Report - Littlebrook 'D' Power Station - March 2019

[Terminal Decline]

I'll just go straight in with the photos here as the history has already been well covered in previous reports and this is more of an update.
This was my third visit to the power station and it was sad to see how the building has been torn apart since my first visit in June last year. It's without a doubt going to be the next major power station to be completely demolished, I'm guessing followed by Rugeley, Fawley, Ironbridge, Longannet, Ferrybridge and Eggborough.

An external from my second visit in October 2018

I was sad to see that the turbine hall is just about empty now, having seen it when it was complete (with the exception of unit 3). It wasn't looking good though when I was walking along by the river at night and I could see the lights of the substation on the other side of the building

The same view in October 2018

And in June 2018

The turbine hall from ground level, with the condensers on the left. It was a windy day and dust was being blown around everywhere down here

View attachment
Its always sad to see our great industrial institutions torn apart but I find something beautiful about the twisted pipe-work and dangling cables

Boiler House
Had there been a few more windows, the boiler house would have been rather nice but as it was the whole place was light by only two tiny slits on each side, plus a small amount from the skeletal remains of the turbine hall

There were some nice views from the roof though which is currently having its tiles pulled off. The chimney in the foreground belonged to the gas turbines, to the left of which are the flooded basements of the recently destroyed 'A' and 'B' stations

Control Room
The control room is situated on the top floor of the admin block and is looking pretty sorry for itself now. These photos are from my visit last October, though it hasn't changed since

Admin Block
Admin is now a series of stripped out spaces, with the exception of the locker rooms

The electrical engineering room was a pain to get to, even knowing its location within the admin block

The remains of the gas turbine house, seen from the admin block

Thanks for looking

 

[Ojay]

oh lord, what a mess!

Good that you got to see what's left all the same, thanks for the update

 

[mockney reject]

oooh thats a gutter

 

[Terminal Decline]

oh lord, what a mess!

Good that you got to see what's left all the same, thanks for the update

I always enjoy returning to places like this and documenting their destruction, plus there's always parts I never managed to cover the first time round

 

[slayaaaa]

Did anyone get to see the black start gear it had? Supposedly had some rollsroyce engines which enabled it to contribute to The grid in an incredibly fast time. I see thats theres nothing left of it now other than the chimney but never got in there personally. Was supposed to be pretty impressive!

EDIT:

"Littlebrook D was one of a number of stations throughout the UK with black-start capabilities, meaning that it was able to start generating without an external power supply - the station would be one of the first to start generating should the UK experience a partial or complete blackout. Littlebrook D played a vital role in restoring power supplies to the South East of England in the days following the storm force winds of October 1987. The black-start capability was facilitated by the presence of three open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs), each capable of generating 35 MW, which was sufficient to operate the station auxiliary equipment and allow a main unit to be started. Each OCGT set incorporated two Rolls-Royce Olympus jet engines which are industrial derivatives of those that were used on the Concorde aircraft. As well as providing black-start supplies to the station, the fact that they could synchronise and ramp up to full load in under five minutes means they were used to generate at the request of National Grid Company (who operated the UK electricity grid system) to deal with short-term peaks in demand. Such peaks typically arise during the winter months, where evening demand is higher due to lighting and heating requirements. A further facility provided to the National Grid Company by the OCGTs was one of system protection. They would start automatically should the system frequency (50.0 Hz in the UK) fall to 49.6 Hz, which would indicate that the supply from generation was not sufficient to meet the demand. The National Grid Company are obliged to ensure that there is enough operating reserve available at all times and as such, low frequency events are rare and will only arise where a substantial loss of generation has occurred."
Shamelessy yoinked from Wiki, but yeah, RR jet engines?

Good stuff though, weird seeing that hall in natural light. Always thought it was less appealing than other examples but did have some nice 80s style features that made it pretty unique really. Super turbines as well, definitely a very special place. Reassuring to know so many people have covered it!

 

[Olkka]

</3 the Brook, she was a proper class gal
Props TD for putting in mega work as per

 

[Terminal Decline]

Did anyone get to see the black start gear it had? Supposedly had some rollsroyce engines which enabled it to contribute to The grid in an incredibly fast time. I see thats theres nothing left of it now other than the chimney but never got in there personally. Was supposed to be pretty impressive!

EDIT:

"Littlebrook D was one of a number of stations throughout the UK with black-start capabilities, meaning that it was able to start generating without an external power supply - the station would be one of the first to start generating should the UK experience a partial or complete blackout. Littlebrook D played a vital role in restoring power supplies to the South East of England in the days following the storm force winds of October 1987. The black-start capability was facilitated by the presence of three open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs), each capable of generating 35 MW, which was sufficient to operate the station auxiliary equipment and allow a main unit to be started. Each OCGT set incorporated two Rolls-Royce Olympus jet engines which are industrial derivatives of those that were used on the Concorde aircraft. As well as providing black-start supplies to the station, the fact that they could synchronise and ramp up to full load in under five minutes means they were used to generate at the request of National Grid Company (who operated the UK electricity grid system) to deal with short-term peaks in demand. Such peaks typically arise during the winter months, where evening demand is higher due to lighting and heating requirements. A further facility provided to the National Grid Company by the OCGTs was one of system protection. They would start automatically should the system frequency (50.0 Hz in the UK) fall to 49.6 Hz, which would indicate that the supply from generation was not sufficient to meet the demand. The National Grid Company are obliged to ensure that there is enough operating reserve available at all times and as such, low frequency events are rare and will only arise where a substantial loss of generation has occurred."
Shamelessy yoinked from Wiki, but yeah, RR jet engines?

Good stuff though, weird seeing that hall in natural light. Always thought it was less appealing than other examples but did have some nice 80s style features that made it pretty unique really. Super turbines as well, definitely a very special place. Reassuring to know so many people have covered it!

The majority of the 500MW+ turbine power stations had gas turbines. I only got into the one at Littlebrook on my second visit when half of the roof had gone and due to its exposed position I only got a few photos, this was the only nearly complete gas turbine of the three.

Climbing to to top of the chimney was great, even though its a lot less then half the height of the main one

 

[slayaaaa]

Haha wicked! Yeah a lot do, but these seemed pretty unique with the concord engines. The ones at Rugeley were cool but as usual, I was a little late for them. Loving the pics from the chimney as well thats pretty nice! Keep it up man, clearing up the good bits.

 

[Brewtal]

Fucking hell what a difference! Good update though mate,glad you eventually found the electrical engineering room. Situated in such a strange place isn’t it? I only happened upon it when I was following the cable rooms around!

 

[Terminal Decline]

Haha wicked! Yeah a lot do, but these seemed pretty unique with the concord engines. The ones at Rugeley were cool but as usual, I was a little late for them. Loving the pics from the chimney as well thats pretty nice! Keep it up man, clearing up the good bits.

Cheers. Although I didn't have a full look as the weather was utter shit, I have a feeling the main chimney could be accessible but it needs a better look at

 

[clebby]

Glad to see someone managed to see the gas turbines, was thinking about them the other day as it happens.