The abandoned Cooling towers of Willington Power station
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ย. 2020
- In this video we visit the abandoned cooling towers of the former Willington power station. Willington power station was a coal fired power station that was built in the UK in the 1950's. It was de commissioned in 1999. Situated in the Midlands of the UK its between Derby and Burton upon Trent. Indeed the river Trent can be seen behind the cooling towers. The abandoned cooling towers are 300 feet high. These massive concrete structures are a good example of architectural brutalism. We discuss how the power station was served by the merry go round coal trains of the 1980's by British Rail. We have some aerial drone footage of this former industrial site during this urbex exploration. Urban exploring.
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They are natural-draught, hyperboloid cooling towers.
They work on the principle of evaporative cooling. Hot water from the power station is pumped into the cooling tower at a height of about 30ft, where it is sprayed through a series of nozzles (much like an office sprinkler system) on to a layer of dense latticework, which is called the fill. The hot water coats this honeycomb, trickling downwards.
The base of the cooling tower sits on a plinth of 25ft-high concrete struts, which forms a massive natural draught intake. The warm air produced by the hot water rises inside the cooling tower, drawing in cold air from outside, which cools the water coating the fill. The inwardly sloping curve of the tower narrows to a diameter almost half the size of its base, arresting most of the vapour; only up to 5 per cent is lost to evaporation. The term for these clouds of vapour, which are erroneously presumed to be steam (or even smoke), is drift.
Thanks! That answers every question i had!
@@mileshigh1321 Glad I was able to help!
thank you - I was about to Google this and post a link - no need now!
Great info, I'm surprised there didn't seem to be much evidence of rust or concrete cancer if thats the case with all that water about
Chaplecross near Annan in southern Scotland had cooling towers like these but one of them had a big bulge on the side near the narrowest point. It was allegedly caused by a slump in the concrete but it was too late to correct it so it lived as testament to the contractors cock up.
As a child I thought power stations were brilliant places. My dad worked at both Huncoat and Padiham and occasionally took me to "work" with him on Saturday mornings. When the station was on a shut down we climbed the spiral staircase and went through the hatch into the side of one of the cooling towers, toured the inside of the boiler house (where some of the early series of Red Dwarf were filmed), went round the turbine hall and workshops. The highlight for me though was going up to the railway sidings where the coal hopper was. By this time coal was mainly brought in by road but the yard was still operational and there were loads of coal waggons just lying around. My dad let me drive one of the diesel shunters, couple up to one of the wagons and take it to the discharge point, uncouple it then raise it in the lift to be tipped. Going backwards and forwards in that yard has to be the best day's work for a 10 year old.
That's the kind of stuff we will always remember about good dad's. 😊
Padiham Power Station was demolished by Able who also demolished Willington Power Station 5 to 6 years later.
Brilliant look at something we don't normally get to see!
Cheers Ray, glad you enjoyed
I worked 20yrs for a company called Mastabar in Accrington who supplied conveyor jointing systems for Willington power station. Thanks for that Martin.
Thanks Ian
As a kid up north, I thought all the cooling towers where for making clouds...
Me as well 😃
@@MartinZero Well you were both kind of right.
That's why some folk call them cloud factories :)
@@akwalek And don't get me started about Wind Farms! ;)
@@akwalek The Wind farms are not actually for generating power they are actually used for blowing the rain clouds 🌧🌧🌧away from Manchester because they are sick of it raining all the time ☔☔😉😊. A lot of farmers actually pay for them to blow the clouds over the farmland during droughts.🌧🌧.
The thing outside at 7:07 is a gate valve with a motorized actuator.
Thanks 👍
We sell these at work was going to reply this
All that weight if you think about it is balanced on nothing but a load of sticks! I have actually flown over these in a helicopter when i was in the RAF, we circled them a few times. I have driven past them more times than i can recall - leave them be! They are not hurting anyone and stand as a monument to man’s ingenuity........magnificent structures. Great video!
I agree they have become a monument
Like it or not, these man made structures are quite impressive, even now they stand out for miles around.
Vast relics of part of a bygone era of UK power generation.
No longer serving their purpose, will be eventually removed no doubt and gone forever, like so many others like them.
Great to have a final look around them.
Nice post guys.🙂👊👍
Thanks Mervyn
Used to live around the corner from willington ... often drove past, never went in ... I now live in NZ ... no chance of going back but thanks gents for filling in a gap for me concerning this wonderful former power station.
I’m a local living just down the road in Burton and always glimpse them on my way to and from work.
There used to be 3 large coal fired stations with altogether 10 cooling towers at a place called Drakelow, which was always dubbed Burton’s power station even though it was technically in South Derbyshire. All three stations are gone, closed and demolished between 1984 and 2006, so considering Willington closed in the late 90s before the last station closed at Drakelow in 2003, but it’s 5 impressive towers still dominate the skyline around here, I feel proud that these have lucked out to stick around as monuments to our industrial heritage, albeit decaying ones.
I managed to get legal access to Drakelow Power Station in 2003. The cooling towers there were bigger standing at 350 tall. I went inside the turbine hall and control room.
I'm always surprised to see Willington still standing. I'm sure it won't be long before it's just a memory and you'll be glad to have made the video Martin. Fiddlers Ferry is another that has just closed and should be kept an eye on.
Cheers John, yes I was glad to get up close and record these things
My dad was a steel fixer all his working life. He worked on the Fiddlers Ferry power station cooling towers, near Warrington. A workmate fell whilst he was there. A very dangerous construction job.
Yeah I couldnt do it
I saw your drone footage of the Cooling Towers at Willington Power Station. Brought back so many Memories. I worked at Willington many years ago, first went there in 1967 as an Engineer working first in the Main Control Room, then in the Unit Control Rooms on Willington A Power Station and then on Willington B Power Station. Worked their till I took early retirement 1993. Both stations were still running then at least for a few more years.
The two empty cooling towers were linked with A Station. 4 * 104MW Turbine Generators. The steam used to drive the Turbines was condensed back to feed water by use of river water pumped directly from the river through turbine condenser and back to the river downstream. These two towers were used when river conditions were such that insufficient water was available at the river , many causes for this, and these towers could be brought in to use to give additional cooling water. It was still river water.
The three towers which are still largely intact were linked to B Station 2 * 200MW Turbine/Generators and it was a closed circuit system, only topped up with River Water as required by evaporation.
The Inlet valves were used to take a tower in or out of service depending on cooling demand.
As you surmised the inlet did go up to the middle, and then there were pipes radiating out from the central distribution point to near the Tower Walls. These pipes had numerous nozzles on the top which were designed to cause the cooling water to fan out over the cooling slat sand grids. What is no longer in place are those distribution pipes, and also loads of triangular cross section wooden slats fitted in to the grids below the distribution pipes and the walkways so that the nozzles etc could be inspected. I think these wooden slats were removed and disposed of after decommissioning because they were arsenic impregnated wood. (used as a preservative).
The towers also had a ring of pipe around the inside of the tower wall near the edge of the distribution pipes which was meant to be used to provide a curtain wall during freezing weather to try and prevent the slats from icing up. It did work to some degree.
I even remember one time when the B Station site was shut down for an extended period and the Cooling Water Culvert Pipes were inspected. Seemed like miles when walking along those pipes which had been drained. And spooky.
Ah what memories seeing these pictures bring back. But it seems like eons ago now.
Still my thanks for those memories
Hello Bruce, thanks very much for the info. Very glad it brought back memories for you 👍
I found a water sprinkler inside the second cooling tower at Willington A. It’s constructed in brass. It looks like a fire sprinkler but bigger. I believe they were screwed on asbestos pipes. The piping was removed prior to 2003 but they left the concrete cooling tower packings below the sprayers. It’s the concrete panels that held the timbers you were referring to. It looks like they started demolition work on the first 2 towers at the A station in 2000 by removing the asbestos and timber leaving the concrete packings behind. Then years later they decided to remove the concrete packings for safety reasons. They were a climbing hazard. The demolition contractor also demolished the access stairs to all 5 towers during the demolition of the power station. I would love to know how many water sprayers each tower had?
I needed this video today. Missing the East Midlands, my old job at nearby Ratcliffe power station and mucking about with my mates at these cooling towers. Thanks!
Great video, I can see Drax from the village where I live, hopefully at least its cooling towers will be around for years to come.
Drax is huge
I was only there yesterday and today I get recommended your video. I didn't go on the grounds like yourself, just flown a drone over to look.
Great for droning Marc
Greetings on Lancashire Day, Martin, the 27th of October. The day to celebrate the true boundaries of our historic county, from the Furness fells to the River Mersey. Hope you'll have a toast tonight! (or another night if you've missed it) :) Keep up the great work you're doing, it's fascinating stuff.
Thanks very much David
I used to drive past them every day in the 1970s. They were a great sight.
legal height limit for a drone is 400ft, looks like your drone has its limit set, but what a great view from up there.
Yeah incredible views, we were just losing the light
Great video. I must drive my train past Willington a few times a week, used to drop a couple of thousand of tonnes of coal at Rugeley , Ratcliffe weekly (and before that a few trips to Cottam) before the end of King Coal on the railways in 2015.
Fantastic!!....good lord my friend, there's all kind of history on your island...well, I'll drink to that! Well done
Cheers James
Brilliant again Martin. I am Ex fire service, we went to one back in the 80's that was being demolished in Foleshill, Coventry, the chemicals use to treat the inner timbers gave off cyanide when burned. We had to go there put out a fire in the timber stack. I had a good look around while there. We (Fire service visit) got the chance later that year to go inside a working dry seal gas holder on the same site and walk down the ladder to stand on top of the piston, a most surreal experience.
Wow that sounds good, I would love to visit a working one
Fantastic Martin. Hard to believe all that weight supported by those triangular supports at the base
Yeah that got me as well Matthew
Welcome to my neck of the woods. I'm in Derby and can see the cooling towers from my window, you should have given me a shout, I'd have made you a cuppa! Watching the chimneys get blown a few years back was a sight to behold.
I would have loved to have seen the site complete Dave
03:44 - Saint Martin?
I love cooling towers - they're oddly eerie inside. I went in one with my late father many, many years ago, when I went to work with him when I was about ten. The place blew my tiny mind. It was dangerous, and creepy, and you felt like an ant. They are nothing like you'd imagine them to be. That cleared one might be an interesting gig space - a nice loud band like Working Mens' Club, Idles, or Fontaines D.C. in there would probably sound astonishing.
Wonderful, evocative music on your video yet again, especially for the drone footage. At 12:36, you can see a section of the Trent, which in not too many years will become an 'Ox Bow Lake' - the river will cut across the narrowest part of the bend, and will eventually leave the old bend as a silted up 'U' shaped lake or pond.
Great video. Thank you and Ant. Nice one.
How much do I wanna hear Sha Sha Sha being belted out in one of these now. Great idea 👍
@@swampthing20 - Weirdly, that was the tune I was hearing when I wrote that - it's a bit of an earworm - once heard, endlessly reheard! Yes, that would sound fantastic.
Thanks Brian, I will go back and look at that bit of the Trent
Your cinematography becomes more impressive in every new video. I've always been fascinated by these massive structures, how they work and the way in which they dominate the skyline... some of them should honestly be preserved as a colossal monument to the past.
Awesome. First thing I thought was I wonder what the acoustics would be like. Love it
Very nice echo in there
Missed a few but, glad i got this one. Another great video, Martin. Thank you.
Memory Lane for me, Martin, since I managed to get up close and personal to the Agecroft Towers pre-demolition. Great standard again. These structures should remain.🇯🇪
I would have loved to have seen Agecroft properly, it was only up the road from me
Brilliant
As a kid I played under the cooling towers of the disused hartshead power station so always find them interesting.fond memories.love your stuff.
Cheers Carl
Wow always wanted to see inside a cooling tower. The drone camera work was stunning, awesome infact, great atmospheric music too. Great video!
Living nearby, I’ve never visited the Cooling Towers despite passing through Willington countless times. So to see them close up, albeit via Martin’s excellent TH-cam video is a treat. I really must see them first hand...
Thanks very much
Another Great video Martin, really enjoyed it, never seen up close before, just imagine a party held inside the one cleared out, music bouncing off the walls and lights going , mmm, maybe a proper bad head after 30 mins? Ha,ha
That's just mind blowing brilliant how they came up with a stable design like that
Hi Martin and Ant, I love the cooling towers and think it would be such ashame to pull them down. I thought the images from inside the towers looking upwards were amazing, thanks for sharing Martin. 🔴🟡🟢
Thanks Ruth, yes I agree there is something about them that is poetic
As a young adult here in Sacramento, I toured the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Station, which had two of these towers. From my recollection, there was more metal lattice structures to increase surface area inside to spread the cooling water out.
But I also recall standing next to the opening and feel the draft it created. It was this steady flow of air past your body. This was early summer but any other time of year, the draft would be quite chilly.
As for their fate? Well once the brownfield remediation is complete, which probably includes the area around the towers, they will be pulled down because the land can be reused.
Phenomenal structures, especially when you think how thin the walls are and the weather conditions they are exposed to.
Yeah dissapearing like the gasometers
Fantastic, there was a cooling tower like this at the end of my street when I was really little, along with an older square wooden one that loomed over our house. I still remember being a bit freaked out because the wooden one looked like a giant building with no windows!
All gone now I bet
@@MartinZero The wooden one was demolished whilst we still lived there, and a plague of suddenly homeless rats infested all the houses at our end of the street! Concrete one was pulled down in the 80s. It was one of those early power stations that was built actually in the city, so it had no room to expand. It was never intended to produce much more than power for streetlights when it was first built at the back end of the 19th century.
Thank you guys that was brilliant I use to work at willington over 16 year and has just changed my job I always looked at the towers just standing there empty redundant.yes can remember the coal Trains pulling in to be emptied and loved to hear the old pair of class 20s going by before they got replaced by class 37s I think was there next update loco . great video loved the drone footage that's awesome. Thank you again
Thanks very much Nick
Absolutely amazing, Thankyou Martin. I've been to Derby 100's of times, and driven past it, 1000's, and I never knew they existed. An interesting insight, of what remains of a disused power station. Well done 👏
Does anyone know what the 'mechanism' on the ramp was at the base of the entact tower?
It looks like a really cross, angry mechanical ape!
Another great video Martin thanks, magnificent structures these can understand the locals dont want them to disappear, when ever i see these cooling towers they remind me of Agecroft and like you mentioned how those little triangular legs hold all of them up is amazing, take care
They where an eyesore when they where part of the power plant! Now they are real monoliths of 20th century progress! They are actually incredibly built and something to look at! and should be preserved now! Great drone footage too Martin! I will check out Ants channel also!
Wow...what a great vid Martin ....
The cooling tower design has always has amazed me on how they constructed and designed them .
Stunning vid....
Jim
Cracking video of a location that’s been on my drone flight list for a good while now! I believe the towers were saved from demolition when a mating pair of Peregrine Falcons nested there.
Yeah that was in the 90's I put it in the video
That is an Automated Valve for coolant to be throttled open or closed.
I watched Didcot power station being built between 1964-68, i watched it grow each day, demolition began in 2014, i never thought i would see this in my lifetime (i'm 65)
If you have seen the videos of 'concrete 3D printing', didcot cooling towers were done in a similar way, a central tower was erected with an arm on it (just like @11:06), i can't remember if it was all concrete, or if it was shaped blocks, but iirc they were built in a spiral (which can be seen from the forwork in the pic above)
Water was sprayed into the towers from that centrral pipe, and dripped down the plates, the shape of the tower meant the heat going out the top drew cool air from below (Bernoulli effect)
At didcot, the warm water was used to breed eels in ponds next to the towers.
I bet those Eels were big buggers
Martin.. Thank you... breathtaking footage...
Excellent Martin, your vid plus the comments from folk who know the history and mechanics is most informative.
John
Your drone footage is amazing. I really enjoyed this video.
Great production. Love the music and feel, nice one Martin
I had one of my favourite drone adventures there.
The Cooling Powers are impressive indeed. when travelling to Derby on the way you can see them out the window, at the moment. Where I live in Rugeley, there is another Power Station, used to have a A Power Station and B Power Station, the A Power Station long gone in the mid 90s but they only closed the B Power Station 2016 and started last year knocking it down and I have been capturing the demolition (part from the 1st one which was a complete disaster, thanks to the fog, there was something coming down but they couldn't blow it up until the fog was 50 meters above the structure ) but a very impressive video indeed and also nice to see Ant!
Cheers Simon
One of the reasons these towers haven't been demolished yet is that peregrine falcons are nesting in a couple of them. Its always a pleasure to see them flying around and over my garden.
Thank you Martin... wonderful footage.
Yesssss SO stoked to watch this. Thank you!
Thanks Stephanie
That was amazing. Thank you. Music brilliant. Drone footage was powerful. Loved it.
Thank you Shirley
Hiya Thanks that was amazing seeing them up close how enormous they are, I live in Chadderton and remember watching the towers off Broadway coming down very sad really 😢 x
Thanks, Martin, that's something very, very few of us will ever get to see. Love your trainspottingishness, too.
Thank you, I have never forgotten being a trainspotter
Whilst working in derby last week I was drawn to these towers and the closer I got I couldn't belive there size, pulled the van up outside the gate nearest to the towers and looked on in amazement, What a by gone age would be sad to see them go.
They do have a certain concrete charm Dan
Another great video Martin. Cooling towers hold a fascination for me, especially those as I have passed them many times. Thanks for the brilliant footage 👍👍
Thanks very much Steve
Loved it - thanks Martin!
Beautiful video. Gorgeous footage. As always: Love the natural relaxed and therefore completely unhysterical tempo.
Thanks Brian
Another excellent video Martin, many thanks !.
Thanks Roger
That is mental, to see them towers standing on tiny struts. I do understand that triangles are the strongest shape... But seriously that is immense 👍
Yeah amazing to think all that weight
Many thanks Martin and Ant. I'd agree with the local people. It would be a great shame to see the towers go. Wonderful pieces of industrial design. Great video as always Martin.
Thanks very much Mike
You never cease to amaze. What a great video. Makes me want to go visit. Way more exciting than any "tourist attraction" in the area :-)
Loving this. Just been watching some other Explorers looking at Fiddlers Ferry, and whilst i genuinely did enjoy their footage, i have to say that i found this more (for the want of a better description), relaxed/chilled/calm/gentle even, on every level. Keep up the great work, Martin. Thoroughly enjoyed pretty much everything i've watched of what you've posted. Nice one... \m/ (:o)
Another great video Martin. Only seen them from a distance never realised they were as Tall. Good drone footage as well
Brilliant. Those towers are amazing, like you I'm amazed at how those slender columns support that weight.
Yeah scary Mike
Another excellent video, Martin. Thank you. My Mum used to work in a power station as a secretary many years ago. I don't know which one, as there are a few sites like that in the Derby/Notts/Leicestershire area. I think one or two of them have preservation orders on them... And don't be ashamed or embarrassed... I also used to be a train-spotter in the 80's, based in Chesterfield and often taking a rover ticket with a bunch of other spotters, so we could get about the area a bit and see different engines working different lines, so it was good to see a 'Peak' again in your video. I'm pretty sure that old fellah went through Chesterfield a time or two. Thanks again. All the best!
this was great martin thank you both so much all the best from trev and chris down south
Thanks very much to you both
Great video martin, brought back many memories as i used to deliver bread to the canteen at
Willington B many years ago.
Thats brilliant Colin, bet you saw it all in action
Absolutely fantastic Martin. Thanks 👍👍👍
Thank you Lisa
Effin brilliant video Martin! Twenty years ago I'd have bin doing free parties in places like the filled in towers..and trainspotting is an honourable pastime that unfortunately has dwindled in it's appeal since locomotives have been replaced wi multiple units and trailing power cars etc....deltics forever! Best wishes and take care
I drive close to these on the A50 twice a week, year round on my travels between Manchester and the South.
Now I know what I'm missing each time I pass by!
I must admit I'm baffled as to how the supports at the base manage to take all the weight of the concrete above.
Btw the drone footage was great x
Thank you, yes 6500 tonnes on those thin concrete legs !!!
Saw the 8 cooling towers at Ratcliffe upon Soar (not many miles from Willington) also close to the Trent from close up. The East Midland main line runs hard by them and in recent times a new rail station too, East Midlands Parkway. When they are in operation great sheets of water can be seen falling from the sides into the lagoon at the bottom, while a cloud of steam wafts from the top of the tower
Nice to see. Wife runs a shop in the village, they are very familiar to us
Amazon Martin. I was so looking forward to this video and you didn’t disappoint, yet again 👍🏼
Concrete leviathans or what hey ?!!!!!
Cheers Dan, yes absolute intimidating giants
Great video as usual Martin. 😀
Thoroughly enjoyable once again Martin 👍
Thanks Martin
Ah brilliant Martin your videos are fantastic proper Sunday viewing thank you
Thanks very much Rob
A belting video again Martin. :-) I remember going on a school visit to Agecroft Power Stn in the early 80s (probably near to it closure) and we were taken near the cooling towers to see them in action. I remember all the water dripping down, and there was like a water sump/ pool underneath. 💧💧💧
Regarding the Electrical Excitor. This equipment is/was used on large rotating machines such as generators to provide an external source of current flow in order to start the generator outputting power. 💡💡
I would have loved to have seen that John
@@MartinZero unfortunately I don't remember if it was Station A, B, or C. But it was one of the best primary school trips! :-) Partly why I was disappointed not to have made it to see the control room before it got stripped out :-(
Music and video combined really well on this one, loved it 👍
Cheers David
Thank-you, what a fantastic collaboration! Two of my fave TH-camrs at the same time!
😃😃😃😃😃❤️
Thanks very much Sergei
Watching your excellent videos along with a dram of glenmorangie both indispensible ! Well done martin.
Cheers Terry 🍷
Great enjoyed that fascinating. Love old trains too..
Thanks, yeah cant beat an old diesel
Very well made. Good music mixing too, was very appropriate.
Excellent, Really enjoyed watching this one. Drone Footage was Brilliant
Thanks Andrew
I once went to an open day at Ince power station near Ellesmere Port, long gone now, but it had a single cooling tower. It had massive fans to improve the cooling effect, and I was told it did the job of 4 conventional towers.
Closer to where I live, in the 80s, one of the eight cooling towers at Fiddlers Ferry blew down one windy night. You can actually see a slight colour difference in its replacement.
Love your videos Martin, thanks for this
Thank you very much
Thank you for the upload i always enjoy your videos 👍👍👍
Thanks very much Colin
Awesome. Always love seeing these when on a train
Only looked up how these things work after staying in a hotel near some near Warrington a few months back. I remember seeing some in action up
Close on a primary school trip to padiham in the late 80’s. Can’t imagine kids today would get that chance. Great imposing structures.
Fascinating. Loved the side story of the diesel loco.
Fascinating vid as always martin
Thanks very much
I can see these from my living room window :-D
Lets hope they stay David
Briliant video saw Ant video the other day and you both did amazing ..those cooling towers really are an awesome size and sight we visited the ones at fiddlers ferry near warrington recently during a canal walk also stood on the Runcorn bridge which gives wonderful views of them anyway i am rambling lol keep up the great work martin ..regards Frank & Lee...
Fascinating vid about strangely compelling structures - I can remember that one at Fiddlers Ferry collapsed in (I think) the 1990’s . I lived in Goole on Humberside for a year and I could see the huge ones at Drax (Britain’s biggest) from my window.
The B2 cooling tower at Fiddlers Ferry Power Station collapsed during a gale in January 1984. It was known that this tower contained a roughly axisymmetric bulge just above the ring beam which had been present since the time of construction. This paper describes various finite element analysis that were carried out to assess the effect of this geometrical imperfection on the stresses in the tower. It is shown that the bulge would have caused vertical cracks to develop and the subsequent propagation of both horizontal and vertical cracks would have ultimately lead to the collapse of the tower.
Thanks Jordan
So interesting Martin , loved it , I’m off to google how cooling towers work now .
These are what drones were made for superb footage 🧱👍🏼
Cheers Martin, really good quality drone footage.
Thank you