Photos of Linwood

[Formula Autos]

I've enjoyed immensely the recent threads about defunct car factories, and thought I'd see if some photos of Linwood existed. Apologies if this is a repost - I did do a search though. Anyhoo, here's what I found:

The die casting plant, sometime in the '60s

An underground service tunnel, one of the more unusual features of the plant

Imps heading for the paint shop

Out of the paintshop, heading for the trim shop

A multi welding machine

The Sunbeam line in '77

Faded glory

One of the last buildings to remain. Demolished in 2007.

Demolition work in '96/7

Shadowy reminders of the past on a railway bridge nearby - the railway ran into the site

 

From what I can gather some of the later bridge photos might have originated on cms206's Flickr account. Credit where credit's due and all that.

 

Here's some of the better sites I found, if anyone wants to delve further:

http://www.imps4ever.info/linwood/linwood.html

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index. ... ts/Linwood

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/sho ... p?p=482440

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/ ... lips/4347/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips ... /4257.html

[CreepingJesus]

I'd seen some of the stuff on 28DL, and the BBC archives, but it's good to see them again.

Growing up in Paisley in the 70's, it seemed kinda magical that they made cars just up the road.

'Twas a pity how quickly it was forgotten about, despite sitting around decaying for years. Kicked the arse out of the area too. Still feels weird delivering to the Asda there!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It's horrible to see these factories flattened. I go past Ryton quite often and saw it being pulled down bit by bit.

 

It's now a 'Prologis business park' which translates into 'rubble strewn waste land'.

[Rusty Pelican]

Fasinating stuff this , especially as I currently own two Imps , sad to see it all gone , they built the whole factory on concrete pilons IIRC as the land was basically one big bog

[dollywobbler]

Can't help thinking that while it was good for the remote regions where these factories were (BMC had a factory in Llanelli that built Mini body parts), it clearly didn't help the manufacturers by forcing these logistical nightmares upon them. Very sad.

[aled]

Can't help thinking that while it was good for the remote regions where these factories were (BMC had a factory in Llanelli that built Mini body parts), it clearly didn't help the manufacturers by forcing these logistical nightmares upon them. Very sad.

 

the plant in llanelli was called pressed steel fisher in the 70s to 80s and i was a contractor there from a local engineering company working on the presses.

you could get mini doors for a £10

they were also making seat frames for all bmc cars, floor pan complete for the acclaim and the metro, clutch pressure plates, and also making the plastic dashboards for the metro. plus loads of wings and other things for loads of different cars.

 

today the plant is still producing things for the car industry for landrover and bently to name just two.

 

it was faced with closure but bently could not get the quality of finish with other suppliers so it was forced to stay open and is now very busy altho is a shaddow of its former size.

[Pillock]

Wow, my mum had a '78 Sunbeam, I honestly didn't realise it was a British-built car. I thought Linwood was Imps and just Imps.

[carlo]

[cms206]

Ahhh yes... I have the misfortune of passing under the bridge at Linwood Road End more or less daily at work, sometimes as many as 22 times (depending on shift... )

 

That bridge really deserves to be restored to it's Talboty goodness; the only remaining part of the plant is one of the office buildings which now forms the centre of the St James Business Centre IIRC.