Rothes Mill Power House, Glenrothes.
Aka the Tullis Russell Paper Mill Power Station. Visited with dweeb whilst Cat had a nap in the car.
This was one of the highlights of our recent Scottish roadtrip. Hearing news that Tullis Russell had gone into administration reminded me of those four gorgeous Charlie Parson turbines that BenCooper posted up after an open day in 2009, and so of course the power station just had to go to the top of our list. For a comprehensive history click here.
I personally prefer these older, smaller power stations to the 1000-plus megawatt goliaths that have been posted up of late, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. Inside you find a monument to British engineering, with many familiar names such as Parsons, Howdens, Hopkinsons, International Combustion and Stirling having been cast into pretty much every metal surface. But what I love most of all is that inside, with the exception of one or two computer screens, the power station still looks like it did the day it was built and you might as well have still been in the 1940s.
Access was pretty vanilla, although it should be noted that as we scoped it out an older gentleman in RWE attire appeared as if from nowhere and told us to clear off. Absolutely no idea how he saw us, as there's no CCTV and we were well hidden beneath the coal conveyor, but certainly something to consider if you're planning a visit.
Some pictures:
A slightly more modern Parsons generator set, built on a plinth at one end of the turbine hall:
And at the other end, the oldest generator set, in the part of the power house constructed in 1913:
Oldschool
Tacked onto the turbine hall was a more modern control room, presumably built after the rise of computers to prevent one man having to wander round with a clipboard checking dials every half an hour.
Underneath the turbine hall:
More names any explorer worth their salt should be familiar with:
And into the boiler house, dirty in more ways than one!
Coal conveyance and delivery (there's more to see topside of the boilers than these photos show but the lighting was a real shitsack). Also note the different coloured brickwork on the left hand corner of the building where they've patched up some damage in the past.
And finally, always a pleasure to see one of these:
There's loads more to come from the manufacturing side of things here, but unfortunately we were pressed for time so had to give it a miss. Stay tuned!
Aka the Tullis Russell Paper Mill Power Station. Visited with dweeb whilst Cat had a nap in the car.
This was one of the highlights of our recent Scottish roadtrip. Hearing news that Tullis Russell had gone into administration reminded me of those four gorgeous Charlie Parson turbines that BenCooper posted up after an open day in 2009, and so of course the power station just had to go to the top of our list. For a comprehensive history click here.
I personally prefer these older, smaller power stations to the 1000-plus megawatt goliaths that have been posted up of late, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. Inside you find a monument to British engineering, with many familiar names such as Parsons, Howdens, Hopkinsons, International Combustion and Stirling having been cast into pretty much every metal surface. But what I love most of all is that inside, with the exception of one or two computer screens, the power station still looks like it did the day it was built and you might as well have still been in the 1940s.
Access was pretty vanilla, although it should be noted that as we scoped it out an older gentleman in RWE attire appeared as if from nowhere and told us to clear off. Absolutely no idea how he saw us, as there's no CCTV and we were well hidden beneath the coal conveyor, but certainly something to consider if you're planning a visit.
Some pictures:
A slightly more modern Parsons generator set, built on a plinth at one end of the turbine hall:
And at the other end, the oldest generator set, in the part of the power house constructed in 1913:
Oldschool
Tacked onto the turbine hall was a more modern control room, presumably built after the rise of computers to prevent one man having to wander round with a clipboard checking dials every half an hour.
Underneath the turbine hall:
More names any explorer worth their salt should be familiar with:
And into the boiler house, dirty in more ways than one!
Coal conveyance and delivery (there's more to see topside of the boilers than these photos show but the lighting was a real shitsack). Also note the different coloured brickwork on the left hand corner of the building where they've patched up some damage in the past.
And finally, always a pleasure to see one of these:
There's loads more to come from the manufacturing side of things here, but unfortunately we were pressed for time so had to give it a miss. Stay tuned!
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