Didn't get the oppurtunity to get the tripod out so only took a couple of photos, I consider this more an update than a report...
We made our first recce (lets be honest more of a failed explore) here back in the start of the year, it was a cold and wet day where we had enjoyed a week of rain prior meaning the ground around the site was a bog. unable to fully walk the perimeter and identify an access point we almost gave up, we thought we were in but it turned out we had just made our way into the sewage treatment facility for the site, it was still fairly interesting and gives you an idea of the scale of the site previously when you consider the amount of cooling water that would have needed filtering before being allowed back into the environment or local drainage.
Now a challenge is always interesting so a visit to the local costco turned into shall we give Pye another go? With the recent dry spell, some solid ground allowed us to have a good look around. Soon we identified a possible entry but this would turn out to be the exit (more on that later), a search further round and we were in! Stealthily we make our way around the site to get to the Anechoic chamber, past the live business that still had people working in it.
A bit of a jump and we find ourselves where we want to be, dwarfed by the massive 70's concrete building. After getting this far I was sure we would soon be surrounded by industrial goodness, sadly not our hunt was not fruitful, the closest we got was shuffling through the exhaust ducts to have a look inside, thinking there must be a way we shuffle around the other side of the building, the side nearest the road and within sight of the security hut...
I remark that we better be quick and keep close to the wall incase he drives past, just as we round the rear of the building the sound of the gator roars past the building, except it then stops right outside and the engine is switched off. Now we had essentially trapped ourselves as we could not get back out so either he would walk into us or we would have to walk into him, with this thought in our mind we just kept quiet and decided to stay hidden and accept our fate if he walked in. To our delight he started up again and drove off, thinking that he may just be going to get the key we decided to hit the roof and head home.
Point of interest for any engineering fans out there, what I orignally thought was a strange roof mounted water tank, turns out on further investigation (theres a website dedicated to pyestock with some great info) to be an emergency water supply for the dynamometer should the primary pressurised supply fail, mounted high up on the roof and would have orignally held 2000 gallons of water air pressurised to 55 psi allowing the dynamometer to be shut down safely in the event of a water failure.
After a while enjoying the sun and a crawl around the roof (maybe a bit of spying on the mobile security
) we headed off, now the entrance point we used was a fair way so we gave option two a go. I always carry a length of blue builders rope in my bag as it can be used for all sorts while exploring, in this case a crude rope ladder was quickly knocked up, nature helped us with some well positioned trees and the 8 foot fence was descended in a shall we say "comical" fashion....
History
For over fifty years, Pyestock was host to the development and testing of gas turbine engines. From the 1950s through to the 1970s, it was the largest facility of its type in Europe (if not the world), and the design, experimentation and testing at Pyestock helped to usher in the jet age. From running up Concorde's Olympus jet engines in a simulated supersonic conditions through to the endurance checking of every gas turbine installed in the ships of the Royal Navy, Pyestock's credentials were extremely impressive.The Explore
My first memories of NGTE Pyestock come from reading the reports when it was largely intact, "Santastock" comes to mind. When exploring really took of for us (also known as getting your first car) a trip or two were made but I think the assumption was that it was too secure for us beginners and it was left at that, this was until a few reports of the "Last piece of Pye" appeared earlier in the year, I knew I had to have a shot at visiting what was left of one amazing Urbex site!We made our first recce (lets be honest more of a failed explore) here back in the start of the year, it was a cold and wet day where we had enjoyed a week of rain prior meaning the ground around the site was a bog. unable to fully walk the perimeter and identify an access point we almost gave up, we thought we were in but it turned out we had just made our way into the sewage treatment facility for the site, it was still fairly interesting and gives you an idea of the scale of the site previously when you consider the amount of cooling water that would have needed filtering before being allowed back into the environment or local drainage.
Now a challenge is always interesting so a visit to the local costco turned into shall we give Pye another go? With the recent dry spell, some solid ground allowed us to have a good look around. Soon we identified a possible entry but this would turn out to be the exit (more on that later), a search further round and we were in! Stealthily we make our way around the site to get to the Anechoic chamber, past the live business that still had people working in it.
A bit of a jump and we find ourselves where we want to be, dwarfed by the massive 70's concrete building. After getting this far I was sure we would soon be surrounded by industrial goodness, sadly not our hunt was not fruitful, the closest we got was shuffling through the exhaust ducts to have a look inside, thinking there must be a way we shuffle around the other side of the building, the side nearest the road and within sight of the security hut...
I remark that we better be quick and keep close to the wall incase he drives past, just as we round the rear of the building the sound of the gator roars past the building, except it then stops right outside and the engine is switched off. Now we had essentially trapped ourselves as we could not get back out so either he would walk into us or we would have to walk into him, with this thought in our mind we just kept quiet and decided to stay hidden and accept our fate if he walked in. To our delight he started up again and drove off, thinking that he may just be going to get the key we decided to hit the roof and head home.
Point of interest for any engineering fans out there, what I orignally thought was a strange roof mounted water tank, turns out on further investigation (theres a website dedicated to pyestock with some great info) to be an emergency water supply for the dynamometer should the primary pressurised supply fail, mounted high up on the roof and would have orignally held 2000 gallons of water air pressurised to 55 psi allowing the dynamometer to be shut down safely in the event of a water failure.
After a while enjoying the sun and a crawl around the roof (maybe a bit of spying on the mobile security
) we headed off, now the entrance point we used was a fair way so we gave option two a go. I always carry a length of blue builders rope in my bag as it can be used for all sorts while exploring, in this case a crude rope ladder was quickly knocked up, nature helped us with some well positioned trees and the 8 foot fence was descended in a shall we say "comical" fashion....
