Visited with prettyvacant71 and joined later by @Terminal Decline.
This was one of those explores when you stupidly think 'this will be a piece of piss' and that thought comes back very quickly to bite you square on the arse cheek. Getting on site was easy enough, but as we wove our way through, security somehow spotted us, despite our efforts at keeping a very low profile. A quick dash for cover resulted in me n her getting separated for fucking ages, but our hide and seek skills paid off. 2 vehicles driving around and a few bodies on foot, fuck knows how they didn't find us. Anyway just over an hour and a half later she made a dash to where I was, we carefully made our way around the other side and opted for a less than ideal access point but we made it in no problem after a quick climb and a jump or two. Fun times!
History:
Work started on the construction of Rugeley 'A' Power Station in 1956. The complex itself was opened in 1963. Rugeley was chosen as the site because of the availability of land, water, coal and the excellent transport links nearby.
It was the first joint venture between the Central Electricity Generating Board and the National Coal Board. The power station shared the site with Lea Hall Colliery, which fed coal direct to the station by conveyor belt.
In 1960, the shell of the dry cooling tower was completed - the cooling towers are the large concave towers. The cooling towers built at Rugeley were the world's first big dry cooling tower and the first large-scale experiment with a design aimed at eliminating water loss.
In 1970, Rugeley 'B' Power Station was commissioned to work alongside Rugeley 'A'. This new complex was completed and opened in 1972.
October 1990 saw the closure of the Lea Hall Colliery which meant all future coal stocks for the power station would be delivered by rail. Five years later, Rugeley 'A' Power Station was closed and later demolished - during its life, it had burned nearly 42 million tonnes of coal!
In February 2016 it was announced that the power station would close in the summer of 2016. An announcement by owners, Engie, blamed a deterioration in market conditions which included a fall in market prices and increasing carbon costs. The closure will result in the loss of 150 jobs.
Rugeley Power Station ceased all operations on Wednesday 8 June 2016. Decommissioning began in June 2016. All buildings and structures on site are due for demolition lasting until around summer 2019.
Thanks for looking!
This was one of those explores when you stupidly think 'this will be a piece of piss' and that thought comes back very quickly to bite you square on the arse cheek. Getting on site was easy enough, but as we wove our way through, security somehow spotted us, despite our efforts at keeping a very low profile. A quick dash for cover resulted in me n her getting separated for fucking ages, but our hide and seek skills paid off. 2 vehicles driving around and a few bodies on foot, fuck knows how they didn't find us. Anyway just over an hour and a half later she made a dash to where I was, we carefully made our way around the other side and opted for a less than ideal access point but we made it in no problem after a quick climb and a jump or two. Fun times!
History:
Work started on the construction of Rugeley 'A' Power Station in 1956. The complex itself was opened in 1963. Rugeley was chosen as the site because of the availability of land, water, coal and the excellent transport links nearby.
It was the first joint venture between the Central Electricity Generating Board and the National Coal Board. The power station shared the site with Lea Hall Colliery, which fed coal direct to the station by conveyor belt.
In 1960, the shell of the dry cooling tower was completed - the cooling towers are the large concave towers. The cooling towers built at Rugeley were the world's first big dry cooling tower and the first large-scale experiment with a design aimed at eliminating water loss.
In 1970, Rugeley 'B' Power Station was commissioned to work alongside Rugeley 'A'. This new complex was completed and opened in 1972.
October 1990 saw the closure of the Lea Hall Colliery which meant all future coal stocks for the power station would be delivered by rail. Five years later, Rugeley 'A' Power Station was closed and later demolished - during its life, it had burned nearly 42 million tonnes of coal!
In February 2016 it was announced that the power station would close in the summer of 2016. An announcement by owners, Engie, blamed a deterioration in market conditions which included a fall in market prices and increasing carbon costs. The closure will result in the loss of 150 jobs.
Rugeley Power Station ceased all operations on Wednesday 8 June 2016. Decommissioning began in June 2016. All buildings and structures on site are due for demolition lasting until around summer 2019.
Thanks for looking!
