# Willington Cooling Towers, Derby - Jan 2015



## LittleOz (Jan 16, 2015)

The Slow and Steady Northern Tour – Day 1

Cachewoo suggested going for a little drive to help banish the January blues and shift some of the sprouts & Xmas pud clogging up our digestive systems. 

For many, the fashionable thing is to hop over the channel to gorge on a plethora of euro porn, but we decided to take things a little easier and simply head for the industrial north. Sorry to disappoint, but our trip did not involve sports cars, multiple countries, unending miles of autobahn, sleep deprivation or freezing nights fitfully trying to sleep in an abandoned chateau or asylum. Neither did we have the pleasure of being busted by secca or police or even suffer the wail of screaming alarms. 

For us it would be scenic routes, comfy hotel beds, (mostly) quality coffee and pizza express with Peroni. Three days, three locations, 500 miles, no dramas. Urban exploring civilised stylee.

Meeting up at a respectable 8am for coffee, we waited for the rush hour traffic to fade before toodling off round the M25 and up the M1. A couple of hours later and after a breakfast burger we stopped at Willington for a bit of a stroll round a field and to take some snaps of the cooling towers.



HISTORY

Willington Power Station was in fact two, almost entirely separate stations, within the same site. Willington ‘A’ and ‘B’ shared coal and water supplies, but had separate management and staff. The site was chosen for its close proximity to the Derbyshire coalfields via the mainline railway, and water via the river Trent.

Work on Willington ‘A’ began in 1954, and comprised four 100MW generating units, along with two 425ft chimneys and two cooling towers Station A was brought up to full operating capacity on 10th July 1959, however the generator units were soon upgraded to 104MWs each, limiting the station’s spare capacity. At its height the Station consumed a million tonnes of coal a year.
In early 1957 the Central Electricity Authority began work on Willington ‘B’, which comprised two 200MW units, equalling the capacity of Station ‘A’, one 425ft chimney and (oddly) 3 cooling towers. The Cooling towers are 300ft (91m) high, 145ft (43m) at their top, 218ft (66m) and 122ft (37m) at their throat. Each tower has an effective cooling surface of 858,000 square feet.

Privitisation wasn’t kind to Willingon ‘A’. Units 3 and 4 were shut down in 1989, and finally unit 1 was de-synchronised with the grid at 18:00hrs, 30th September 1994.

Meanwhile Station ‘B’ was effectively run into the ground, with the final unit being de-synchronised on 31st March 1999, ending 41 years of power generation at Willington.

Although most of the site was demolished at the turn of the millennium, the five cooling towers continue to dominate the skyline of the local area. 













































































Thanks for looking. Cachewoo will no doubt add a few of his in due course.

Day 2 to follow (eventually, when I get round to sorting and processing them all)


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## krela (Jan 16, 2015)

That first photo is a total winner.


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## UrbanX (Jan 16, 2015)

Beautiful dramatic photos! 
Sounds like you had a fun road trip, 
Thanks for sharing


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## Scareyclarey (Jan 16, 2015)

Great report, I can see them out of my inlaws window every time we go to visit!


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## brickworx (Jan 16, 2015)

Man, these are just great....really capture the scale of those things...great work


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## oldscrote (Jan 16, 2015)

Always boggles me that all that immense weight of concrete is held up by such skinny legs.Great photos,as Krela says the first is a winner.


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## mookster (Jan 16, 2015)

Never get tired of seeing these or taking photos of them!


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## DarkMagpie91 (Jan 16, 2015)

This is awesome, I'm going to be checking this out!  Thanks for the photos, they are great


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## flyboys90 (Jan 17, 2015)

Awesome structures.


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## Gritstone (Jan 17, 2015)

Great pics, seeing these towers virtually every day, you kind of take them for granted.


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## DirtyJigsaw (Jan 18, 2015)

Awesome shots, your best yet ( I haven't seen your other 2 reports from the other 2 locations yet tho)


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## The Wombat (Jan 18, 2015)

Good set of photos 
the first one is outstanding


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## LittleOz (Jan 18, 2015)

DirtyJigsaw said:


> Awesome shots, your best yet ( I haven't seen your other 2 reports from the other 2 locations yet tho)



Thanks Dutty. Have to say I was quite pleased with these myself, considering I left the tripod in the car but found I had to bracket hand-held as far too contrasty to get much in single exposures.

Day 2 to follow soon.


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## DirtyJigsaw (Jan 18, 2015)

LittleOz said:


> Thanks Dutty. Have to say I was quite pleased with these myself, considering I left the tripod in the car but found I had to bracket hand-held as far too contrasty to get much in single exposures.
> 
> Day 2 to follow soon.



Even better knowing they were handheld! I look forward to the other 2 reports, I know one of them (GB) but whats the other?


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## Catmandoo (Jan 18, 2015)

Fab report.. I only visited this place a week ago as I was on the the way to a training course in Derby.


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## LittleOz (Jan 18, 2015)

Catmandoo said:


> Fab report.. I only visited this place a week ago as I was on the the way to a training course in Derby.



Just seen it. Ace. Wasn't Monday lunchtime by any chance? We saw someone walking away from the towers as we crossed the field.


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## Catmandoo (Jan 18, 2015)

LittleOz said:


> Just seen it. Ace. Wasn't Monday lunchtime by any chance? We saw someone walking away from the towers as we crossed the field.



Amazing place isn't it? The wind is just incredible which gives anyone a great understanding as to why they where put there to begin with.. Certainly did the job of cooling hey?! Lol

Unfortunately that wasn't me, I was there a week ago Friday about 07 30. Would love to go back agian and spend more time there. Never get bored of the place. It's the vast size of the towers that's overwhelming.


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## Cachewoo (Jan 19, 2015)

Very nice indeed Oz love that first shot


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## LittleOz (Jan 19, 2015)

Cachewoo said:


> Very nice indeed Oz love that first shot



Thanks fella. Look forward to seeing yours


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## TheVampiricSquid (Jan 19, 2015)

Brilliant photo set here!


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## DarkMagpie91 (Jan 20, 2015)

I visited this place at the weekend, I didn't take photos but I did however make a little video  Here it is  
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Ed08SZKTg[/ame]


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