Coryton closed in 2012, this unfortunately managed to clash with me buying my first house, moving to the other side of the country and starting a new job. Unsurprisingly i didn't really have time to check it out properly until early 2015. At this point it still looked very intact and live. We had a couple of pokes but not only was it quite well secure i couldn't seem to interest anyone else in it at all. 'All pipes and tanks' they said! Every time we went down south we would take a look and decide it was too risky to try and would probably spoil whatever the 'main event' for the trip was going to be (Tilbury, Foulness etc etc.)
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and i see @slayaaaa and @Maniac have been. At first this surprised me a little as i honestly had pretty much given up with the place. Far away, secure, no one else interested.. I was expecting it to become another one of those places that over the years have just quietly slipped away and been missed. The fact that these guys had actually been there and not only made the effort to get in but subsequently discovered this quite frankly epic power plant brought a big smile to my face. Not only have they found something epic but it was just great to see the continuing trend of places getting well and truly nailed! It was only last summer that i was still bitching about how few people made the effort to actually explore and how i felt i had to do everything myself or see it missed. Now the UE world really seems to have turned a corner and so much good stuff is done so promptly i almost feel like like i can't keep up! I guess i just want to say well done all! Not just for here but Kellingley Redcar etc etc. Job well and truly done so far and i needent to have lifted a finger myself really!
So on to the actual report hey. First attempt was a disaster, security is still pretty good so you need to be careful. I returned again this week for another go. After some tweaks to the plan all went well and i had a great morning mooching around the site. Little is left of the actual refinery now. Mainly just chimneys so i concentrated on the power station itself.
The epic was coming thick and fast already. Cool signs, enamels, workers graffiti and a good look inside one of the condenser units that had been dismantled
I also met this guy in there who seemed keen to shake my hand
I left him a tip
It was still pretty dark inside so i popped out to have a look at the chimneys and boilers. There are 5 Chimneys as you would expect. Three smaller original items and two larger more modern additions. This also tallies up with the boilers. Three original and two larger and more modern. There isn't really much of a boiler house to speak of. the boilers are external and only the firing face is inside the building.
Heading back inside i checked out the firing faces. No Hopkinsons gauges here unfortunately.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and i see @slayaaaa and @Maniac have been. At first this surprised me a little as i honestly had pretty much given up with the place. Far away, secure, no one else interested.. I was expecting it to become another one of those places that over the years have just quietly slipped away and been missed. The fact that these guys had actually been there and not only made the effort to get in but subsequently discovered this quite frankly epic power plant brought a big smile to my face. Not only have they found something epic but it was just great to see the continuing trend of places getting well and truly nailed! It was only last summer that i was still bitching about how few people made the effort to actually explore and how i felt i had to do everything myself or see it missed. Now the UE world really seems to have turned a corner and so much good stuff is done so promptly i almost feel like like i can't keep up! I guess i just want to say well done all! Not just for here but Kellingley Redcar etc etc. Job well and truly done so far and i needent to have lifted a finger myself really!
So on to the actual report hey. First attempt was a disaster, security is still pretty good so you need to be careful. I returned again this week for another go. After some tweaks to the plan all went well and i had a great morning mooching around the site. Little is left of the actual refinery now. Mainly just chimneys so i concentrated on the power station itself.
This Is the sight that meets you as you approach the station. A great 1950s building, glass bricks and a rather inviting sign and open door!
Popping in the basement level i started to have a poke around. It is fairly clear that the station would have originally had four units and has been extended at some point, possibly in the 1980s, to house a fifth.
Popping in the basement level i started to have a poke around. It is fairly clear that the station would have originally had four units and has been extended at some point, possibly in the 1980s, to house a fifth.
The epic was coming thick and fast already. Cool signs, enamels, workers graffiti and a good look inside one of the condenser units that had been dismantled
I also met this guy in there who seemed keen to shake my hand
I left him a tip
It was still pretty dark inside so i popped out to have a look at the chimneys and boilers. There are 5 Chimneys as you would expect. Three smaller original items and two larger more modern additions. This also tallies up with the boilers. Three original and two larger and more modern. There isn't really much of a boiler house to speak of. the boilers are external and only the firing face is inside the building.
Heading back inside i checked out the firing faces. No Hopkinsons gauges here unfortunately.
