Power Stations

Tullis Russell II

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I visited the Tullis Russell paper mill in 2009, as a permission visit during their 200th anniversary, and they seemed to be doing very well – it was a very busy mill, lots of modern machinery, and apparently lots of orders. But only a few years later it collapsed and the mill closed in 2015. The last thing they did was launch a project to replace the old but beautifully maintained coal power plant with a modern biomass plant – where that stands there used to be a whole lot more, including some giant steampunk rag boilers. That plant was built and is now operating, but the mill next door is derelict. All the paper machines have been sold off and removed. Continue reading →

Inverkip Panoramas

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Inverkip power station on the Clyde, an oil-fired power station that has lain mothballed for decades, is finally and very slowly being dismantled – before it goes too far, I went along with panoramic stuff to make some more explorable 360-degree views. Click on each image to open in Quicktime, and they’re about 7-12Mb each.

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Inverkip Power Station Part V

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It’s been a while since my last trip, and it was very good to see the old place again before demolition gets too far along.

For those who don’t know (where have you been?) Inverkip is a large oil-fired power station on the Firth of Clyde, built just before the oil crisis of the ’70s it was always a bit of a white elephant and only briefly reached full capacity during the miner’s strikes.

First visit, while waiting for dawn, was to the control room:


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Methil Power Station

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Methil Power Station 1 (by Ben Cooper)

Methil Power Station is a coal-slurry power plant built in 1965 on the coast of Fife where the River Leven joins the sea. Coal slurry is the low-grade byproduct of coal washeries, consisting of mainly coal dust and water. Methil’s two 30MW generating units were specially built to burn this slurry, which came from the neighbouring Fife coalfields by road and rail. Google’s aerial imagery shows the rail lines which have now been ripped up.

As the Fife coalfields closed, supplies of the slurry dried up, and the plant closed in the mid ’90s – a brief trial using one generating unit to burn refuse for power wasn’t a success. The plant is now scheduled for demolition. Continue reading →