# Drakelow Preservation Updates



## Derelict-UK

Just thought I would make a thread on updates on the maintenance of the bunker, today we tested Tunnel 4's new lighting.

All the old lights have been replaced with twin bulbs, most of the old unused cabling has been taken out to free up working space and to make it look tidier.

There are still a few bulbs that need sorting but they should be fixed within a week or so.

I made a short video, it's a speeded up walk from end to end in Tunnel 4, during which the lights were switched on and off to check everything was working as it should, or what we need to focus on.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKqRcPTVlhs[/ame]


For further preservation updates, please visit http://www.drakelow-tunnels.co.uk

We should also be sorting 2 organised tours (not subbrit organised) out this year and the dates will be put in the Future Events section of the website.

If you have any skills that may be of use to us and are willing to give up a few hours of your time for free, we may take you up on it to help with the work needed done. Please use the 'Get Involved' page on the website to get in touch.


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## tommo

Nice one fella, great to see some more work going on down there and good to see there will be more tours going on for peeps that are not subbrit


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## godzilla73

I'm up for helping out purposes D-UK and I think Fluff is too, so will be visiting the get involved page shortly!
GDZ


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## Els

Are the tours going to include the "derelict" parts?


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## fluffy5518

godzilla73 said:


> I'm up for helping out purposes D-UK and I think Fluff is too, so will be visiting the get involved page shortly!
> GDZ



NOT ARF !!! Fluff (geddit !!) Oh never mind !!!


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## Derelict-UK

Els said:


> Are the tours going to include the "derelict" parts?



Yes, they will include the old tunnels, the old Rover Kitchen and the newer Cold War side.

They will be in groups though, so unlike Subbrit, you won't be able to roam on your own, however photography will be allowed for non commercial use.


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## Derelict-UK

New update from Saturday,

We spent over 8 hours in Drakelow, clearing some rubble, but more importantly, fixing damage that was done to the complex by a small group of people who ended up causing £5000 worth of vandalism.

The police have been notified and are investigating and stepping up patrols of the area, we have also stepped up surveillance and installed an new security system, unfortunately this all has to be taken out of the funds that were meant to go back into renovating the complex

An unfortunate result of the damage, not only the costs but also the Generator is no longer in action, the one that powered the lights in the Subbrit visits is no more, it over heated and seized up.

So last week and Saturday was spent reviving the other generator, this one hadn't been used since the Cold War! Not fired up for 20 years.

Some thought it couldn't be done, but fortunately it is an exact replica of the other, now broken one, so we could recycle components.

After 7 straight hours on Saturday, a few turns of the engine and it fired into life, even running smoother than the older one!

Check the blog here... www.drakelow-tunnels.co.uk 

Some pics...













Clearing Rubble (The computer & filing racks have been saved)


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## godzilla73

Great job D-UK - so sad to see a genuinely important preservation project become the victim of vandalism, but terrific that you were able to get the other genny going. I must communicate with yourself, Fluffy and Engineer to get a date when we can come up and give a hand. It'l probably be later in the summer now, but it would be good to fix up!!
GDZ


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## Derelict-UK

definitely, we always welcome the extra help. Since the other generator stopped working, it has taken it's toll on the complex and many ceilings have come down due to the moisture, we need to rescue stuff quickly and in the future months get it back to a good standard again.


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## godzilla73

I will make sure I have that conversation today, and get things going. Get back to ya by PM shortly!
GDZ


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## Snips86x

Great video. That's one hell of a tunnel!


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## Derelict-UK

I think I spoke too soon!

Another break in (not the actual tunnels) last night, a load more stuff stolen which might risk the use of the other genny.

I ******* hate thieves, whether they be copper nicking or souvenir 'saving', they both make it harder for us all and don't think about the results


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## sparky230

I understand Your frustrations we get simiar problems with people trying to get into the Battery at Capel le ferne. Do more damage than gd and a lot of times if people had asked we could have show them.


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## tommo

its a shame we couldnt make it saturday fella another couple of pairs of hands would of worked a treat, glad u got the other gen working thought, and more of the clean up 

shame its been spoilt by some little f&%kers again, may be what we need is a couple fo transit loads to go up one night and just wait about  just to have a chat that is 

so u thinking kids or travellers, i think chris was hinting more at kids but if things are going missing and i guess the items are of scrap value then it wont be the kids


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## fluffy5518

Cant give you my feelings about the kind of scum that do this cos at the very least the posting will be removed and i'll probably be banned BUT i know this kind of low life from owning locos/vehicles in the railway preservation movement and believe me ' whats yours is theirs ' is their attitude. Still just place your faith in the might of the law eh !!!!
PS As Godzy has said if we can get a weekend sorted out we would love to help out !!


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## Derelict-UK

Thanks for all the offers to help out, I will talk to Chris and see when might be a good date in the near future to get some work done.

Regarding the break in, It isn't kids, they cut the locks to one of the gates and used a transit van to haul some heavy items out of one of the out houses. I don't think they got away with them though, but the damage is done.

Put it this way though, they won't be getting a transit down that road again though, but it also means that we can't get any vehicles down there for servicing either. 

Where there is a will, they will break in and run away with it all. The police couldn't be arsed to turn up and collect the tools they left either.

The only way to catch them IS to stay overnight, but that could end up with US being done for something unpleasant. The police will arrest them and then release them without charge, it's shit but it's true.


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## Derelict-UK

Now the genny is fixed we could get back to work on the lights, we have put in 4 new lights in tunnel 4, only 2 more to go and the whole tunnel will be lit as it was when in use.

It is a case of replacing all the old and knackered ones with weather/moisture sealed ones, especially with the aircon not running in best order.

A video from the start of tunnel 4 through to switch the genny & lights off...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dBADwG70tM[/ame]


Next is to sort some toilets plumbing and get the aircon heating fixed.


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## fluffy5518

Crackin' little video !! Nice to see triumph in the face of adversity !! Keep up the good work lads !! Excellent choice of music too !! (whateveritis !!)


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## Andymacg

excellent work lads keep it up and if in the future you need a hand with anything let me know


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## Derelict-UK

Andymacg said:


> excellent work lads keep it up and if in the future you need a hand with anything let me know



If you have any specific skills, you can get in touch through the website, We do work parties and get quite a lot of stuff done in one day compared to the usual us 2 can do in the same time.

http://www.drakelow-tunnels.co.uk


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## Derelict-UK

Some more updates (Please view the Preservation Update section on the website for more info)

July 9th:

Tunnel 4 lighting...







August 20th:

Generator Wire Tracing...









September 17th:

Work Party, (Lights, Cleaning, getting rid of rotten structure ready for the rebuild)...


























www.drakelow-tunnels.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who helped out


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## krela

I can't believe people are so small minded and selfish that they mindlessly destroy all your good work.


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## Derelict-UK

krela said:


> I can't believe people are so small minded and selfish that they mindlessly destroy all your good work.



Well I don't think they will be getting back in the radiator room, it's hard enough for us to open it with a key!


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## Derelict-UK

*5th Nov.*

Another update...

Today had me crawling along a cable gantry 13ft above a pool of diesel asking myself why I plucked the short straw!!

I was helping to install a fault/trip alarm for the generator that will sound incase of a fault. This should allow us to get to it and turn it off before any lasting or major damage is caused.

It looks pretty cool too!!


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_S7flW1eoI[/ame]


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## Derelict-UK

We finally got the Air conditioning working yesterday, all fans fire up and and there is even HEAT being generated!! 

On the road to dryer pastures lol.


Today the Russians came to visit. They saw the article on the open day in the Daily Mail and asked to do their own news piece. It will be aired in Russia on Ren TV but we should be getting a copy of it so it will go up on the www.drakelow-tunnels.co.uk website in the near future. Here is some pics of them visiting and interviewing the caretaker...


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## Marraf

Thanks Derelict-UK for yesterday trip...


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## Derelict-UK

It was good to meet you and your friends, a nice day out!


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## Marraf

Really nice day out!
Houses and rooms in the rocks, fascinating neighborhood.


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## Derelict-UK

You will all be happy to know that the mens toilets urinals now self clean!! There was a blockage in the pipe that has now been cleared.

As we didn't have any bleach to hand, I used some 30 years old Supplies Division liquid detergent to clean them up!! I get all the nice jobs 

Also, we met a guy who worked there during the cold war. He is going to try and find a video of the day after the cold war ended when we got his home video camera and wandered round the complex filming as he went!

According to this guy (who worked in the communication department) this was before the MOD stripped the place of all items and they were sent off in skips to be disposed of!

Hopefully we should get the video on our website within a few weeks.


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## chris

Really impressed with you and your fellow volunteers' hard work and care for this fantastic site - respect


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## Derelict-UK

Thanks Chris. It's like a ROC rennovation but on a massive scale lol.


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## chris

My calculator just exploded trying to work out how many ROC posts you could fit into Drakelow


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## Derelict-UK

well the would all fit in top of hatch to ground floor, I reckon you would fit over half of the countries stock of them side by side!


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## Derelict-UK

How about this for a rare video, I have been in contact with a local man who worked in the tunnels during the Cold War and in March 1992, whilst the MOD still owned the bunker (after the war ended), he made a home video of the inside during it's final days of use!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ewn8CG76E0[/ame]


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## flyboys90

Derelict-UK said:


> How about this for a rare video, I have been in contact with a local man who worked in the tunnels during the Cold War and in March 1992, whilst the MOD still owned the bunker (after the war ended), he made a home video of the inside during it's final days of use!
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ewn8CG76E0



Absolutely superb video! I really enjoyed that.I first went down Drakelaw late 90,s of course all the good kit had gone and it was showing the signs of no air circulating, heavy fungi build up and then not long after that
the metal miners pinched the wiring loom thankfully there was back up loom,to be honest without Paul Stokes and his dedicated team I dread to think what would have become of it.
His book is worth a read and does not cost a lot " Drakelaw Unearthed" if anybody has any problem obtaining a 
let me know and I will point inthe direction.


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## tank2020

Gotta love the colour scheme.


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## Derelict-UK

flyboys90 said:


> Absolutely superb video! I really enjoyed that.I first went down Drakelaw late 90,s of course all the good kit had gone and it was showing the signs of no air circulating, heavy fungi build up and then not long after that
> the metal miners pinched the wiring loom thankfully there was back up loom,to be honest without Paul Stokes and his dedicated team I dread to think what would have become of it.
> His book is worth a read and does not cost a lot " Drakelaw Unearthed" if anybody has any problem obtaining a
> let me know and I will point inthe direction.




Although Mr Stokes did have some kind of prevention on areas to save, their actual involvement of helping to renovate the bunker was almost non existent. 

They were more into keeping the complex untouched and left as it was left in the early 90's (as with the video).

Unfortunately over the decades it has quite obviously degraded (mainly due to the electrics being cut in a break in, preventing the air conditioning working 24/7). 

For 2 years we have been working every other week renovating areas, putting new bulbs in, fixing the air/con, fixing the heating, fixing the genny etc.

Paul Stokes was eventually turfed out of the tunnels after he was found to be giving people private tours without the owners permission and pocketing the money and not putting it back into the tunnels.

We have made thousands of pounds over the last two years through paranormal bookings and open days/music/film productions. All from our own effort to get the bunker back on track.

Every single penny has gone back into the tunnels renovation. We take nothing, zilch.

I appreciate what the 'friends of Drakelow' did to try and stop any further destruction, but the way they treated the owner wasn't exactly professional.

Paul Stokes's book is however annoyingly good and has been a great help to piece together different parts of its history.


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## lilli

and for my next trick .......... paragraphs!


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## Derelict-UK

Well it's 2014 and time for the latest Drakelow Tunnels update!!

Our first work party of the new year took place yesterday and we welcomed along 2 new volunteers to the group who helped the group pull through a new mains cable and do other electrical magicary!

They also helped to start the clearing of the BT communications room where we plan to make the areas safe (remove rotted beams, dry out, replace beams and replace false ceiling etc). We started with removing some rotted beams and tying up the air fans that were once held in place by the false ceiling.

With the new electrics going to the security hut at the entrance of Adit A, we are installing mains boards and other panels that will be used in the future.

The images below show some of the work done and the transformation of the newly finished store room, from empty to full and a secure place for us to keep the ladders etc so nothing goes wandering off around the tunnels and it takes us half a day to find it!!

https://facebook.com/SaveDrakelow


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## flyboys90

Its all looking very good now,everyone there is doing an amazing job congrats to all concerned.


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## Derelict-UK

Just to let you all know, we have our last open day of this year on Sunday the 7th of December. For full details, please visit our facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/SaveDrakelow


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