It's been over two years since I actually created a thread here, so it is certainly well past time I gave something back. That said, 2 years has seen a lot happen and change which left me a little at a loss as to what to throw up here. I thought I'd start where I left off last time, though any subsequent reports I may deem worthy of daylight will almost certainly not follow any sort of chronological order.
So, last time I posted a report, 'going turbo' wasn't really the done thing over here. Everybody was toting 2013 to be the 'year of the power station' as that first round of LCPD closures kicked in during March, but aside from Inverkip and a collection of smaller scale industrial powerhouses not too much was going on by way of turbines at that point, just a lot of talk about how good it was all going to be.
DrHowser and I really got on the industry hype that year, and after a great night running around Roosecote in Barrow with FB, HS and SaT, we decided that power stations were going to be our thing, which led to the obvious drawing up of lists etc. I don't quite remember how I found out that Celanese was closing but we sure fancied it as a project and coupled with the two closed power stations to the south of the site it found its way to the the top of the pile fast. The next couple of months with regards to that site are documented in my last report, here: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/derwent-spondon-h-power-stations-derbyshire-july2013.t82141
Running away from that alarm the first time added whole years to my life. I still consider 'helicopter chase' to be just about the worst possible outcome of exploring industry. Anyway, I told myself its time would come and tried to put it to the back of my mind. Then of course Speed's report happened and the factory itself was every bit as good as we'd imagined, just awesome vast industry, somewhere between a chemical works and a textile mill. But still no power house. We stayed in touch with relevant parties that we knew were still exploring at Celanese, and slowly a picture began to emerge of what it would take to have it off.
Last year AndyK and SpiderMonkey did just that, comprehensively, and both posted reports full of beautifull digital shots of the power station that we'd all wondered about. Fair play guys, I'm jealous - Dr H and I thought that would have been us over two years ago! Anyway, WhoDaresWins and I did a midday derp special in Autumn last year and finally bagged it. Appropriately, we left in much the same way as Dr H and I had originally.
A quick reminder as to how little we saw the first time round and how exciting it all was with the lights on, all from the lower turbine hall:
Fast forward to 2015:
WDW and I entered in a different and altogether less on top style, finding ourselves in the boiler house -decommissioned since 1996 when they brought the Derwent CCGT Station online next door, generating enough steam to replace the 1950's boilers and run two of Spondon's 10MW Steam Turbines off the backpressure.
All the British industrial classics represented.
Moving upwards now.
Inside a decommissioned boiler.
Condensers near the top.
Turbo time! We got a peak at them from high up in the boiler house.
Ever intrepid, we pushed closer.
Here she is, sports fans! 1952 Metropolitan Vickers 10MW Steam Turbine, modelled here in 'MV Azure'.
The explore ended both abruptly and appropriately. No sooner had our feet touched the tiles of the turbine floor than that alarm was giving it hellfire again. We were back in our hedge within 3 or 4 minutes watching but nobody showed up, it's even possible they couldn't hear it up the other end of the site with all the demolition. An extreme contrast to the reaction of two years previous, but a welcome one.
So, last time I posted a report, 'going turbo' wasn't really the done thing over here. Everybody was toting 2013 to be the 'year of the power station' as that first round of LCPD closures kicked in during March, but aside from Inverkip and a collection of smaller scale industrial powerhouses not too much was going on by way of turbines at that point, just a lot of talk about how good it was all going to be.
DrHowser and I really got on the industry hype that year, and after a great night running around Roosecote in Barrow with FB, HS and SaT, we decided that power stations were going to be our thing, which led to the obvious drawing up of lists etc. I don't quite remember how I found out that Celanese was closing but we sure fancied it as a project and coupled with the two closed power stations to the south of the site it found its way to the the top of the pile fast. The next couple of months with regards to that site are documented in my last report, here: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/derwent-spondon-h-power-stations-derbyshire-july2013.t82141
Running away from that alarm the first time added whole years to my life. I still consider 'helicopter chase' to be just about the worst possible outcome of exploring industry. Anyway, I told myself its time would come and tried to put it to the back of my mind. Then of course Speed's report happened and the factory itself was every bit as good as we'd imagined, just awesome vast industry, somewhere between a chemical works and a textile mill. But still no power house. We stayed in touch with relevant parties that we knew were still exploring at Celanese, and slowly a picture began to emerge of what it would take to have it off.
Last year AndyK and SpiderMonkey did just that, comprehensively, and both posted reports full of beautifull digital shots of the power station that we'd all wondered about. Fair play guys, I'm jealous - Dr H and I thought that would have been us over two years ago! Anyway, WhoDaresWins and I did a midday derp special in Autumn last year and finally bagged it. Appropriately, we left in much the same way as Dr H and I had originally.
A quick reminder as to how little we saw the first time round and how exciting it all was with the lights on, all from the lower turbine hall:
Fast forward to 2015:
All the British industrial classics represented.
Moving upwards now.
Inside a decommissioned boiler.
Condensers near the top.
Turbo time! We got a peak at them from high up in the boiler house.
Ever intrepid, we pushed closer.
Here she is, sports fans! 1952 Metropolitan Vickers 10MW Steam Turbine, modelled here in 'MV Azure'.
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