Report - Old Chalford Electricity Substation (Probably), Oxfordshire May 2024

[mookster]

A simple one from a day spent checking out mostly local stuff with little in the way of success (as is usual).

The last time any internal photos of this building near Chipping Norton appeared online was way back in 2009 on that 'rival' forum. On said other forum and in a couple of subsequent Flickr photos of the outside, it was referred to as a pumping station, however I think this was an error - looking at it's design, the cable runs in the floor, and the outlet for six massive cables located in a sunken recess in the main room I believe it was an electricity substation. Other than a date stone saying 1948 there no other details there to help, and there is zero reference to it anywhere online either, so it's a little bit of an enigma.

The good thing was though, on reviewing the few available photos from 2009, it has changed minimally, with only a few more boards and some more decay inside. It is completely empty, but hasn't been documented on here before so I think it deserves a little bit of airtime.

Cheers for looking ​

 

[dansgas1000]

That's a strange one. Does look a bit like a pumping station from the outside but definitely doesn't seem like it on the inside. It could have been a Telephone Exchange, there's quite a lot of disused ones dotted about. Had a look at a few OS maps and doesn't come up with anything, just a square for the building itself. Whatever it is, I like it!

 

[mookster]

That's a strange one. Does look a bit like a pumping station from the outside but definitely doesn't seem like it on the inside. It could have been a Telephone Exchange, there's quite a lot of disused ones dotted about. Had a look at a few OS maps and doesn't come up with anything, just a square for the building itself. Whatever it is, I like it!

Telephone exchange was my second guess, it's definitely a weird one. Seems weirdly large for one that's stuck in the middle of nowhere outside a town though.

Definitely worth a little look if you're ever passing though, the decay inside is lovely.

 

[GPSS urbex]

The fact that that this is on a Main road suggests that It might be a TRS, A BT repeater station used to amlify long-distance telephone cables.
There's one on the A1 at south Witham

Lot Overview

Some info:

What was it- TRS or UAX? - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

What was it- TRS or UAX? Vintage Telephony and Telecomms

www.vintage-radio.net

I've seen pictures of those cool old lampshades in other BT exchanges.

 

[mookster]

The fact that that this is on a Main road suggests that It might be a TRS, A BT repeater station used to amlify long-distance telephone cables.
There's one on the A1 at south Witham

Lot Overview

Some info:

What was it- TRS or UAX? - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

What was it- TRS or UAX? Vintage Telephony and Telecomms

www.vintage-radio.net

I've seen pictures of those cool old lampshades in other BT exchanges.

Makes sense! Thanks for that info!

 

[wormster]

Oh THAT one, I've always wondered about it, phone relay makes sense

 

[urbanchemist]

Was wondering what that was - peaked through a couple of windows last year while doing some water wheel pumps on nearby streams.

 

[pastybap]

great pics, love abandoned infrastructure buildings like these!

 

[Calamity Jane]

Nice little explore. Very clean which is surprising. Love the peel. Strange to see that old shelter loo in there!

 

[pastybap]

Nice little explore. Very clean which is surprising. Love the peel. Strange to see that old shelter loo in there!

I thought that, and no graff or anything?

 

[dead format]

Drove past this a few years ago - wasn't able to stop but it was on my to do list. I suspected BT (PO/GPO) and indeed, I'm going to stick with this - note the envelope in your pictures - "PO Number 2 Medium" - this was an internal mail envelope in PO. The lamp shades are also PO issue.

There are a number of repeater stations (TRS) along this road. This seems to be a master station. The ducts will be where the cables entered from TRS along the route.

A lovely little unit and very sad I couldn't stop by at the time.

 

[mingerocket]

I'd say telephone exchange. I've seen a few similar looker former exchanges on property auction sites.

 

[dead format]

I'd say telephone exchange. I've seen a few similar looker former exchanges on property auction sites.

It certainly is. I had a friend who worked on this patch - he remembers this unit but hasn't yet furnished me with more information.

This isn't a typical exchange as such, but seems to be a unit where multiple TRS lines met.

Now I'm very familiar with BT/GPO infrastructure but I'm a little rusty on the old TRS setup - but the ducts ended up building up gasses / gasses were somehow involved - so gas management was a huge part of the TRS infrastructure - it was strictly monitored - so no doubt this had something to do with it