Markinch Power Station, Generator for Tullis Russell & Co Paper Mill
Introduction:
It's not often that I stray far from the North East of England and the Midlands, we seem to have the best stuff anyway, but this place... It just had my name written all over it, from the moment I saw @clebby 's report I knew I'd have to go, @Speed 's report a month later just re-enforced my need to get up to Scotland. Anyway, as usual a couple of month had passed, and myself and @BoroLad had been too busy to get any real plans together for a road trip to Scotland. After meeting up in Empire, 'Boro for a night out however a drunken conversation incurred and the day after we found ourselves pumped on energy drink and heading north of the border at speed! Finally, we where on our way, and I have to say I was bloody looking forward to seeing that Turbine Hall in person!
05:20, we arrived got our kit together and after a quick bit of fumbling about in the dark found our access. We headed straight to the Turbine Hall, and it didn't disappoint at all, it was about 06:00 by this point and we got a good two hours of shooting in the turbine hall without any issue when at 08:00 we spot a pair of workmen enter through an exterior door, we gathered our shit together and calmly retreated to the safety of the boiler room. Sadly they set to work on one of the water pumps situated underneath the turbine hall which obviously meant we where going to have to skip this area after creeping past them. We still had the boiler room to photograph though before leaving so we weren't too disappointed. 09:00 and we where out and away, onto our next and much less exciting Scottish derp.
History:
Tullis Russell was formed in 1809 by Robert Tullis, he acquired Rothes mill in 1836.
In 1912 the construction of Markinch Power Station began, to provide the mill with electrical power, rather than power provided from water wheel. The Coal Fired Power Station was completed in 1914, and was fitted with 3 Parsons Units and Rerolle electrical equipment.
At some point, I have no definite date, but the power station was extended to take a fourth slightly larger, more modern Parsons unit along with an English Electric system to distribute the power it generated. It was also given an oil fired system to work alongside the coal fired boilers.
Sadly, the plant was deemed too dirty after breeching EU emission regulations and was forced to close been replaced by the new biomass plant on site. For a mothballed site though, it's still very much live, all the power is still on and the readouts in the control room as still showing live stats for the power station. It wouldn't take much to raise steam and get her running again!
Pictures:
As always, I'll add more information where relevant...
Turbine Hall:
The main attraction for me... Those four Parsons Units, just gorgeous. Having spent time on assignment at Drax, I have to say I much prefer these smaller, older units to the larger units of the 60's and 70's.
Just a quick mention too, the lighting in here is a mixture of older orange and green filtered lighting, despite experimenting with the white balance, it's something we can't fix, what you see in the pics is how we saw it with our eyes...
Units 2 - 4 seen by the control room...
Unit 1 and the Rerolle kit...
A close up of that Rerolle Set... Phwoarrr
Parsons, Parsons and yes... More Parsons!
Unit 2...
English Electric.
Unit four...
Looking down the turbine hall with all three of the older units in.
And finally, the last turbine/generator pic, unit 1!
I'm not going to apologise for the mass of Turbine Hall Pics, at the end of the day, it's why you'd come here anyway, right?
The Boiler Room/Furnaces
Didn't get many in here as we'd been disturbed and where on high alert expecting one of the guys to walk back through here at anytime. We set the tripod and lighting gear up quickly and popped a few shots off before leaving.
International Combustion...
And looking back down the boiler room, note the 28dl famous Hopkinson Gauge near the center...
And that's all from me from here, for now! Although it's Scotland and miles away, I feel I have unfinished business here and hope to re-visit, sometime soon! So keep an eye out for a report extension!
As always cheers for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the pics,
TAW
Introduction:
It's not often that I stray far from the North East of England and the Midlands, we seem to have the best stuff anyway, but this place... It just had my name written all over it, from the moment I saw @clebby 's report I knew I'd have to go, @Speed 's report a month later just re-enforced my need to get up to Scotland. Anyway, as usual a couple of month had passed, and myself and @BoroLad had been too busy to get any real plans together for a road trip to Scotland. After meeting up in Empire, 'Boro for a night out however a drunken conversation incurred and the day after we found ourselves pumped on energy drink and heading north of the border at speed! Finally, we where on our way, and I have to say I was bloody looking forward to seeing that Turbine Hall in person!
05:20, we arrived got our kit together and after a quick bit of fumbling about in the dark found our access. We headed straight to the Turbine Hall, and it didn't disappoint at all, it was about 06:00 by this point and we got a good two hours of shooting in the turbine hall without any issue when at 08:00 we spot a pair of workmen enter through an exterior door, we gathered our shit together and calmly retreated to the safety of the boiler room. Sadly they set to work on one of the water pumps situated underneath the turbine hall which obviously meant we where going to have to skip this area after creeping past them. We still had the boiler room to photograph though before leaving so we weren't too disappointed. 09:00 and we where out and away, onto our next and much less exciting Scottish derp.
History:
Tullis Russell was formed in 1809 by Robert Tullis, he acquired Rothes mill in 1836.
In 1912 the construction of Markinch Power Station began, to provide the mill with electrical power, rather than power provided from water wheel. The Coal Fired Power Station was completed in 1914, and was fitted with 3 Parsons Units and Rerolle electrical equipment.
At some point, I have no definite date, but the power station was extended to take a fourth slightly larger, more modern Parsons unit along with an English Electric system to distribute the power it generated. It was also given an oil fired system to work alongside the coal fired boilers.
Sadly, the plant was deemed too dirty after breeching EU emission regulations and was forced to close been replaced by the new biomass plant on site. For a mothballed site though, it's still very much live, all the power is still on and the readouts in the control room as still showing live stats for the power station. It wouldn't take much to raise steam and get her running again!
Pictures:
As always, I'll add more information where relevant...
Turbine Hall:
The main attraction for me... Those four Parsons Units, just gorgeous. Having spent time on assignment at Drax, I have to say I much prefer these smaller, older units to the larger units of the 60's and 70's.
Just a quick mention too, the lighting in here is a mixture of older orange and green filtered lighting, despite experimenting with the white balance, it's something we can't fix, what you see in the pics is how we saw it with our eyes...
Units 2 - 4 seen by the control room...
Unit 1 and the Rerolle kit...
A close up of that Rerolle Set... Phwoarrr
Parsons, Parsons and yes... More Parsons!
Unit 2...
English Electric.
Unit four...
Looking down the turbine hall with all three of the older units in.
And finally, the last turbine/generator pic, unit 1!
I'm not going to apologise for the mass of Turbine Hall Pics, at the end of the day, it's why you'd come here anyway, right?
The Boiler Room/Furnaces
Didn't get many in here as we'd been disturbed and where on high alert expecting one of the guys to walk back through here at anytime. We set the tripod and lighting gear up quickly and popped a few shots off before leaving.
International Combustion...
And looking back down the boiler room, note the 28dl famous Hopkinson Gauge near the center...
And that's all from me from here, for now! Although it's Scotland and miles away, I feel I have unfinished business here and hope to re-visit, sometime soon! So keep an eye out for a report extension!
As always cheers for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the pics,
TAW
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