High Marnham Power Station, Lincolnshire - 01/10/06

[Oxygen Thief]

Initially went just to see the cooling towers - ended up spending six hours in there, and still wasn't bored. There's quite a few pictures coming up, I'll post them as I saw them... towers, external shots, ground level, first floor, control rooms, upper levels and rooftops...

[Oxygen Thief]

OK, when I first got there it was raining really heavily, when I left it was pleasant, light and cloudy. There's photos from each.

The towers are a real eye opener. I have only ever seen them from the distance and was keen to see them up close. The internals have all be stripped, they use to contain a platform that would hold wodden strips, this would be sprayed with hot water, which would then drip down and be cooled, and collect at the base. The concrete tower in the middle of the base I presume is the inlet for the hot water - please correct me if I'm wrong...

[Oxygen Thief]

Then moving towards the main building, you start seeing all the scrap that has been pulled out. It's laid out quite neatly in sorted stacks. One face has been taken of the building exposing the internals...

[Oxygen Thief]

At the ground level, it was a mess. The massive concrete susperstructure is being demolished, by explosives. There's concrete and twisted metal everywhere...

[Oxygen Thief]

Moving up a floor, it starts to get more interesting. On one side of the building there was offices and engineering. There were still gauges and tools in there. Offices still had the paperwork and the changing rooms and showers are still there. There's also the beginnings of some big, complex pipework, that continues up many more floors. There's also demolition work going on, so you have to be careful.

[Oxygen Thief]

...but the main point of interest on the first floor is the control rooms. All six of them. Five of them are the same, one for each generator, and there's one more larger and different control room on the other side of the building...

[Oxygen Thief]

Moving upwards, you can see the demolition in progress. Cut pipes, stairs and floors are a few hazards to be aware of but it's interesting nonetheless, with good views internally and externally...

[Oxygen Thief]

Finally, heres some views from the lower and upper rooftops of the generator building...