Exploring the Abandoned Ferrybridge Power Station - Before Demolition

In this video, we showcase a visit from Spring 2020 to the decomissioned Ferrybridge Power Station in Yorkshire as it was being stripped in preparation for demolition. The tense infiltration begins in the early hours of the night, with our group excitedly awaiting sunrise in order to see the incredible main control room for ourselves.
SUBTITLES AVAILABLE
Purchase Issue #2 of our official Urbandoned magazine here -
www.urbandonedteam.com/store
Power Stations of the UK -
www.powerstations.uk/
Original demolition footage -
• Ferrybridge power stat...
Help support the channel -
/ urbandoned
www.urbandonedteam.com/store
paypal.me/urbandoneddonate
Other links -
www.urbandonedteam.com/
/ urbandoned_
urbandoned_?lang=...
/ discord
/ urbandoned
/ @urbandoned
Our urbex library -
• Exploring an Abandoned...
abandoned urbandoned derelict urbex explore exploring uk united kingdom england yorkshire ferrybridge eggborough power station plant industry industrial turbine hall control room command centre panels security police capture hiding sneaking cctv cameras protected infiltration mission power demolition decomissioned documentary walkthrough video

[@getjacked1]

Honestly sad to see such a marvel of engineering (not just this one but all coal plant) get decommissioned and forgotten about. Most people really have no idea what’s behind the flip of a switch to turn that light on. The scale and engineering that goes into it. It’s absolutely amazing!

[@andyroberts2435]

I worked at Ferrybridge B and C stations several times (and on many other power stations in North East and Midlands CEGB Regions) as a contract NDT Technician during the early to late 1980's. Watching this brought back a lot of good memories and also great sadness to see what's happened to them due to the BS government energy policies - or complete lack of them. I worked a lot on the main steam pipework etc, stream chests and the turbine components in 'clean conditions' during major outages with great precision and care so seeing the turbine hall look like this was a shock especially how things had just been hacked apart. The boilers are works of art and are cathedral like - if you can see inside them. Sad to see that the likes of NEI/Parson's etc are no more, and that Drax had to go to Germany to get replacement steam turbine rotors.... From world leaders in engineering to zero in just a few generations. Many thanks for taking the risks to be able record these fantastic British engineering achievements before they get destroyed - you are doing a great job and should be proud of the work you are doing.

[@Ray-xv7rh]

Utubers don't know half of the work that was achieved in the past..

[@PrettyUglies]

My dad KEVIN NORTH from Bradford, worked here, Eggborough, Draxs and many more over the years. As a child he would bring me to work and I always remember the fish pond with the koy carp fish in it. Watching this has just had me in tears as my dad passed away in 2008 but a million happy memories have just come flooding back so Thank you 😊

[@nottyash100]

I worked in the drawing office in London for Babcock & Wilcox, who supplied the steam boilers for the C station, What a waste of a great station that even today could generate a large amount of power for peoples homes. You may not like coal, but our country was built using it to make the Industrial revolution, so lacking today.

[@neillindsay1351]

When China are opening 100 new coal power stations a yr, we are mad to be closing these down. Sure, with new technology we could be capturing the co2 exhaust. We could even use it, isn't there a shortage of co2 in food industry :)

[@dwrowley]

Yes it's crazy that we are closing ours down yet other countries are building more and they say we aren't doing enough

[@sidewaysaction9983]

I could have possibly worked from your drawings. I worked for babcocks as a pipe fitter 6G welder.

[@nottyash100]

@@sidewaysaction9983 You may have done, we put out a lot of drawings in my time,

[@sidewaysaction9983]

@@nottyash100 sad to see it in this state.

[@Sjpaine1974]

The best control room I’ve ever seen in an explore

[@alextilson5809]

I worked in the control room of Ferry Bridge for a few years and going into the turbine Hall was like walking into a space ship engine room the hum of the turbines was breath taking

[@frasermathers2287]

Yet another outstanding video lads. The scale of Ferrybridge is out of this world and the quality of your filming and editing is well worthy of this once amazing asset. Thanks for all your efforts and risks and you have started 2023 with a showstopper!

[@Urbandoned]

Thanks Fraser! We really appreciate your constant support and are glad you enjoyed the video. Hope you had a great new year :)

[@frasermathers2287]

@@Urbandoned Thanks very much for the reply and yeah New Year was fine, well being a Scotsman I will leave it to your imagination 🙂

[@paulallen2891]

Right from the editing to the enthusiasm and even the music over the demolition, this was simply magnificent..you boys are up there with the proper people and bwt as simply the best..well done on coming so far

[@Urbandoned]

Thank you Paul for your high praise!

[@BerlietGBC]

Outstanding work, it’s criminal that there is not plan to preserve one of our base load thermal power stations, you have done a fantastic job of recording how they were

[@MattJBaugh]

As a Control engineer working on offshore windfarms, it's lovely to see up close in the control room (many similarities to what we do today), but it shows how well things were done in the days of the CEGB, we truly were making Britain great then.

[@johndevine3302]

Fantastic video, It saddens me to see massive structures like this demolished, I feel we are in a country intent on self destruction. Well done for recording what is happening to this countries great engineering.

[@MattJBaugh]

23:37 these are protection relays, used to sense faults on the electrical network (which I design in my job) these would 'talk' to other power stations and substations through the telephone network for some of the newer ones, but the older ones were electromechanical devices - hence why you had signs for Elland etc. The equipment of that room would depend upon what the power from the station was being fed to, as that would affect our choice of the devices the engineers selected. Looked as though the panels as you entered the room were the newest, they would have been designed by my boss and some of my old colleagues! Such a shame the control room, and the "Control and Protection room" or as you called it the switch room, couldn't be kept in a museum. Really enjoyed watching it guys 👌

[@davidthornton9214]

Brilliant video, chaps. I live close to Ferrybridge and, as a delivery driver, I delivered there both pre, during and post demolition and witnessed the first set of towers to be blown down.

[@michaeldibb]

Ferrybridge could generate 2000MW. It's been replace with two 79MW wood chip burning power station. No wonder they talk about blackouts what with the generating capacity lost. The wood is imported all the way from Canada! It's a disgrace they shut this power station down.

[@robdannatt]

Worked near there and had a tour round once. Impressive building when up and running

[@BestUserNameUK]

Those Parsons units would spin 50 times in 1 second.. incredible. I worked for the CEGB at a coal fired station😉 Well done for docunenting this👍🏼

[@louisstanko86]

Another fantastic explore 😊 I do love Abandoned power stations. I must say too I received my magazine this week and was blown away, very professional and the quality is top notch, lovely and glossy and fantastic shots of some of of the uks abandoned gems. Hats off to the team 😊

[@Urbandoned]

Cheers Louis! We are glad that the mag has come across that way and hope we can continue to better it in the future.

[@adeh503]

Superb lads absolutely superb, that control room was something else

[@robfellows4096]

Reminds me of being taken to visit a working turbine hall as a kid (Great Yarmouth, demolished late 90's) - but this is huge, interesting to see the partially dismantled workings. The mint green control room panels look so familiar.....search out any colour image of "First Doctor Tardis console".... who inspired who?! Epic way to start the '23! Happy New Explores! 😎👍

[@mmatejka01]

Absolutely beautiful guys.... The fact that you were able to document this amazing structure before its demolition is history documentation at its best... Love the Channel....!

[@rvman3359]

It's incredible to think of how much time, thought and money went into building such a power plant just to see it destroyed by the imposition of policies. Where does this leave the UK now for power production? Wind and Solar will not, and cannot replace these plants. It's like watching the slow wreck of a train as you are on the last couple of cars. Eventually, the end of the tracks will affect you too. Awesome to see it.

[@scottwojcik2148]

It leaves the UK importing electricity from Europe more than ever now. We should of built greener power stations and kept power stations like this running until we had the infrastructure not to spend so much on importing electricity. And of course the EU is involved because now nearly 40% of our power is generated within the EU.

[@chaddamp2894]

This ranks as one or your top 5 posts...amazing thanks to you all

[@DEAD-DROP]

You guys have next level infiltration skills, gaining access to the most amazing locations! The control room was increasable.. Great work as always!

[@59patrickw]

A flick of a switch the click of a button is a lot better then a click of a mouse or just stab the touch screen , with old school you know you done it by the sound

[@my72dart]

I remember Ferrybridge when I toured it in 2012 and seeing the control room in operation. I later spent 6 years specializing on Parsons 660 MW Steam Turbines. So seeing Parsons Turbines being demolished makes me sad.

[@chrisdunderdale]

Well done lads. Another amazing effort

[@peterallen7938]

Well done guys, another amazing video of Ferrybridge Power Station just like all the others. Very sad at the power stations are gone. Keep up the good work.👍

[@markramsay6399]

Fabulous outstanding video! Amazing filming - thanks all !! Mark.

[@WidleyWesident]

A fantastic video and great exploration! Keep it up lads 😀👍

[@kennethpaul810]

O M G ! Absolutely stunning! You guys do such an amazing job of providing excellent videography and documentary comment. Such great work. It's hard to imagine what it would have been like to see and hear it when it was actually operational but one could imagine. You do such a great job with your videos. Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your adventures!

[@dwrowley]

Great video and exploration, history was fantastic

[@michailokeefeMooMoo]

Great video guys and fantastic building

[@PHILG2864]

Fascinating as I live just around the corner but had never seen inside. Of course the cooling towers are all gone now, the red lights of the taller chimneys always a late night 'welcome home' sight after a long drive up the A1. A pal was the official videographer for the demolitions, some amazing 'as it happened' drone footage.

[@cindygibbs1964]

Wow...just Wow!! You guys ROCK!!

[@SeruiX]

yes

[@chrisdoney8578]

Wow! What a great explore and vid... one of my favourites. What a huge building and industrial monolith. Different times back then. Well done lads 👏

[@bobbythomas200420032]

Hi Guys that was another fantastic video a very enjoyable watch. The Power Station is just so awesome, lit and wow. The Sheer size of it leaves you in awe.

[@focus3415]

Bloody brilliant explore lads Happy New year and hope for more great explores cheers 🥂

[@fill7t1]

It’s like a futuristic film set!, balls of steel you lads have!

[@cedarcam]

As a student I was on a tour of this place. It is saddening to see what has happened here. Our reliance on imported fuel and bought in power should never of happened. It makes no sense to me when the coal used here was brought in from local mines by economic barges and trains. Back then we should of planned for our future and kept our mines, filtration to remove emissions and only when we had established some other means of reliable generation decommissioned our power stations. Now we all pay the price for that short sightedness.

[@jezdavies4917]

Well done lads, another great video. Your channel is criminally under viewed, will be sharing the granny out of it

[@christopherprice721]

Great video as always really enjoyed it top job guys.

[@Urbandoned]

Thank you Christopher!

[@sussertheoriginal]

10:10 Turning gear, aka barring gear is engaged when a hot turbine has been shut down. Unless the turbine is kept turning until it's cooled, the shaft will bend under the weight and make the whole assembly go out of balance.

[@Fran_SG]

Amazing design, huge place. ¡Very good Job, guys!

[@jamie_23]

Happy new year boys. I do hope this year will be even better for you guys!

[@Urbandoned]

Happy new year to you too!

[@janicecopeland9083]

Makes me a little sad that these are gone, thank you for sharing!

[@typhoon5445]

Love your videos guys 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

[@OLIFAB]

Fabulous video as always! 👍🏼

[@Urbandoned]

Thank you Oli, your comments and support go a long way :)

[@OLIFAB]

@@Urbandoned :D

[@stephenr6427]

the quilty of these videos are amazing you lads do such a great job of recording these places

[@Urbandoned]

Thanks Stephen!

[@stephenr6427]

@@Urbandoned no thank you guys you have great skills with a camera and editing

[@johnbarnes888]

This was a glorious document of British engineering. The visuals were similar to Bladerunner. Such a shame to see these beasts raised to the ground.

[@Doctorbasss]

Amazing work and big thanks to you guys doing this video, providing great souvenirs to us of these piece of art installations! That was a bit sag to see these demolished... I can't imagine how much work these installations required. Please continu to share to us this excellent content!

[@kencaruso4037]

More great work men !!! 👍

[@michaellecaplain3377]

Probably my favourite of your explores so far. Very atmospheric, creepy and occasionally exciting (when dodging security). Great photos, too. Ferrybridge was one of the landmarks that I used to look out for when driving to my parents' place in Lancashire - I knew that the M62 was nearby as soon as I saw those massive cooling towers. Great job, fellas. More of the same, please!

[@sicktit44]

Nice one lads... that control room is the bollocks.

[@Urbandoned]

Isn't it just. It was debatably the best in the country

[@4879daniel]

Helpful title. I imagine exploring it after demolition wouldn’t have been as good.

[@meepthirteen]

Really impressive everything..

[@halesworth01]

FYI I worked on a power station, if you were unaware, hydrogen was the coolant for the alternators windings! The steam that entered the turbines would be at 1000 psi ( an average car tyre is 30 psi) and the temperature of the steam was 430 degrees centigrade! (If a leak occurred, the only way you would know is that you would hear it, as steam at that pressure and temperature is invisible, if you waled through a jet of it, it would slice you in half like a big surgical scalpel!)

[@No28adams941]

Hi Clive, those turbines worked at about 2400 p.s.i. or 165 bar and at 565 degrees C.

[@Urbandoned]

Interesting! Thanks Clive

[@bruceaisher]

Brilliant explore lads. The fact that control room was completely demolished is criminal. It belonged in a museum - or at least part of it. Just think your fingers were most likely the last ones to touch those switches. I'm in the US but very interested in the magazine.

[@the_fearless_explorer1213]

Another Cool adventure guys 👦

[@ogspeed]

Nice video boys, I worked here for a good few years working on all the boiler oil injectors. 👍

[@karenfarr1335]

Brilliant

[@peterthornton2396]

I’ve lived near ferrybridge for 30 years and it’s sad to see it not there anymore. Great video I actually went in there on a school trip in the early 90s.

[@fatty3383]

Good content 👍

[@klistarf]

Have you guys thought about taking a mooch around Fiddlers Ferry Power Station? It was meant to have been demolished by now, but for whatever reason, they haven't even started yet (i was told that it was being kept 'on standby' in case it was needed, with everything that has been going on since its closure). There is talk now that it could be taken down this year, although whether that happens remains to be seen. I have seen a couple of things where some other folks have had a look around the place, and would like to see your take on it. Fascinating places, all of 'em! I'm relatively new to your exploits but i am thoroughly enjoying your adventures. Keep up the good work, Lads. Take it easy out there 🤟😎

[@kpurban1310]

Mint. Really good night this, although driving back home wasn't.

[@MICKEY1964able]

thank you that was very interesting and sad whats happend to it

[@jrwilliamsnz]

You asked what the 'boxes' were on the control panels at 23:17 to 23:50 - Those are a mix of electro-mechanical and electronic Protection 'Relays', used to detect electrical faults in the High Voltage systems connecting the generator output to the grid. Sets of Current Transformers and Voltage transformers are used to make safe measurements of the High Voltage parameters, and 1Amp / 110VAC signals are connected to those 'Relays', to measure and compare the values to setpoints at which the 'relay' will generate a TRIP signal to disconnect the faulted piece of equipment. It is a highly-skilled technician job to set up those relays and keep them operating correctly.

[@surreyscouse2873]

Definitely the best one ever. Get over to Fiddlers lads, it's the same size.

[@markm-ci6rj]

We could do with some of these stations being operational in the current climet.

[@-r-495]

Gosh.. Fantastic! Those little boxes are PI(D) controllers. Similar to a scale that tries to stay balanced at a set „weight“.

[@turboslag]

For a time, from 1974 to 1984, I lived not far from Ferry Bridge power station, in a nearby village, Sherburn in Elmet. Ferry Bridge was a really prominent local land mark which I saw on an almost daily basis, it seemed like it would be there forever, so to imagine it gone seems inconceivable, and tragic. We are all paying a high price for this green agenda b0llox, for a climate crisis that doesn't exist, but with the destruction of most coal fired power stations the process is now irreversible, the stupidity will only be revealed far into the future.

[@soulcarp1]

The first power station I work on for C.A.PARSONS unit 4

[@rivvvers]

19:16 some of the areas near the boiler with all the pipes, dark, lit only by floodlights reminds me of the many scenes in Aliens. Cool as.

[@scottwojcik2148]

Great video but it highlights a ongoing issue with the country. Surely we should keep running these power stations running to avoid importing electricity from Europe while we find greener ways of generating electricity. Nearly 40% of our power comes from EU countries and if we still kept our older power stations running the cost of electric now days would of been far cheaper.

[@007JHS]

The control room would make a great movie set for a Bond villain.

[@GiorgioSerra.]

❤

[@andyxox4168]

A thermal power plant is a beautiful thing, a living breathing machine with all the experiences and feeling of the steam age, a pity the closest most people will get to the steam age is a steam locomotive of perhaps soon only an electric kettle!

[@joshslater2426]

This is not far off where I live. For my whole life I passed by the impressive cooling towers when I went to the coast or up to York. I believe my grandad also worked there for a long time. He was very sad when they started to demolish the power plants.

[@romeogrigoras9378]

I worked in my country in România, at power plants, that used to provide both electric, and termic energy, for cities.

[@sandwichbar8226]

LFG!

[@MattJBaugh]

Also probably useless info, but at 22:14 the sign "Do not operate tap changer" warning is for when personnel would be near the power transformers for the grid, if you change a tap on the transformer (which changes the voltage output of the transformer) there is a risk of arcs or explosion if it's on load, although nowadays we have safety interlocking for such things. Interesting to see how they did things back then!

[@NickyMitchell85]

We were all in lockdown back in Spring 2020.

[@Urbandoned]

This was 1st March, lockdown was 25th

[@s1nb4d59]

That would have made such a good thunderbirds set.

[@UQRXD]

That place mad many people rich.

[@MaxLovell-cg4gr]

is any of this still standing at all?

[@MaxLovell-cg4gr]

I was stunted by the number of loud bangs throughout the recording. What were they? Did you say they were caused by the wind?

[@Ohromanschannel]

Can you check out the sir James Altham pool south Oxhey Watford Hertfordshire please in one video abandoned in 2020 thank you

[@jamiekelsall5221]

I worked on ferrybridge I cut up most of those turbines and the casings I also did 2 of the motors and stripped all the copper out of them and cut the rotors up and stripped all the copper out of them too took a few pictures and videos of the job in hand also cut up the pulverizes what turn the coal into dust what blows them into the boilers

[@wrighty338]

i wonder how much they got for all the scrap

[@andrewhaigh1742]

Actually 'infiltrating' this when it was on was an intense mission.

[@nataliesmith303]

How rude that you were interrupted 😅

[@wigglewiggle3789]

That control room, power plant porn. Take care guys.

[@martinlintzgy1361]

Should be put back into operation!

[@gazthomas9213]

Keep these power stations running.,.,(if isn't broke don't fix it) nothing grate about Britain anymore when hard working Brits constantly kept our country running ✊✊

[@gazthomas9213]

Excellent video too 👍

[@shawnaburns5158]

Damn they demolished this?? Id loved to get gauge and light switch panells out of here damn

[@andyxox4168]

A +400 ton generator with a70 ton rotor spinning at 3000 rpm, +20,000 volts, full of pressurised hydrogen and conductors directly cooled by demineralised water, what could go wrong … actually very little 😂😂😂

[@glennmoreland6457]

In future these videos will be seen as important documents of places long gone... ☹🇬🇧

[@winwin3459]

🤏

[@winwin3459]

🕋🗽

[@angeley3756]

Look more like a night patrol than police