Exploring the abandoned paper mill Scheufelen, Germany
The abandoned paper mill Scheuflingen was an abandoned place unlike all the others I've visitied. This paper factory was abandoned in 2019. So unlike all the other lost places it's not yet decayd. Nevertheless it was an interesting lost place to explore. Read on to learn why.
Table of Contents
Know before you go
The history of this abandoned paper mill dates back to 1769, when The history of this abandoned paper mill dates back to 1769 when this papermill was founded in a small village near Stuttgart named Oberlenningen. In 1855 Karl Scheufelen leased it and finally bought it just one year later. Karl Scheufelen's children and grandchildren continued to grow the factory. They developed it from a factory, making the paper manually to a highly automated paper mill.
After the end of world war II, the factory started to produce and sell paper again. But by 2003, due to high operating costs (mainly energy), the factory was economically ailing and finally went bankrupt in 2008.
Between 2008 and 2019, the paper mill was sold a few times before it met its fate and became a lost place.
How to get into the abandoned paper factory
The abandoned paper factory is fenced in and guarded. But the easiest way to get in is to book one of the photo tours at go2know.de. It's worth it. The area is enormous, and you'll see abandoned control rooms, offices, and the vast buildings that formerly contained the paper machines.
Photo Spots at the abandoned paper mill
On such photo tours, I usually watch where the crowd is going and go in the opposite direction. But this time, a bunch of photographers had the same idea. They may read my blog.
The abandoned control room
My first photo spot was the abandoned sewage treatment plant. This plant looks like the workers were let go from one day to the next. The chemical tanks were still full of dangerous chemicals, and the basin was still full of water waiting to be processed. The most spectacular highlight here was the abandoned control room.
Abandoned control room
As some other photographers followed me to this location, I accidentally captured them in this photo. Can you spot them? If not, then because I removed them using my favorite app to remove objects from photos: Touch Retouch.
The boiler house
All the paper machines in this factory were powered by steam. So you'll find a vast boiler house with miles of big and small pipes and gauges.
Pipes at the abandoned boiler house
This is a snapshot that I didn't plan to publish. But after I fixed the perspective distortion with SKRWT App and processed it with Adobe Photoshop Express, it turned out quite okay.
The old paper machines
All of the modern paper machines were sold before the paper mill was abandoned. But you'll still find a few smaller and old machines on the first floor of one of the factory buildings.
Old and unused paper machine
The paper machine halls
The old paper machines from the previous photo were relatively small compared to the new ones. This is one of the production streets of a new and modern paper machine. It's enormous, isn't it?
Empty factory hall
The abandoned offices
It looks like the employees searched for something before they had to leave. The offices are still intact. You'll find everything you'll expect in these abandoned offices: Coffee machines, radios, unfinished snacks (yes, they didn't walk away - yet) and a lot of what looks like unfinished paper work.
Abandoned office
The unfinished snacks
Don't believe me about the unfinished snacks? There you go! I discovered them at a small office next to the main entrance.
Unfinished Snacks
The paper
And everywhere in this factory, you'll see skids with paper that still needed to be removed before the factory was abandoned.
Abandoned paper
If you're curious, head over to the list of lost places I've visited or check the list of iPhone camera apps and my recommended iPhone photo editing apps that I rely on.
