Ironbridge B is a large coal-fired power station in Shropshire, UK. The site was originally used as a power station in 1932 when Ironbridge A opened. The 'A' station had a capacity of 200MW and closed in 1980. Construction of Ironbridge B power station began in 1963 and the station produced its first electricity in 1967. The plant consisted of two 500MW generating sets, with a combined capacity of 1GW. The power station was converted to burn biomass instead of coal in 2012. Electricity production ceased in November 2015 when the plant reached its limit of 20,000 hours of generation under the LCPD directive. The decommissioning process is expected to continue into 2017.
I grew up down the road from Ironbridge so I couldn't wait to get in here, well sort of.....UK power stations make me a bit nervous if I'm honest. Nobody seems to have a clear understanding of the consequences of getting caught in one of these. It's very much a case of 'just don't get caught and you'll be alright' so you just have to hope for the best. Thankfully this place is as dead as a dodo at night time so we didn't see a soul for the duration of our stay. That didn't stop me from feeling on edge though even if the others were quite relaxed. Huge thank you to @AndyK for some helpful tips which made up for none of us doing any homework before we set off (oh I also robbed your history.... cheers
). Also thanks to @Maniac and @obscurity for putting in some long hours of driving and providing excellent company along with @extreme_ironing and @Lenston.
Another great weekend cheers lads
1. Once inside we headed to the top of the stairs and found this switch room.
2.
3. From here we took a ladder down into pipe land, we didn't hang around long in here as we all wanted to get to the turbine hall.
4. We started at the top. Sadly the main lights were switched off so the money shot looked like this straight from my camera.
5. With a bit of tweaking I was able to make it look ok but it was clear the lighting was going to be a pain in here.
6. A bit better from this side
7.
8.
9. Loved this sign!
10. Here you can see the fire damage caused in 2014 which led to one of the two turbines being taken out of operation (news report here - http://www.energylivenews.com/2014/05/23/fire-spells-burn-out-for-ironbridge-power-plant-unit/)
11.
12.
13.
14.
15. We decided to head through the red doors and have a look for the control room.
16. There were a couple of large rooms like this full of electrical cabinets.
17. Transformers....
18. Office
19. Then we found some locker rooms.
20.
21. Some strange posts on this locker!
22. Loved these little hand books
23. Conference room
24. We pressed on for the control room.
25. Sadly all we got was a glimpse
26. We weren't too bothered really as it wasn't the old school style we'd been hoping for, just a load of computer screens.
27. I wonder if this room was the original control room? The layout of the different coloured floor tiles could have been where the old panels were placed.
28. There was one old panel sat on it's own in the corner which begged the question where have all the others gone? A room full of these would have been a lovely sight.
29. On that note we decided we should head off as my arse had already been causing a PF Hazard (pretty funky) for everyone involved
30. And so we made a swift exit......
Thanks for looking
I grew up down the road from Ironbridge so I couldn't wait to get in here, well sort of.....UK power stations make me a bit nervous if I'm honest. Nobody seems to have a clear understanding of the consequences of getting caught in one of these. It's very much a case of 'just don't get caught and you'll be alright' so you just have to hope for the best. Thankfully this place is as dead as a dodo at night time so we didn't see a soul for the duration of our stay. That didn't stop me from feeling on edge though even if the others were quite relaxed. Huge thank you to @AndyK for some helpful tips which made up for none of us doing any homework before we set off (oh I also robbed your history.... cheers
). Also thanks to @Maniac and @obscurity for putting in some long hours of driving and providing excellent company along with @extreme_ironing and @Lenston.Another great weekend cheers lads
1. Once inside we headed to the top of the stairs and found this switch room.
2.
3. From here we took a ladder down into pipe land, we didn't hang around long in here as we all wanted to get to the turbine hall.
4. We started at the top. Sadly the main lights were switched off so the money shot looked like this straight from my camera.
5. With a bit of tweaking I was able to make it look ok but it was clear the lighting was going to be a pain in here.
6. A bit better from this side
7.
8.
9. Loved this sign!
10. Here you can see the fire damage caused in 2014 which led to one of the two turbines being taken out of operation (news report here - http://www.energylivenews.com/2014/05/23/fire-spells-burn-out-for-ironbridge-power-plant-unit/)
11.
12.
13.
14.
15. We decided to head through the red doors and have a look for the control room.
16. There were a couple of large rooms like this full of electrical cabinets.
17. Transformers....
18. Office
19. Then we found some locker rooms.
20.
21. Some strange posts on this locker!
22. Loved these little hand books
23. Conference room
24. We pressed on for the control room.
25. Sadly all we got was a glimpse
26. We weren't too bothered really as it wasn't the old school style we'd been hoping for, just a load of computer screens.
27. I wonder if this room was the original control room? The layout of the different coloured floor tiles could have been where the old panels were placed.
28. There was one old panel sat on it's own in the corner which begged the question where have all the others gone? A room full of these would have been a lovely sight.
29. On that note we decided we should head off as my arse had already been causing a PF Hazard (pretty funky) for everyone involved
30. And so we made a swift exit......
Thanks for looking
