Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in Newcastle upon Tyne
The Tyne builds big things, and the plant that builds them is big too. Offshore and marine engineering firms at Walker and Newburn run large capacity lathes, horizontal borers, plate rolls, heavy welding positioners and test rigs that most cities never see, with machining and fabrication subcontractors around Team Valley and the A1 Western Bypass in support.
When one of those firms loses a project or closes a site, the machines need a specialist market. Large capacity machine tools suit a small number of heavy engineering buyers across the UK, with export interest possible, and they have to be catalogued with the figures those buyers work from.
We do that on site. Every machine is listed with its capacity, its control, its accessories and its history, and photographed properly. Then it goes in front of the trade through an online sale that runs for a week or two. Tell us what is on the shop floor through the contact form.
Big fabrication kit from the riverside
A subsea fabrication shop has a different inventory from a machine shop. Plate rolls, section benders, heavy press brakes, submerged arc welding sets, column and boom manipulators, positioners rated in tonnes, plasma and waterjet tables and the overhead cranes that move the work between them.
That kit suits fabricators in the offshore, shipbuilding, heavy structural and rail trades. Bidding is online, and the yards on the Tyne, the Tees and the Clyde are a manageable drive from the viewing day. We catalogue by capacity above all. A positioner is listed by its rated load and table size, a press brake by length and tonnage, a plate roll by width and plate thickness, a welding set by amperage and duty cycle. Cranes are listed with their span, capacity, height of lift and test certificate status.
Machine tools in these shops are large too, and the same rule applies. A horizontal borer with its full set of bars and its rotary table is catalogued as the complete machine, with the bars listed.
Moving fifty tonne machines down narrow roads
Moving a fifty tonne machine is a project, and the catalogue has to say so. The riverside roads at Walker are narrow in places and the buildings are old, so we survey the route out when we first visit. Door heights, crane capacity in the bay, floor loadings along the route and where a low loader or a multi axle trailer can stand.
The Port of Tyne handles project cargo, which matters for a buyer overseas or one who wants a machine shipped rather than driven. We say in the catalogue where sea freight is a practical option.
Newburn Riverside and the estates on the A1 Western Bypass are newer sites and are checked the same way. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots, including specialist movers for the heavy plant. We agree the collection window and the order with you, attend, and let lots go only when they have been paid for. Gateshead, Wallsend, North Shields and Cramlington are close enough for the smaller lots to go by van.
What these sales can include
- CNC turning centres
- CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres
- Manual and toolroom lathes
- Milling machines
- Surface and cylindrical grinders
- Press brakes and guillotines
- Laser, plasma and waterjet cutters
- Bandsaws and cold saws
- Radial arm and pillar drills
- Welding sets and positioners
- Coordinate measuring machines
- Tooling, chucks and workholding
- Compressors and dust extraction
- Cranes, hoists and forklifts
Viewing, bidding and the buyer's premium
Machinery sales run as online timed auctions. The catalogue is published with photographs and specifications. Buyers register, view the machines on the viewing day, and bid online until the lots close. The sale is advertised to the engineering trade, and bidding is online and open to buyers across the UK and beyond.
The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. VAT is charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Ask and we will go through the specifics for your sale. Where a buyer is overseas, they arrange their own export.
Machines are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the viewing day matters. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate them where that is agreed, and everything else is isolated and left safe.
The machinery and engineering auctions page covers what the buyers want to know, what affects demand, reserves and estimates, removal and access, when a private sale beats an auction.
Questions about selling in Newcastle upon Tyne
- Some of our machines are too big to move whole. Who strips them and who pays?
The buyer's mover dismantles the machine as far as the move needs, and the buyer arranges and pays for that work. We say in the catalogue where a machine will need stripping, so buyers know before they bid, and movers can inspect on the viewing day. Removal difficulty is one of the things that shows in the bidding, which is why we give an estimate before the sale rather than after.
- The project is finished and the client wants the yard cleared within a month. Is that possible?
A month is tight for heavy plant but it can be done if the machines can be catalogued straight away. The sale runs for a week to ten days rather than two weeks, and collection follows in the days after it closes. What takes time is the removal, because heavy lifts need cranes booked in advance. We would rather agree a realistic date with the client than promise a clearance that leaves half the yard full. Tell us the date and we will say what fits.
More questions about machinery auctions
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.