Last summer I went to see the remains of a huge abandoned calcium carbide and Cyanamid factory in Norway with a couple of other Norwegian urbexers and meet-up with a third. This place had been on my to-do list for a very long time so it was good to finally see the place even if large sections was already demolished. But nevertheless, the part that still stood was really nice and we spent hours in there photographing the rust and dust.
The factory was built in 1906 when the British “The Sun Gas Company” built a water driven power plant and the factory in the head of a beautiful fjord. The city rapidly grew around it. When production started in 1908 this was the worlds largest carbide factory. The main market for calcium carbide was England, who needed acetylene for lighting in the mines and on the railroad.
In 1912 the factory was expanded to also produce Cyanamid. During the expansion of the furnace house was 604 Frank Caro-heaters placed in three sections. Frank Caro furnaces were modernized in 1934 and the capacity of each oven doubled. The 324 circular production furnaces + one test oven is the section that still remains at the factory site today. See pictures below.
The factory was bankrupt during the depression in the 1920s, but started up again in 1927. But in 2003 the place was bankrupt again and abandoned. Many of the old buildings are demolished but some still stand declared a national heritage by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.
Your passion for urbex photography is reflected in your work. You rock!
Thank you. 🙂 Hope I manage to update this site soon. I have lots of pictures from many places to upload.