JL - 6.11.17 66162 6D11 Lackenby - Scunthorpe, South Bank

170 years of Teesside steel making - over without a fight or a fuss. Since my last visit, Redcar's final owners Thai firm SSI went into liquidation in Oct 2015. There was no money to buy fuel to keep the ovens burning and the administrator was approving single batch purchases in the hope that and new buyer could be found. In the end no deal could be done and aside from a redundancy fund the Government effectively abandoned hope for the industry. On Oct 15th 2015 the last batch of coke emerged from the final push. 1,800 jobs were immediately lost. A sad end to a proud industry that once employed over 10,000 men on Teesside.
In the thick of what was once the thriving heavy industry on Teesside even a few years makes a huge difference. Not so long ago this hive of industrial activity thronged to sights and sounds of steel making with fumes belching into the atmosphere form the coke ovens at this location. How long will the dormant infrastructure of Dorman Long remain standing? 66162, dwarfed by the 'South Bank Cathedral' leads 6D11 Lackenby - Scunthorpe past what to my mind is a very sad scene indeed. This working, as a diagram associated with steel was my main target for the day. I'm please the high cloud was just starting to dissipate.