Having missed out on a few of the other Power Stations in the UK, this being far too local to me I couldn't turn down a visit or 2...
I must admit prior to doing this one I hadn't really understood the appeal of these places but now having done this one I'm bitten by the bug and have managed to do a couple more since.
Right back on to Ferrybridge, I grew up in the area, my first school was in the shadow of the cooling towers and I even recall a school trip where we visited the site and went inside a cooling tower which was unused during maintenance works. Loads of my friends from school ended up working here until its recent closure and at the nearby Kellingley pit.
Ferrybridge C was a 2-gigawatt plant built by CEGB featuring 4 x 500-megawatt turbines. in 1965 three of the eight cooling towers collapsed, it was initially believed to be the result of high winds and whilst this was found to be a major contributing factor, other causes were also found to have added to the instability of the towers.
There is a rather impressive photo of the collapse of one of the towers which given the date and camera equipment which would have been used coupled with the unexpected nature of the collapse is quite amazing. Google it if you wanna have a look.
There was also a significant fire in one of the flues in 2014 which left clear damage visible from the motorway flyovers. The damage was found to be so extensive that the unit was never repaired. This likely contributed to the earlier than anticipated closure of the plant which was expected to function into the early 2020's.
Visited twice once with @AndyK and @SpiderMonkey and then again with @AndyK and @Ojay had some decent luck both times in and out without any bother.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
I must admit prior to doing this one I hadn't really understood the appeal of these places but now having done this one I'm bitten by the bug and have managed to do a couple more since.
Right back on to Ferrybridge, I grew up in the area, my first school was in the shadow of the cooling towers and I even recall a school trip where we visited the site and went inside a cooling tower which was unused during maintenance works. Loads of my friends from school ended up working here until its recent closure and at the nearby Kellingley pit.
Ferrybridge C was a 2-gigawatt plant built by CEGB featuring 4 x 500-megawatt turbines. in 1965 three of the eight cooling towers collapsed, it was initially believed to be the result of high winds and whilst this was found to be a major contributing factor, other causes were also found to have added to the instability of the towers.
There is a rather impressive photo of the collapse of one of the towers which given the date and camera equipment which would have been used coupled with the unexpected nature of the collapse is quite amazing. Google it if you wanna have a look.
There was also a significant fire in one of the flues in 2014 which left clear damage visible from the motorway flyovers. The damage was found to be so extensive that the unit was never repaired. This likely contributed to the earlier than anticipated closure of the plant which was expected to function into the early 2020's.
Visited twice once with @AndyK and @SpiderMonkey and then again with @AndyK and @Ojay had some decent luck both times in and out without any bother.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
