# Inverkip Power Station - Inverkip - Apr-May 2009



## Pyroninja (May 21, 2010)

Not posted up on here for a while..

_ I'm sorry..I just couldn't help myself...I know it's been done to death, every button, step, window, cable, floor, pillar, hand rail, nut and bolt has been covered in microscopic detail a million times before..we all know this place better than the people who built it but I've had these pictures since March last year and done very little with them so I think it's time to write this long over due report.
_

Bit of info that we all know, well maybe you didn't know about the chimney part...

*
Decommisioned Thursday 28th Jan 1988 .*


Construction began in 1970 and by the time it was completed it was already considered to be a waste of money due to rising oil prices meaning running the station was highly uneconomical. As a result the station was used mainly to 'top up' the grid during peak times to ensure the grid would stay balanced. The only time the station ran at full capacity was during the miners strikes due to a defecit of coal power.

Power was produced within the gigantic turbine hall by 3 Parsons which gave a combined output of 1900MW. Each one as big as a row of terraced houses and all painted in different 70's colours. Everything else in the station is equally unnesscarily large to, gigantic forced draught induction fans, the huge boiler towers, the number of pipes going all over the place, the size of the building itself and not to mention the chimney being the 3rd tallest free standing structure in the UK at 236m.
If you were to fall from the top of the chimney it would take you 6.94 seconds to hit the ground and you would hit the ground at 68.6ms/1 (153.45 MPH)

*Oh yeah, chimney pot 4 has a missile....*

No matter what angle you approach from, there's no getting that chimney out of your sight...it's massive, the main buildings themselves are pretty huge to. Inverkip isn't the sort of building that sneaks up on you..






It only gets bigger and bigger, it's massive cloud penetrating phallus has those filthy stratus clouds coming back for more and more...





Once inside after negotiating your way through a dimly lit maze of metal supports, stairs, gantries and dead pigeons you eventually find out what it is you've actually been staggering around underneath/behind/on...You stuble out and are greeted by the happy face a massive boiler unit..boiler No.2 in this case. I'm stood next to it for a sense of scale





Boiler No. 1





Boiler No.2 Row A, A3





Hard to ignore, you soon notice the turbine hall sits quietly and patiently before you, awaiting your arrival. A truly vast space filled with a whole smorgasboard of raw, brightly coloured, well presented engineering goodness, an industrial sushi if you will..





Unit No.1





Unit No.2





Unit No.3





Looking out across 2 and 3 from the crane





Another of No. 2..basking in the sun





Looking down from atop the crane, boiler tubes destined for some other power station sitting down there





Mooching around on the ground floor below the boilers and you come across the Forced Draught fans used in order to facilitate combustion in the boilers. Effectively the biggest hairdryer you'll ever come across..





Making our way back upstairs we come across the water testing lab. Water being a constituent componenent in power generation it is vital to ensure that it's clean and mineral free before sticking it in your nice fancy boilers..





Mingling with the control panels..





En route to the control room we stopped off to enjoy the relaxing buzz of 3.3Kv coming into the station incomer switch room. The greatest corridor of controls, levers, dials, graphs and hair raising buzzing you will ever walk through. At one point in time these switch boxes would have regulated voltage in and around the station. They still receive 3,300 volts from outside which is stepped down to 415v for internal use making for a noise to epic it rivals the THX movie noise..





The 'corridor'





We are live





Eventually we reach the control room, the absolute definition of cool, the epicentre of awesome, the source if eternal happiness..whatever you want to call it its just simply stunning. With the gentle thunk of each light switch being flicked it results in more of the room lighting up, section by section in front of you to eventually revealing control panels and desks with buttons, dials, guages, lights, switches, readouts and graphs peppered all over them. All sporting that lovely standard issue control panel greeny/biege colour. Mmmmmm. Set that against the false ceiling and avacado green carpet and well...you've just got heaven.

KJ, Me, Celo, Urban shadow and Cuban 










I'm assured the other side sais WIN










Mmmmmm





Big red buttons _*do*_ exist





Timer since last accident...quite possibly the coolest thing ever. I love this.





Heading up to the roof for a spot of breakfast. Theres nothing quite like munching breakfast nearly 18 floors up on the roof of a power station with the sun rising and a great view out onto the firth of clyde. Spectacular.
Before you get to enjoy breakfast theres the small issue of climbing a few stairs. I now hate stairs.





Chim





Ahh probably the most photographed camera ever and it doesn't even know





More

Continued...

Coming back down stairs we start to enjoy some of the upper levels





Deareoator tank, removed dissolved oxygen in the water as this will help prevent oxidation in the boilers.





Sadly not in use





Gauges, Drum pressure, 300 bar = 4351 psi/1977kgi²..nearly 2 tons per square inch.... 





*Going to leave this with a few extra random ones*

Piping





Jusoda, expiry date 1994





The sulphuric acid tank, still containing 9 tonnes of acid





The mega spanner





The morning light 





The roof





The battenberg..





Finally, Cubans Yachting monthly, reading up on how to perfect his Viking cruise plan..





_Thanks for taking the time to have a look _


----------



## lost (May 21, 2010)

Grand photos and write-up. Makes me want to go back.


----------



## mcspringzy (May 21, 2010)

Please tell me you pressed at least one button?


----------



## Pyroninja (May 21, 2010)

Naturally


----------



## klempner69 (May 21, 2010)

Exsquisite photography fella,now I hate you cos I soo want to see this place..I had put it to the back of my mind,but now you have upset things again!!


----------



## krela (May 21, 2010)

It's one of the few places that makes me drool too! Great photographs.


----------



## megadoomer (May 21, 2010)

awesome pics. realy must visit that place, it look so alive. power stations FTW


----------



## ThenewMendoza (May 22, 2010)

klempner69 said:


> Exsquisite photography fella,now I hate you cos I soo want to see this place..I had put it to the back of my mind,but now you have upset things again!!



You can pick me up on the way past. Great report.

M


----------



## smileysal (May 22, 2010)

oooooooooooooooh yes, and me too please. That looks awesome, all those pipes, turbines, gantries (even though I hate gantries) and all those buttons in that huge control room. OMG I'd love to see this. I don't drool very often, but this is one time I am. 

Excellent report and excellent pictures. 

Cheers,

 Sal


----------



## klempner69 (May 22, 2010)

Would have to apply for permission to exit Wiltshire from the better half first ok folks...


----------



## Pyroninja (May 23, 2010)

A great big thanks to all those have commented this so positively  Hugely appreciated.

For all of you who wish to visit then I suggest you get your skates on as demo teams are about to move in, they are on site surveying it just now, well so I believe but it won't be long before the inevitable sadly happens


----------



## Foxylady (May 23, 2010)

Another drooler here!  Fabulous tour and pics.


----------



## tom46 (May 24, 2010)

Amazing pictures. Absolutely love this. Mad props.


----------



## Cuban B. (May 24, 2010)

They're some good pictures there Pyro. The big spanner has 'King Dick' inscribed on the side of it


----------



## Pyroninja (May 26, 2010)

Haha aye they seemed to like the name King, there's a king mammoth pulley system as well somewhere..


----------



## RichardH (May 26, 2010)

Add me to the list of droolers. It looks almost as if it could be brought back into service in a matter of days.

And that spanner picture really messes with my mind.:week:


----------



## Skin ubx (May 26, 2010)

Pyro your obsessed with this place mate


----------



## sheep21 (May 26, 2010)

excellent report, light hearted and informative and plenty of great photos too. 

Nicely done gents.


----------



## UrbanX (May 26, 2010)

Nice one! Even looking at the pics makes me go "Whoa!" at the scale of the halls. 
Beautifully lit shots too, great report.


----------



## tarboat (May 29, 2010)

Always looks good this one. A fine set of photos!


----------



## TK421 (May 29, 2010)

Hmmmmm...........Battenburg. Nice pipes too

Great report and pictures, what an astonishing place. Well done lads!


----------



## Pyroninja (Jun 2, 2010)

Skin ubx said:


> Pyro your obsessed with this place mate



Hahaha yeah..just a bit, would quite happily live in it 

And to everybody else who commented, cheers guys


----------



## celo (Jun 2, 2010)

I wanna go back so much...

Very nice pictures and great report mate.

Celo


----------



## BenCooper (Jun 2, 2010)

Pyroninja said:


> Hahaha yeah..just a bit, would quite happily live in it



I honestly, seriously, had an email from a bloke in Texas who wanted to live in a power station and wanted to know if it was for sale. Can you imagine a game of paintball in here, though? 

A really good collection of pictures - good stuff...


----------



## dave (Jun 3, 2010)

Great report and pics well done


----------



## Pyroninja (Jun 3, 2010)

BenCooper said:


> I honestly, seriously, had an email from a bloke in Texas who wanted to live in a power station and wanted to know if it was for sale. Can you imagine a game of paintball in here, though?
> 
> A really good collection of pictures - good stuff...



Hahaha!! That's brilliant. I wonder, had it been available for sale how much it would have been valued at..Ah yeah the whole paintball/airsoft thing, would be nothing short of brilliant to say the least  Who's to say it couldn't be organised


----------

