Post: Inverkip: Farewell to a Friend
If you want some background information, I suggest you read this post. So why return to the "much raped" Inverkip Power Station for a third time? Well, it had been about a year and a half since my last visit, and workers have been hard at work dismantling all the machinery so that it can be used as spares or sold on. Because of its limited usage, most of the stuff in Inverkip is in very good condition.
As well as checking on the progress of the deconstruction, because I had last visited with a Fuji bridge camera, I was also keen to try to get some new shots.
Apart from the fact I got no sleep prior to the trip yet still managed to pitch up late, it was almost a textbook start. Early morning, not yet light. Things weren't quite as textbook from then on though as we wasted an hour on entry, only to find that once inside there was a door wide open to the world on the other side of the building. Always take a quick reccé no matter how much you think you know the place.
We hit the control room first, as it's the only place where you don't need daylight. Having spent an hour tidying up papers strewn around, cleaning off red ink that had been sprayed everywhere and re-attaching wall boards, we set about to take some photos. I thought there wasn't really more I could take of this place until I discovered the Lamp Test buttons. I depressed one and the entire panel lit up. Ooh! Shiny! There were more of these buttons and after a little dismantling and creative use of plastic key rings, we had the whole damn thing lit up like a Christmas tree. This was the control room quite literally in a new light.
Having composed and exposed, we pulled the fuses and left. It was bright out in the turbine hall by now, so off we went to spend the rest of the day clambering around the place, snapping away as we went. A slight concern was to find the previously wide open door had been padlocked from the inside and our entry point boarded up, also from the inside. Thankfully the control room is deep inside a sub structure so we went unheard.
We hiked up to the roof for a chill, in both senses, before working our way out and finally down the road to the pub for a very welcome steak.
The chimney's been shut up for some time now, I was one of the lucky few to ascend it a few years back. If I ever return again, it'll be to climb the chimney one last time.
As well as checking on the progress of the deconstruction, because I had last visited with a Fuji bridge camera, I was also keen to try to get some new shots.
Apart from the fact I got no sleep prior to the trip yet still managed to pitch up late, it was almost a textbook start. Early morning, not yet light. Things weren't quite as textbook from then on though as we wasted an hour on entry, only to find that once inside there was a door wide open to the world on the other side of the building. Always take a quick reccé no matter how much you think you know the place.
We hit the control room first, as it's the only place where you don't need daylight. Having spent an hour tidying up papers strewn around, cleaning off red ink that had been sprayed everywhere and re-attaching wall boards, we set about to take some photos. I thought there wasn't really more I could take of this place until I discovered the Lamp Test buttons. I depressed one and the entire panel lit up. Ooh! Shiny! There were more of these buttons and after a little dismantling and creative use of plastic key rings, we had the whole damn thing lit up like a Christmas tree. This was the control room quite literally in a new light.
Having composed and exposed, we pulled the fuses and left. It was bright out in the turbine hall by now, so off we went to spend the rest of the day clambering around the place, snapping away as we went. A slight concern was to find the previously wide open door had been padlocked from the inside and our entry point boarded up, also from the inside. Thankfully the control room is deep inside a sub structure so we went unheard.
We hiked up to the roof for a chill, in both senses, before working our way out and finally down the road to the pub for a very welcome steak.
The chimney's been shut up for some time now, I was one of the lucky few to ascend it a few years back. If I ever return again, it'll be to climb the chimney one last time.