On my way to school in the UK I used to pass Colchester Lathe on the bus back in the 50's and 60's. They had a field full of lathe beds. Rusty big lumps of cast iron. These were left there for some 5 or 6 years from memory to age. Something that most quality machine tool factories did in the day. In winter they would be covered in snow and ice and of course in summer drenched (
) in sun.
They had to plan production of their machines well in advance.
Not sure if it's done these days.
Just tried looking for the Colchester Lathe plant in Colchester on Google maps but it's been moved to Yorkshire so who knows!?