the trees, seems to have disappeared.What I now know as the tramways from the West Yorkshire & Brown Moor Collieries to the main line are a little more obvious on the aerial photo.I will get a few pics uploaded next week if anyone is interested.See also the thread on General chat/Coal mining in East Leeds for further info.I'd also like to know what is going to happen to the massive workspace that is Barnbow? - It has been empty for years but still has round the clock security??