Report - Gigatron sheffield 7.12.19

[jezzyboo]

on an explore earlier this year i stumbled across a drop shaft of the sheffield interceptor sewer , been meaning to get back for a while but heavy rains have always spoilt my plans so decided to do a scout on it today to see if it was do able . Some history first : by the 1960s sheffields sewer system had become inadequate for the sheer volume of sewerage it had to handle so a scheme to build a new sewer 20 meters underground tunnelling through the softer carboniferous rock was proposed ,work began on the first phase in 1979 when 1.33 miles of 5.5m diameter sewer were installed from blackburn meadows to a drop shaft in hawke street . other drop shafts and more tunnel would follow but for todays visit were looking at that drop shaft on hawke street , gaining access to a drop shaft i went down on a previous explore i climbed down the ladders to the invert level

got a little confused at the bottom and started heading upstream by mistake walked through 1.7m diameter pipe for about 5 mins could hear what sounded like a waterfall ahead and arrived at another drop shaft

this one was a dead end and you couldnt look up it without getting a shower it was really grimy as well , it was only when i saw the water running away from the shaft that i realised id walked up the pipe instead of down it back to the start point and carried on walking

i think with all the recent rain everything was grimy and caked in mud silt it was also really foggy / misty which made taking pics or even looking 100meters in to the distance hard .The sound of running water was getting louder and louder so i knew i was getting closer

apologies for the crap pics was so dissatisfied when i viewed them later !!! this shows the sewer raging down to blackburn meadows in a 5.5 m pipe depth tested it with a stick and it was only about 9 inches deep at the edge but was thundering down like a white water ride !

looking up at the drop shaft under hawke street

this was the largest drain i have ever seen the drop shaft had 4 landings on it

all complete with custom handrail . the 1.7 m pipe is only about 3 steps higher than the main interceptor sewer invert level diddnt climb up the drop shaft here as i was on my own and the noise from the sheer volume of water was enough to put me of taking any chances

stood on the ledge at the junction of the 1.7 and 5.5 diameter pipe this was my view back out

looking up the drop shaft i came down ( not the one on hawke street ) then back up the ladders which were slimy and caked in condoms and other shit and back out in to the stoop scoop soup drain id covered earlier this year . sorry about the crap pics was nice to get this done as ive been wanting to check this out for a while cheers for watching

 

[Regcar]

Don't worry about the crap pictures, you have a lot of courage to go down there, looked a nightmare to navigate. Well done.

 

[Ojay]

Good effort i know a few have been on with this lot, we sent ginge down another promising bit earlier in the year. I’m not sure how you ended up confused walking upstream though lol as the ‘water’ runs downstream

 

[jezzyboo]

Good effort i know a few have been on with this lot, we sent ginge down another promising bit earlier in the year. I’m not sure how you ended up confused walking upstream though lol as the ‘water’ runs downstream

ha ha i know the first small section of pipe was fairly dry and i was heading towards the sound it was only when i got there i realised my error still it was nice to check out were it went but yeah big clue water runs downhill lol

 

[jezzyboo]

Don't worry about the crap pictures, you have a lot of courage to go down there, looked a nightmare to navigate. Well done.

thanks

 

[Ojay]

Tbf there are drains in London where water does run up- hill, you wouldn’t want to be in there when it does either

 

[Esoteric Eric]

We didn't drop in there when we explored s00p. The overflow may seem higher than I remember but I wouldn't have fancied going over that way.

We've located all the drop shafts across the city and nipped down a few to varying success. As @Ojay said we sent @tallginge for a recce of a fairly downstream end on one occasion.

The best success came from @tarkovsky and ginge while I was in France in April in an unsuspecting outfall and much easier way in. We've been sitting on all this between us but I reckon we all need a meet to get it cracked.

Nice one anyway!

 

[tarkovsky]

Well done, good to see some different bits. Yep, got a fair few pics in here, will put a report up eventually when we’ve got more of it done.

 

[jezzyboo]

Well done, good to see some different bits. Yep, got a fair few pics in here, will put a report up eventually when we’ve got more of it done.

glad to hear that im sure your pics will do it more justice than my crap

 

[tarkovsky]

glad to hear that im sure your pics will do it more justice than my crap

Teaser! You’re right tho it’s really hard to get pics in between wiping your lens.

 

[Ojay]

Teaser! You’re right tho it’s really hard to get pics in between wiping your lens.

I bet you didn’t end up as orange looking as @tallginge from that other thing

 

[tarkovsky]

I bet you didn’t end up as orange looking as @tallginge from that other thing

Haha! No that was a once in a lifetime event!

 

[Ojay]

Haha! No that was a once in a lifetime event!

Got everywhere that stuff, followed us to London

 

[tarkovsky]

Got everywhere that stuff, followed us to London

Haha! ‘Enter the Bumhole’

 

[tallginge]

Mate I'll bet you couldn't find 5 people on 28 that'd go down there alone so I shouldn't worry about naff pics - being first in (by unauthorised means) and exploring deep shit like this is way more exciting than waving a torch about and fucking about with tripods, especially in poor visibility. Yeah that 9" deep flow would've had you away alright - another good decision. Thanks for sharing - go careful down there

we sent @tallginge for a recce of a fairly downstream end on one occasion

as muggings here thought it'd lead to epic shit and it might've but it was misty as fook and I only had one dim torch. Daft idea that was. Ended up absolutely caked and got stopped in me van a week later. Had to explain that yeah i was lifting lids in the area but had better things to do than chuck them in the back with two accomplices and in broad daylight.