It’s a cold, crisp, sunny morning in March. The clock reads 08:00, and we’ve just arrived in South Elmsall, near Wakefield, after a two-hour drive. Today’s mission? A full workshop clearance. We knew this would be a big job—having visited a few weeks prior to assess and value the contents—but somehow, we had underestimated just how massive it truly was.
So, here we are, standing at the workshop door. We have a 3.5-ton van ready to load, and in just four hours, an articulated truck will arrive to take the bigger items. Easy, right?
We dive straight in, sifting through loose piles of tools and equipment, bagging and boxing as we go. Our goal is to clear space to extract the larger items for palletizing. But it quickly becomes apparent that this isn’t just any workshop—it must have belonged to Dr. Who himself! This place is a real-life TARDIS. No matter how much we remove, the workshop doesn’t seem to empty!
Lunchtime arrives, and so does the truck we booked to transport the bulk of the equipment. We work non-stop for the next eight hours, loading pallets and securing everything for transport. Moving the lathe alone takes an hour, 700kg of lathe up a sloping driveway with crumbling manhole covers and uneven concrete is no task to be rushed, but eventually, we have everything loaded: a military twin-axle trailer, three drill presses, three grinding machines, four compressors, over 50 boxes of tools, and an untold number of engineering stock, offcuts, and metal lengths. It takes a full 10-meter HGV trailer, 14 pallets, and three 3.5-ton vans to complete the clearance.
We leave the workshop clean and tidy as agreed...
Now, the real work begins: sorting, cleaning, testing, and preparing everything for sale. The Harrison L5 lathe, however, is staying put in our own workshop—we all need our toys, right? But everything else will soon be available for sale.
A special thanks goes to our good friend Phil at Corneville Trucking Services. Without your logistical expertise, manpower, and top-notch trucks and trailers, this job wouldn’t have been possible.
We’d also like to express our gratitude to the family for trusting us with this clearance. It was clear that Eric took great pride in his workshop, he had a keen eye for quality tools. It’s an honour to find new homes for each and every one of them.
Finally, a huge thank you to the incredibly friendly neighbours who kept checking on us throughout the day, making sure we were well-supplied with hot drinks. Cheers to South Elmsall and its wonderful residents!
Stay tuned for updates as we process and list the items for sale!