[Pt4] Dumb Waiters and all the way down (Lancaster 'forton' services - M6)
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- The last part - the old Dumb Waiter system.
I explore every level, including MOTOR ROOM and the first floor of the tower.
ROUTE: From the Roof (with water tank - yuck), then a quick tour of the 2nd floor which is out of bounds to the public.
Then down to the first floor (public motorway service floor) and out of the fire exit at the bottom of the tower.
Afterwards, back up to the roof for the motor room.
Give MRPHILL100 channel a visit for a more in-depth view of the first floor (link below).
mrmattandmrchay is joined by mrphill100 to film this epic tower.
This is the Moto Lancaster motorway services on the M6 (originally Forton services) - more details further down.
LINKS:
mrphill100 - Tower exploration (more "tower" detail than me) is here:
• Video
PART 1 (passenger lifts from public levels) is here:
• Gets better and better...
PART 2 (goods lift + motor room) is here:
• [Pt2] 1965 Otis goods ...
PART 3 (passenger lift motor room) is here:
• M6 Lancaster Forton - ...
MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE TOWER:
Opened in 1965 with the name Forton services, it was the second service station to open on the motorway (Charnock Richard being the first), and is named after the nearby village of Forton. The architect was T.P. Bennett and Son and it was originally operated by The Rank Organisation.
Opened in 1965. The services is notable for an unusual hexagonal concrete tower on the northbound side, named The Pennine Tower, which originally housed an up-market restaurant and a sun deck. The tower was designed to resemble an Air Traffic Control Tower and is a prominent local landmark. The tower closed to the public in 1989 due to current Fire Regulations (there is no means of providing an alternative exit from the restaurant deck in an emergency).
The original Otis pentagon-shaped elevators which served the tower are still used to service the ground floor and first floor of the building.
The Tower was listed Grade II on 15th October 2012
Lovely Vids. I see a lot of this stuff while working on similar vintage pumps - which fill the lovely old water tanks (which are black inside as they have a bituminous coating).
Wow, would love to come around with you then haha! Before youtube came along I went into all kinds of old lifts and motor rooms, just wish I'd known and I would have filmed them, but sadly too late. Finding old lifts these days is fairly difficult these days, especially in public places.
wow i kinda feel sad about all the machinery gone did you know why someone did that why all the machinery was gone ???
I've no idea but i guess that anything which appeared not safe was removed. These lifts probably went back to when it was built. Easier to rip it out and screw shut the doors I guess
@3:59 - that's where the grills/ovens used to be, you can still see the fittings in the wall. When the restaurant was operational there was a counter there you could sit at, American-style.
This is kind of a relaxing as well as a sad video. Again, great music.
I wonder what's about the second passenger lift?
Does it still exist? Why not in service?
+Michael “Mike i386” Roll Thanks. I never got a straight answer about the LH passenger lift. My guess is that they don't need 2 passenger lifts in service and I bet the LH lift has broken down and requires an obsolete part. Probably easier to keep the other lift up and running and forget about the LH lift until the RH breaks down and cannot be repaired! Just guessing, but both lifts used to serve 4 floors (and the tower was a long ride).. Now, one lift serves 2 floors which is adequate (most people use the escalator anyway).
Why on earth did they need to install THREE dumbwaiters! Two would have been plenty.
Great video as always Mr. Matt.
+thewildeeper Thanks! Yep, I suppose they thought they would be shipping meals up and down the building far more than they did. I really cannot see why three where needed, unless they were just trying to use up all the room! Also - these should be "behind the scenes" but instead they put them within the main stairwell that everyone walks past. PLENTY of character though!
2:22 they sure went overboard with the blue paint on that lol
You need to use your cinematography skills and get a special on the BBC! Historic Lifts of the UK or something.. awesome video as always :)
+mschafe132 wow! thanks for your comment!
+mrmattandmrchay I 2nd that! Shame the waiter machines were gone but when the passenger lift opened with a SCREECH, that made up for it a little. And I would NOT want to be there with a fire.
The first music sounds you played at the beginning of the video really gave me butterflies in the stomach
I love using music to set the atmosphere in a video... For example, try this video, starting at about 1 minute: ua-cam.com/video/PZf6laIbeGI/v-deo.html
Sad isn't... This place like a pilot room... I'm sure which is look like refurbishment something working like that... How sad this place is will be gone???...
Always wanted to see up there. Fantastic.
Yep... what a waste but this was designed in times where health and safety was nowhere near what it is now. But even if they'd considered a separate fire exit, having to travel up to get to the shops would not have appealed to everyone. And it's not as spacious in the tower as you may think. Quite the opposite!
@@mrmattandmrchay Yes the space is much smaller and more awkward than I envisioned. I suppose there is some potential with the sun deck but pretty much a folly. Still great to see as was always curious
@@mrmattandmrchay and will always love how futuristic it looks 😃
I bet back in the 70s when otis was still making the black buttons these were meant to look futuristic because they were clean looking and the button caps look like they float on the panel
Every video your camera makes electrical noise or processing noise. I cannot tell. Sounds like a time keeping signal.
Shame they've been removed... do you know when? Must've been a lot of work for a bit of scrap metal
+adumanter I don't know, but I guess it would be "tens" of years ago rather than "recently".
7:48 If you look closely, in the window, that might be the interior
What Interior ?
Looks like asbestos is everywhere in that old tower!
It's been removed from the tower, but yes, in the stairwells it's everywhere.
Otis too?
I notice that that escape stair only uses half the tower (wrapping round the dumb waiters). Is there another one that goes round the passenger lifts?
If there is then it should be relatively easy (although not inexpensive) to make the tower suitable for use again. Unfortunately that would probably involve removing all the old lifts and stairs and putting in larger escape stairs and a couple of generic lifts so that people can drink an overpriced Costa Coffee at the top of the tower. The reason the lifts are original is that they see very little use.
+Mark H There isn't. That's the problem. Removing the dumb waiters would allow bigger stairs, but the building is riddled with asbestos, which would need removal where disturbed (and ideally encapsulating elsewhere). To do this you'd need to ensure no public or staff access to that area which I'm guessing is in the staff area and would be used for deliveries, etc, and possibly as a fire exit for the ground and first floors. As well as that, you would also need an alternative means of escape, most likely away from the central core of the tower, which would require external stairs. The tower is a listed building, although only grade II. It's cheaper to redevelop the ground and first floor areas which aren't listed and have been altered extensively already from their original state. Financially a restoration is not going to happen.
From the listing perspective they should be able to get permission to modify the inside of the tower if they can demonstrate that it will give the building a use (and that without the work the building would be left empty).
The current state of the interior is not particularly brilliant so it is mainly the exterior that will be the reason for its listing. Adding an external stairway would be less acceptable as it would have a heavy visual impact on the tower.
I agree that the cost of major work would be high, especially if it involves lots of asbestos removal.
Unfortunately whilst the tower has been "saved" by its listing it is just sitting there rotting without a viable use.
+Mark H By the time I've arrived at this discussion to make a comment, everything is already said! Very difficult and costly decisions. Image renovating the tower, creating a second fire escape (somehow??) and then the tower is rarely used which would render the project a waste of time and money. In my opinion the tower isn't that big, with the central spine and walls taking up most of the middle area.
+mrmattandmrchay So, unfortunately, we end up with the situation where an iconic building is preserved but left to rot away due to its lack of economic use.
At some point demolition may be approved if the building stops being safe and there is no budget to repair it. Even the prices Moto charge at their Costa outlets would not pay to reopen the tower.
At least the asbestos* will stop the tower burning down in mysterious circumstances as often happens to listed buildings. (*unless they used Galbestos- see Summerland Isle of Man)
+Mark H It's a decision that I certainly wouldn't want to make! Did you see the water tank on the top floor, with pipes disconnected? This is a reminder that there are probably no services (water, electricity) or might need reinstalling? (this is forgetting about any asbestos). Stripping the floors down to the minimum, then building the tower back up again, hundreds of thousands!But what percentage of people visiting the motorway services would actually WANT to go into the tower? Everything is available from entering the building on G or 1, why go to 2? I bet people go up the tower once "just to see it" then end up back on 1st, get a coffee and drive on! I don't see how they can justify spending the money.They cannot demolish the tower also, as it sits on top of the motorway services, the whole north bound services would have to shut! Very difficult decision!
0:51 Mrphill says “This is the old dumb waiter system”
Good video
+Adam Sang Cool thanks Adam! Are you who I think you are? (Chay's friend?). There's probably thousands of Adam Sang's in the world so thought I'd check :) I'll be your second subscriber (subscribed). Thanks and have a nice day!
@@mrmattandmrchay lol
Yep I'm that guy (Chays friend) XD
Thought so.... didn't want to reply with "hey howya doing mate" when it might have been a guy in Singapore thinking "uhhh like do I know you?!!" XD
Lol
What does it mean by being listed as Grade II?
Read the wikipedia article on listed buildings in the UK.
The building is protected from demolition
matt? i got a question. how does screenhunter work?
Screen hunter the screenshot app? Press F6 and it takes a screenshot? :)
well, the box is very small though (scrnshot on skype)
+mrmattandmrchay it there may be a video that show that someones ridet this dumb dumbwaiter lifts? ^^ cuz ahm o_0 itz possible that someone can ride this cous its big enouth that u can go in it ^^
Sometimes regulations are spoiling things.
+Marco S Sometimes turns into MOSTtimes! I recently asked permission to climb a short ladder to film something and it was "NO - HEALTH AND SAFETY won't allow it". A ladder is made for climbing, but without a risk assessment and XXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX, etc OH JUST FORGET IT!
+mrmattandmrchay The old saying 'Forgiveness is easier to get than permission" might come in handy for you.
Why don't they remove 2 of the dumbwaiter shafts and make another staircase???!!!
What kind this place mess!... Look like the end of this building, might going be demolished or keep it update this building wasn't??? I'm sure what kind these old elevators is not going use ride it... Why that?
Why didn't you show the elevator interior?
All cables, dumb waiters were removed many years ago. Landing doors are screwed shut. The only thing remaining is shafts and landing doors
Ahhh if you mean about showing passenger lift interior then see links to other video
Music at 4:01 please
what does class 2 mean
+Sean Duncan Hi, sorry, which part are you referring to?
What's the second song played ? I
+darkknight01311 Ok, wait for this title... "I_Am_Running_Down_the_Long_Hallway_of_Viewmont_Elementary" by Chris Zabriskie. Search for it on youtube audio library.
+mrmattandmrchay Thank you so much!
+mrmattandmrchay what about the first song
Jennifer Seidler Nevada City by Huma - Huma. Find it in UA-cam Audio Library!!!
What is the song where the water tank was in? (3rd floor)
Does the dumbwaiters work?
9:19
sadness
took you a while to post it up
+Andrew Watson busy busy, but not necessarily with youtube (but would like to be)
it may have taken him a while. but its better if It takes a while because then we get higher quality videos to watch.
m6 is in staffod
Sad Willit reopen?
cade os br dessa porra