First post/report so be gentle ..
So a bit of pre-amble to set the scene ... I've known about this place all my life as it was started to be built the year I was born to some fanfare and local news. (The building, not my birth!) Family and friends have worked here in the past as we live relatively locally, but I've never visited before so for my first report after lurking for a year or so I thought I'd try something local and 'easy' .. more on that later! I mostly do my explorations alone so don't take risks, well, not too many, and I never stage any pics, other than looking for good viewpoints and I take nothing from sites except photo's and memories.
History, lifted from Wiki Thorpe_Marsh_Power_Station
"History
Construction of the station began in 1959, it being built as a prototype for all the large modern power stations in the UK. It was commissioned between 1963 and 1965.[1] It contained 2 generating sets powered by coal, and had a gas turbine set using an industrial static version of a Rolls-Royce Avon aero engine with a capacity of 14.9 MW. On 7 January 1973 four workmen died. The CEGB was put under investigation for breaches in safety provisions but they were found to have all died accidental deaths.[2]
Post-Closure
Initially being operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station was operated by National Power following privatisation in 1990. The station closed a few years later in 1994.[1] The 45 acres (18 ha) site was acquired by Able UK in 1995.[3] Much of the station has been demolished and now only its six cooling towers (each 340 ft (100 m) high and 260 ft (79 m) in diameter at the base), two ash slurry hoppers, railway sidings and the station's large adjacent electricity switching station still remain. The switching station was nearly flooded during the 2007 Yorkshire flood, which would have knocked the grid out according to news reports. The structures still stand now because it is feared that any explosion would cause the banks of the nearby canal to rupture.[4] They also contain asbestos, which would contaminate land for miles around the site. There have been several controversial proposals for the site, including a car distribution depot and more recently a huge landfill site, neither of which have proven popular with the local residents.[5]
The power station's cooling towers were featured in the final episode of the 1999 ITV drama, The Last Train, and in the first episode of the 2009 Channel 4 drama Red Riding."
Rode there on the bike, camera is a very old Sony DSC P50, pretty crap but good for when there's a chance I'll lose/break it!.
The view as I approach, not the normal route in ... note the white van, hope I don't meet some pikeys after anything that might be left (nothing useful or valuable!).
First place I went to was the pump room .... pic showing my trusty steed ...
Then some of the stripped cooling towers .... with some awesome structures inside, very Halo looking ..
A couple of the remaining tower that isn't stripped ...
A small warning which this pic tries to show. If anyone wants to visit, watch where you tread, some of the metal floor plates are rusty and you could put a foot or more through them!
A few random images trying to give a view of the surrounding small buildings and the devastation/dereliction that's set in ...
The ubiquitous kitchen. looking back at the towers ...
People working at the existing switchstation, and the car with a security guard who shouted me down and asked what i was doing. After explaining that I was merely taking pictures, and showing him some of them he said fine .. and just left!
The view most people get when they enter, but it was my way out!
That's it, hope you liked the report. I re-sized them to 800 wide but dunno if Photobucket does anything to them ....
The rest (99 or so) of the days pictures here ... Thorpe Marsh 12 Oct 2010
So a bit of pre-amble to set the scene ... I've known about this place all my life as it was started to be built the year I was born to some fanfare and local news. (The building, not my birth!) Family and friends have worked here in the past as we live relatively locally, but I've never visited before so for my first report after lurking for a year or so I thought I'd try something local and 'easy' .. more on that later! I mostly do my explorations alone so don't take risks, well, not too many, and I never stage any pics, other than looking for good viewpoints and I take nothing from sites except photo's and memories.
History, lifted from Wiki Thorpe_Marsh_Power_Station
"History
Construction of the station began in 1959, it being built as a prototype for all the large modern power stations in the UK. It was commissioned between 1963 and 1965.[1] It contained 2 generating sets powered by coal, and had a gas turbine set using an industrial static version of a Rolls-Royce Avon aero engine with a capacity of 14.9 MW. On 7 January 1973 four workmen died. The CEGB was put under investigation for breaches in safety provisions but they were found to have all died accidental deaths.[2]
Post-Closure
Initially being operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station was operated by National Power following privatisation in 1990. The station closed a few years later in 1994.[1] The 45 acres (18 ha) site was acquired by Able UK in 1995.[3] Much of the station has been demolished and now only its six cooling towers (each 340 ft (100 m) high and 260 ft (79 m) in diameter at the base), two ash slurry hoppers, railway sidings and the station's large adjacent electricity switching station still remain. The switching station was nearly flooded during the 2007 Yorkshire flood, which would have knocked the grid out according to news reports. The structures still stand now because it is feared that any explosion would cause the banks of the nearby canal to rupture.[4] They also contain asbestos, which would contaminate land for miles around the site. There have been several controversial proposals for the site, including a car distribution depot and more recently a huge landfill site, neither of which have proven popular with the local residents.[5]
The power station's cooling towers were featured in the final episode of the 1999 ITV drama, The Last Train, and in the first episode of the 2009 Channel 4 drama Red Riding."
Rode there on the bike, camera is a very old Sony DSC P50, pretty crap but good for when there's a chance I'll lose/break it!.
The view as I approach, not the normal route in ... note the white van, hope I don't meet some pikeys after anything that might be left (nothing useful or valuable!).
First place I went to was the pump room .... pic showing my trusty steed ...
Then some of the stripped cooling towers .... with some awesome structures inside, very Halo looking ..
A couple of the remaining tower that isn't stripped ...
A small warning which this pic tries to show. If anyone wants to visit, watch where you tread, some of the metal floor plates are rusty and you could put a foot or more through them!
A few random images trying to give a view of the surrounding small buildings and the devastation/dereliction that's set in ...
The ubiquitous kitchen. looking back at the towers ...
People working at the existing switchstation, and the car with a security guard who shouted me down and asked what i was doing. After explaining that I was merely taking pictures, and showing him some of them he said fine .. and just left!
The view most people get when they enter, but it was my way out!
That's it, hope you liked the report. I re-sized them to 800 wide but dunno if Photobucket does anything to them ....
The rest (99 or so) of the days pictures here ... Thorpe Marsh 12 Oct 2010
