The abandoned Cooling towers of Willington Power station

[@mrlister2000]

They are natural-draught, hyperboloid cooling towers. They work on the principle of evaporative cooling. Hot water from the power station is pumped into the cooling tower at a height of about 30ft, where it is sprayed through a series of nozzles (much like an office sprinkler system) on to a layer of dense latticework, which is called the fill. The hot water coats this honeycomb, trickling downwards. The base of the cooling tower sits on a plinth of 25ft-high concrete struts, which forms a massive natural draught intake. The warm air produced by the hot water rises inside the cooling tower, drawing in cold air from outside, which cools the water coating the fill. The inwardly sloping curve of the tower narrows to a diameter almost half the size of its base, arresting most of the vapour; only up to 5 per cent is lost to evaporation. The term for these clouds of vapour, which are erroneously presumed to be steam (or even smoke), is drift.

[@mileshigh1321]

Thanks! That answers every question i had!

[@mrlister2000]

@@mileshigh1321 Glad I was able to help!

[@Simon_Nonymous]

thank you - I was about to Google this and post a link - no need now!

[@TheJRScratchy]

Great info, I'm surprised there didn't seem to be much evidence of rust or concrete cancer if thats the case with all that water about

[@neilmchardy9061]

Chaplecross near Annan in southern Scotland had cooling towers like these but one of them had a big bulge on the side near the narrowest point. It was allegedly caused by a slump in the concrete but it was too late to correct it so it lived as testament to the contractors cock up.

[@scopex2749]

All that weight if you think about it is balanced on nothing but a load of sticks! I have actually flown over these in a helicopter when i was in the RAF, we circled them a few times. I have driven past them more times than i can recall - leave them be! They are not hurting anyone and stand as a monument to man’s ingenuity........magnificent structures. Great video!

[@MartinZero]

I agree they have become a monument

[@winniepeg9869]

My dad was a steel fixer all his working life. He worked on the Fiddlers Ferry power station cooling towers, near Warrington. A workmate fell whilst he was there. A very dangerous construction job.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah I couldnt do it

[@Lefarge1]

I saw your drone footage of the Cooling Towers at Willington Power Station. Brought back so many Memories. I worked at Willington many years ago, first went there in 1967 as an Engineer working first in the Main Control Room, then in the Unit Control Rooms on Willington A Power Station and then on Willington B Power Station. Worked their till I took early retirement 1993. Both stations were still running then at least for a few more years. The two empty cooling towers were linked with A Station. 4 * 104MW Turbine Generators. The steam used to drive the Turbines was condensed back to feed water by use of river water pumped directly from the river through turbine condenser and back to the river downstream. These two towers were used when river conditions were such that insufficient water was available at the river , many causes for this, and these towers could be brought in to use to give additional cooling water. It was still river water. The three towers which are still largely intact were linked to B Station 2 * 200MW Turbine/Generators and it was a closed circuit system, only topped up with River Water as required by evaporation. The Inlet valves were used to take a tower in or out of service depending on cooling demand. As you surmised the inlet did go up to the middle, and then there were pipes radiating out from the central distribution point to near the Tower Walls. These pipes had numerous nozzles on the top which were designed to cause the cooling water to fan out over the cooling slat sand grids. What is no longer in place are those distribution pipes, and also loads of triangular cross section wooden slats fitted in to the grids below the distribution pipes and the walkways so that the nozzles etc could be inspected. I think these wooden slats were removed and disposed of after decommissioning because they were arsenic impregnated wood. (used as a preservative). The towers also had a ring of pipe around the inside of the tower wall near the edge of the distribution pipes which was meant to be used to provide a curtain wall during freezing weather to try and prevent the slats from icing up. It did work to some degree. I even remember one time when the B Station site was shut down for an extended period and the Cooling Water Culvert Pipes were inspected. Seemed like miles when walking along those pipes which had been drained. And spooky. Ah what memories seeing these pictures bring back. But it seems like eons ago now. Still my thanks for those memories

[@MartinZero]

Hello Bruce, thanks very much for the info. Very glad it brought back memories for you 👍

[@DaveBeaven-tx2tp]

I found a water sprinkler inside the second cooling tower at Willington A. It’s constructed in brass. It looks like a fire sprinkler but bigger. I believe they were screwed on asbestos pipes. The piping was removed prior to 2003 but they left the concrete cooling tower packings below the sprayers. It’s the concrete panels that held the timbers you were referring to. It looks like they started demolition work on the first 2 towers at the A station in 2000 by removing the asbestos and timber leaving the concrete packings behind. Then years later they decided to remove the concrete packings for safety reasons. They were a climbing hazard. The demolition contractor also demolished the access stairs to all 5 towers during the demolition of the power station. I would love to know how many water sprayers each tower had?

[@iand3028]

I worked 20yrs for a company called Mastabar in Accrington who supplied conveyor jointing systems for Willington power station. Thanks for that Martin.

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Ian

[@demobbed688]

As a child I thought power stations were brilliant places. My dad worked at both Huncoat and Padiham and occasionally took me to "work" with him on Saturday mornings. When the station was on a shut down we climbed the spiral staircase and went through the hatch into the side of one of the cooling towers, toured the inside of the boiler house (where some of the early series of Red Dwarf were filmed), went round the turbine hall and workshops. The highlight for me though was going up to the railway sidings where the coal hopper was. By this time coal was mainly brought in by road but the yard was still operational and there were loads of coal waggons just lying around. My dad let me drive one of the diesel shunters, couple up to one of the wagons and take it to the discharge point, uncouple it then raise it in the lift to be tipped. Going backwards and forwards in that yard has to be the best day's work for a 10 year old.

[@glengraham7080]

That's the kind of stuff we will always remember about good dad's. 😊

[@DaveBeaven-tx2tp]

Padiham Power Station was demolished by Able who also demolished Willington Power Station 5 to 6 years later.

[@norfolknchance.500]

Brilliant look at something we don't normally get to see!

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Ray, glad you enjoyed

[@UKDroneAdventures]

I had one of my favourite drone adventures there.

[@davidbennett906]

Greetings on Lancashire Day, Martin, the 27th of October. The day to celebrate the true boundaries of our historic county, from the Furness fells to the River Mersey. Hope you'll have a toast tonight! (or another night if you've missed it) :) Keep up the great work you're doing, it's fascinating stuff.

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much David

[@JackMellor498]

I’m a local living just down the road in Burton and always glimpse them on my way to and from work. There used to be 3 large coal fired stations with altogether 10 cooling towers at a place called Drakelow, which was always dubbed Burton’s power station even though it was technically in South Derbyshire. All three stations are gone, closed and demolished between 1984 and 2006, so considering Willington closed in the late 90s before the last station closed at Drakelow in 2003, but it’s 5 impressive towers still dominate the skyline around here, I feel proud that these have lucked out to stick around as monuments to our industrial heritage, albeit decaying ones.

[@DaveBeaven-tx2tp]

I managed to get legal access to Drakelow Power Station in 2003. The cooling towers there were bigger standing at 350 tall. I went inside the turbine hall and control room.

[@ulazygit]

Used to live around the corner from willington ... often drove past, never went in ... I now live in NZ ... no chance of going back but thanks gents for filling in a gap for me concerning this wonderful former power station.

[@ricjuk]

You could make the worlds scariest climbing wall out of one of these!

[@peterthornton2396]

Breaks my heart how they’ve demolished our ferry bridge power station so dam quickly

[@elixyrevad]

Welcome to my neck of the woods. I'm in Derby and can see the cooling towers from my window, you should have given me a shout, I'd have made you a cuppa! Watching the chimneys get blown a few years back was a sight to behold.

[@MartinZero]

I would have loved to have seen the site complete Dave

[@Just_Marc-88]

I was only there yesterday and today I get recommended your video. I didn't go on the grounds like yourself, just flown a drone over to look.

[@MartinZero]

Great for droning Marc

[@jezm1703]

I used to drive past them every day in the 1970s. They were a great sight.

[@bendeleted9155]

The thing outside at 7:07 is a gate valve with a motorized actuator.

[@MartinZero]

Thanks 👍

[@kells77]

We sell these at work was going to reply this

[@johneyres3045]

I'm always surprised to see Willington still standing. I'm sure it won't be long before it's just a memory and you'll be glad to have made the video Martin. Fiddlers Ferry is another that has just closed and should be kept an eye on.

[@MartinZero]

Cheers John, yes I was glad to get up close and record these things

[@Mk3Wardle]

Whilst working in derby last week I was drawn to these towers and the closer I got I couldn't belive there size, pulled the van up outside the gate nearest to the towers and looked on in amazement, What a by gone age would be sad to see them go.

[@MartinZero]

They do have a certain concrete charm Dan

[@MossyOrc]

I needed this video today. Missing the East Midlands, my old job at nearby Ratcliffe power station and mucking about with my mates at these cooling towers. Thanks!

[@sparkyprojects]

I watched Didcot power station being built between 1964-68, i watched it grow each day, demolition began in 2014, i never thought i would see this in my lifetime (i'm 65) If you have seen the videos of 'concrete 3D printing', didcot cooling towers were done in a similar way, a central tower was erected with an arm on it (just like @11:06), i can't remember if it was all concrete, or if it was shaped blocks, but iirc they were built in a spiral (which can be seen from the forwork in the pic above) Water was sprayed into the towers from that centrral pipe, and dripped down the plates, the shape of the tower meant the heat going out the top drew cool air from below (Bernoulli effect) At didcot, the warm water was used to breed eels in ponds next to the towers.

[@MartinZero]

I bet those Eels were big buggers

[@notwenjohn6852]

A belting video again Martin. :-) I remember going on a school visit to Agecroft Power Stn in the early 80s (probably near to it closure) and we were taken near the cooling towers to see them in action. I remember all the water dripping down, and there was like a water sump/ pool underneath. 💧💧💧 Regarding the Electrical Excitor. This equipment is/was used on large rotating machines such as generators to provide an external source of current flow in order to start the generator outputting power. 💡💡

[@MartinZero]

I would have loved to have seen that John

[@notwenjohn6852]

@@MartinZero unfortunately I don't remember if it was Station A, B, or C. But it was one of the best primary school trips! :-) Partly why I was disappointed not to have made it to see the control room before it got stripped out :-(

[@soundseeker63]

I like cooling towers and always have. Being a Yorkshire lad, they seem somehow integral to the British landscape. To removed them would leave something missing. Amazing these ones have survived for over 20 years since the station its self closed down. They are like a line of big tomb stones, the only remnants left to signify what was once here. Many dozens or even hundreds have bitten the dust in recent decades as we move towards renewables, but there is something about the vast size of these things no wind turbine could ever replicate.

[@MartinZero]

I love em

[@Bumbaclot213]

I visited this site in 2004, and remember some of them had these channels filled with water

[@Phil-M0KPH]

Phenomenal structures, especially when you think how thin the walls are and the weather conditions they are exposed to.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah dissapearing like the gasometers

[@christophersmith5691]

Saw the 8 cooling towers at Ratcliffe upon Soar (not many miles from Willington) also close to the Trent from close up. The East Midland main line runs hard by them and in recent times a new rail station too, East Midlands Parkway. When they are in operation great sheets of water can be seen falling from the sides into the lagoon at the bottom, while a cloud of steam wafts from the top of the tower

[@nickcox2974]

Thank you guys that was brilliant I use to work at willington over 16 year and has just changed my job I always looked at the towers just standing there empty redundant.yes can remember the coal Trains pulling in to be emptied and loved to hear the old pair of class 20s going by before they got replaced by class 37s I think was there next update loco . great video loved the drone footage that's awesome. Thank you again

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much Nick

[@proluxelectronics7419]

As a kid up north, I thought all the cooling towers where for making clouds...

[@MartinZero]

Me as well 😃

[@dtapx5835]

@@MartinZero Well you were both kind of right.

[@akwalek]

That's why some folk call them cloud factories :)

[@jix177]

@@akwalek And don't get me started about Wind Farms! ;)

[@stevejones8665]

@@akwalek The Wind farms are not actually for generating power they are actually used for blowing the rain clouds 🌧🌧🌧away from Manchester because they are sick of it raining all the time ☔☔😉😊. A lot of farmers actually pay for them to blow the clouds over the farmland during droughts.🌧🌧.

[@professionalidiots101]

That is mental, to see them towers standing on tiny struts. I do understand that triangles are the strongest shape... But seriously that is immense 👍

[@MartinZero]

Yeah amazing to think all that weight

[@seanknecht4075]

That's just mind blowing brilliant how they came up with a stable design like that

[@SergeiJonovich]

Thank-you, what a fantastic collaboration! Two of my fave KZbinrs at the same time!

[@TrekkingExploration]

😃😃😃😃😃❤️

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much Sergei

[@jasonandharriet9727]

One of the reasons these towers haven't been demolished yet is that peregrine falcons are nesting in a couple of them. Its always a pleasure to see them flying around and over my garden.

[@mervynsands3501]

Like it or not, these man made structures are quite impressive, even now they stand out for miles around. Vast relics of part of a bygone era of UK power generation. No longer serving their purpose, will be eventually removed no doubt and gone forever, like so many others like them. Great to have a final look around them. Nice post guys.🙂👊👍

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Mervyn

[@hullhistorynerd]

Fantastic, there was a cooling tower like this at the end of my street when I was really little, along with an older square wooden one that loomed over our house. I still remember being a bit freaked out because the wooden one looked like a giant building with no windows!

[@MartinZero]

All gone now I bet

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@MartinZero The wooden one was demolished whilst we still lived there, and a plague of suddenly homeless rats infested all the houses at our end of the street! Concrete one was pulled down in the 80s. It was one of those early power stations that was built actually in the city, so it had no room to expand. It was never intended to produce much more than power for streetlights when it was first built at the back end of the 19th century.

[@caminojohn3240]

As a young adult here in Sacramento, I toured the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Station, which had two of these towers. From my recollection, there was more metal lattice structures to increase surface area inside to spread the cooling water out. But I also recall standing next to the opening and feel the draft it created. It was this steady flow of air past your body. This was early summer but any other time of year, the draft would be quite chilly. As for their fate? Well once the brownfield remediation is complete, which probably includes the area around the towers, they will be pulled down because the land can be reused.

[@siw8158]

Great video. I must drive my train past Willington a few times a week, used to drop a couple of thousand of tonnes of coal at Rugeley , Ratcliffe weekly (and before that a few trips to Cottam) before the end of King Coal on the railways in 2015.

[@jennytidy2442]

Absolutely amazing, Thankyou Martin. I've been to Derby 100's of times, and driven past it, 1000's, and I never knew they existed. An interesting insight, of what remains of a disused power station. Well done 👏

[@Mick526]

Does anyone know what the 'mechanism' on the ramp was at the base of the entact tower? It looks like a really cross, angry mechanical ape!

[@xjsteve]

Living nearby, I’ve never visited the Cooling Towers despite passing through Willington countless times. So to see them close up, albeit via Martin’s excellent KZbin video is a treat. I really must see them first hand...

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much

[@briwire138]

I once went to an open day at Ince power station near Ellesmere Port, long gone now, but it had a single cooling tower. It had massive fans to improve the cooling effect, and I was told it did the job of 4 conventional towers. Closer to where I live, in the 80s, one of the eight cooling towers at Fiddlers Ferry blew down one windy night. You can actually see a slight colour difference in its replacement.

[@waverleyjournalise5757]

Your cinematography becomes more impressive in every new video. I've always been fascinated by these massive structures, how they work and the way in which they dominate the skyline... some of them should honestly be preserved as a colossal monument to the past.

[@Sim0nTrains]

The Cooling Powers are impressive indeed. when travelling to Derby on the way you can see them out the window, at the moment. Where I live in Rugeley, there is another Power Station, used to have a A Power Station and B Power Station, the A Power Station long gone in the mid 90s but they only closed the B Power Station 2016 and started last year knocking it down and I have been capturing the demolition (part from the 1st one which was a complete disaster, thanks to the fog, there was something coming down but they couldn't blow it up until the fog was 50 meters above the structure ) but a very impressive video indeed and also nice to see Ant!

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Simon

[@christopherj3367]

legal height limit for a drone is 400ft, looks like your drone has its limit set, but what a great view from up there.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah incredible views, we were just losing the light

[@jamesstewart9496]

Fantastic!!....good lord my friend, there's all kind of history on your island...well, I'll drink to that! Well done

[@MartinZero]

Cheers James

[@matthewgriffiths8423]

Fantastic Martin. Hard to believe all that weight supported by those triangular supports at the base

[@MartinZero]

Yeah that got me as well Matthew

[@socklesslad]

Cooling towers are architectural gems and some at least deserve to be protected. The ones in Rugeley, Tinsley and Ferrybridge, amongst others, have gone - and Fiddlers Ferry is on borrowed time. I'll be gutted if they all disappear.

[@RandomCrapUK]

Went here back in August. Absolutely amazing to stand under.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah great arent they

[@Littlewing6was9]

Awesome. First thing I thought was I wonder what the acoustics would be like. Love it

[@MartinZero]

Very nice echo in there

[@notsohairybiker]

Brilliant again Martin. I am Ex fire service, we went to one back in the 80's that was being demolished in Foleshill, Coventry, the chemicals use to treat the inner timbers gave off cyanide when burned. We had to go there put out a fire in the timber stack. I had a good look around while there. We (Fire service visit) got the chance later that year to go inside a working dry seal gas holder on the same site and walk down the ladder to stand on top of the piston, a most surreal experience.

[@MartinZero]

Wow that sounds good, I would love to visit a working one

[@yorkie2789]

Great video, I can see Drax from the village where I live, hopefully at least its cooling towers will be around for years to come.

[@MartinZero]

Drax is huge

[@ivanhockenhull2604]

Memory Lane for me, Martin, since I managed to get up close and personal to the Agecroft Towers pre-demolition. Great standard again. These structures should remain.🇯🇪

[@MartinZero]

I would have loved to have seen Agecroft properly, it was only up the road from me

[@siennamayh]

Only looked up how these things work after staying in a hotel near some near Warrington a few months back. I remember seeing some in action up Close on a primary school trip to padiham in the late 80’s. Can’t imagine kids today would get that chance. Great imposing structures.

[@andyroberts9562]

Another great video Martin thanks, magnificent structures these can understand the locals dont want them to disappear, when ever i see these cooling towers they remind me of Agecroft and like you mentioned how those little triangular legs hold all of them up is amazing, take care

[@2010craggy]

Cracking video of a location that’s been on my drone flight list for a good while now! I believe the towers were saved from demolition when a mating pair of Peregrine Falcons nested there.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah that was in the 90's I put it in the video

[@valerielongmore5040]

Wow always wanted to see inside a cooling tower. The drone camera work was stunning, awesome infact, great atmospheric music too. Great video!

[@jamiekelsall5221]

Nice video all the coal fired power stations will be shut in the next few years I was working on ferry bridge power station last year cutting all the turbines and generators and rotors for scrap got some great pictures never be made again like that over here

[@AllenORourke1954]

Sunday evenings wouldn't be the same without your videos Martin...

[@MartinZero]

Thank you very much

[@teresaoswell6981]

Hiya Thanks that was amazing seeing them up close how enormous they are, I live in Chadderton and remember watching the towers off Broadway coming down very sad really 😢 x

[@Will-fp8zv]

Eyup from Derbyshire. You were right in my patch here. I live in Mercia Marina which is right next to the towers (largest inland marina in Europe). The towers are owned by Uniper who operate Ratcliffe power station, next one along down the river Trent, and it is common folklore that they were kept due to local resistance to the site being developed for housing and a willingness for them to be retained as a 'feature'. The truth is that after the planning for housing was withdrawn due to significant and costly local opposition, Uniper had plans to install a gas turbine on the site instead. It would have needed a tall chimney to be installed but not one taller than the towers. With the towers in place the Chimney wouldn't have needed planning permission as it would not have been the 'tallest structure' on the site. Demolition of the towers would restrict Uniper's plans for the site in the future should it be felt that the national grid needs a fast reaction gas turbine be installed.

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Will

[@carlwallace7157]

Brilliant As a kid I played under the cooling towers of the disused hartshead power station so always find them interesting.fond memories.love your stuff.

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Carl

[@brianartillery]

03:44 - Saint Martin? I love cooling towers - they're oddly eerie inside. I went in one with my late father many, many years ago, when I went to work with him when I was about ten. The place blew my tiny mind. It was dangerous, and creepy, and you felt like an ant. They are nothing like you'd imagine them to be. That cleared one might be an interesting gig space - a nice loud band like Working Mens' Club, Idles, or Fontaines D.C. in there would probably sound astonishing. Wonderful, evocative music on your video yet again, especially for the drone footage. At 12:36, you can see a section of the Trent, which in not too many years will become an 'Ox Bow Lake' - the river will cut across the narrowest part of the bend, and will eventually leave the old bend as a silted up 'U' shaped lake or pond. Great video. Thank you and Ant. Nice one.

[@swampthing20]

How much do I wanna hear Sha Sha Sha being belted out in one of these now. Great idea 👍

[@brianartillery]

@@swampthing20 - Weirdly, that was the tune I was hearing when I wrote that - it's a bit of an earworm - once heard, endlessly reheard! Yes, that would sound fantastic.

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Brian, I will go back and look at that bit of the Trent

[@ColinHarperSummerson]

Another Great video Martin, really enjoyed it, never seen up close before, just imagine a party held inside the one cleared out, music bouncing off the walls and lights going , mmm, maybe a proper bad head after 30 mins? Ha,ha

[@RobTaverner]

Another great video. When I was a young lad, in the 70's, my dad would take me fishing on the Trent by a power Station. It may have been this one. I remember the water that returned into the river from the power station made the river seem to mist up and the fishing was great.

[@MartinZero]

Possibly was Rob, I think tropical fish could live in the outflow

[@jobos98]

That is an Automated Valve for coolant to be throttled open or closed.

[@colin5296]

Good call Martin, i remeber looking at these as a kid in Manchester in wonder, I can not think where now ,always water streaming down and wondered what was inside ,hope they save a couple.

[@MartinZero]

I vaguely remember the Chadderton ones

[@colin5296]

@@MartinZero ​ @Martin Zero Was there any around Stockport i grew up on the south side .A note on the MGR trains in practice the Loco's were fitted with SSF system Slow Speed Facility so at the station they would crawl at between 2 to 3 MPH while unloading so the train never stopped , also if you check out the hopper wagons there is a lever on the side for the brakes marked loaded /empty this was also tripped halving the brake force on the wagon for economy ,all clever stuff from BR ,the SSF could play up on the loco's causing us a bit of head sratching.Hope this is of interest .

[@colinbettany4456]

Great video martin, brought back many memories as i used to deliver bread to the canteen at Willington B many years ago.

[@MartinZero]

Thats brilliant Colin, bet you saw it all in action

[@tardismole]

3:42 Martin found his halo :D We went to Blackburn Meadows Power Station in Sheffield, to watch the cooling towers being demolished. It was an emotional evening. The end of an era we'd thought would last a lot longer than it did.

[@MartinZero]

Id love to see some coming down. I missed Chadderton power station in 1986

[@tardismole]

@@MartinZero I did, too. back then, I was in West Germany training to be a doctor. :)

[@mileshigh1321]

They where an eyesore when they where part of the power plant! Now they are real monoliths of 20th century progress! They are actually incredibly built and something to look at! and should be preserved now! Great drone footage too Martin! I will check out Ants channel also!

[@brystonecowboy]

Nice to see. Wife runs a shop in the village, they are very familiar to us

[@mikerogers5043]

Brilliant. Those towers are amazing, like you I'm amazed at how those slender columns support that weight.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah scary Mike

[@UsualmikeTelevision]

Your drone footage is amazing. I really enjoyed this video.

[@michaelwalters7333]

Thanks for the Videos, Happy Sunday

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Michael, Happy Sunday

[@davidm3225]

I can see these from my living room window :-D

[@MartinZero]

Lets hope they stay David

[@chazzyb8660]

RIP these great cloud making machines. I hope they leave a few - they took down the ones at Didcot, and there is just a big gap there now. Hard to explain, but I still come over the hill expecting them to be there, but - nothing. Same as when you come over the hill into Sheffield on the M1. So sad. Used to powerful effect in the films Brazil, and Richard III with Ian McKellan.Brilliant Martin. A nice clear explanation of how it actually works - kzbin.info/www/bejne/faDYomubpc-La7s

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much for the link Chazzy

[@Simon_Nonymous]

yes I miss the ones near the Tinsley viaduct too...

[@gustavfenk4021]

They should never have demolished the ones at Ironbridge, considering the industrial history of the place.

[@2H80vids]

Good link, thank you.👍

[@MarkBakerFPV]

I've been to those ones and dived our drones inside. They are bigger than you think once up close

[@buffplums]

That’s the paradox, I live near Ironbridge and when they brought down the towers at Ironbridge station it was a very mixed feeling. When they were built they were an eyesore but I think people grow fond of them. Maybe they would make a great gig event for music imagine the accoustics

[@ahaveland]

Acoustics and diffusion would be absolutely terrible for a concert - you stand at the middle and you get a focused slapback. Any other sound source anywhere else would have its echoes focused at another point, so you would hear different speakers at different places. Would be interesting electroacoustically to explore the constructive and destructive interference patterns as you walk around, but for listening to conventional music, it would sound *horrible*!

[@buffplums]

@@ahaveland of course but there’s always a creative solution consider that in Germany 🇩🇪 there is a venue that’s inside an old steel gasometer, imagine the acoustics in there ?

[@t_ruth555]

Hi Martin and Ant, I love the cooling towers and think it would be such ashame to pull them down. I thought the images from inside the towers looking upwards were amazing, thanks for sharing Martin. 🔴🟡🟢

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Ruth, yes I agree there is something about them that is poetic

[@trevorwright6165]

this was great martin thank you both so much all the best from trev and chris down south

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much to you both

[@shauntodd7123]

Martin amazing archetecture

[@lisab3396]

@7:20 That is a remote (control room) controlled gate valve. A relatively small electric motor will operate a reduction gear drive (much like a manual car transmission/gearbox) to turn a shaft with a worm gear at the gate valve. Forward or reverse of the motor will raise or lower the gate and thus regulate and or stop water flow as required!

[@jordanrowland6269]

Fascinating vid about strangely compelling structures - I can remember that one at Fiddlers Ferry collapsed in (I think) the 1990’s . I lived in Goole on Humberside for a year and I could see the huge ones at Drax (Britain’s biggest) from my window.

[@mrlister2000]

The B2 cooling tower at Fiddlers Ferry Power Station collapsed during a gale in January 1984. It was known that this tower contained a roughly axisymmetric bulge just above the ring beam which had been present since the time of construction. This paper describes various finite element analysis that were carried out to assess the effect of this geometrical imperfection on the stresses in the tower. It is shown that the bulge would have caused vertical cracks to develop and the subsequent propagation of both horizontal and vertical cracks would have ultimately lead to the collapse of the tower.

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Jordan

[@oldmanhuppiedos]

The Cooling towers are always impressive structures. Can't imagine that people see it as a point of recognition. 7:07 is a valve powered by an electric motor.

[@totherarf]

Given Martins canal exploits I am surprised he did not see the similarity between that and a Lock Gate ;0)

[@predator139]

They're definitely landmarks/PoR! Its a clear sign you're nearly home (live in the village) when you see them pop up alongside the A38/A50!

[@davetspiritpr6834]

In the late 90s I worked for a company that under took oil pollution and we were called out to drakelow, high marnham, Didcot, west Burton power stations to name but a few funnily enough not willington to sort out oil spills on the water lagoons, that's brought back some memories of the site's and the cooling towers , I don't do that job now no power stations left hardly great video thanks .

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much Dave

[@thekenneth3486]

Thanks, Martin, that's something very, very few of us will ever get to see. Love your trainspottingishness, too.

[@MartinZero]

Thank you, I have never forgotten being a trainspotter

[@sadieals]

Just looking up from the inside gives me the jitters!

[@jimmyviaductophilelawley5587]

Effin brilliant video Martin! Twenty years ago I'd have bin doing free parties in places like the filled in towers..and trainspotting is an honourable pastime that unfortunately has dwindled in it's appeal since locomotives have been replaced wi multiple units and trailing power cars etc....deltics forever! Best wishes and take care

[@stephencleaves]

The cooling towers are like vast cathedrals, and are very distinctive landmarks around the country, sadly gradually disappearing as all these types of station are closed. Working at a nuclear power station myself, we don't have the cooling towers, but pretty much all the other associated infrastructure is the same no matter how it generates electricity. Great video Martin, always a treat to watch on a Sunday evening. :-)

[@MartinZero]

Thanks Steve, Do you do open days at the Nuclear power station

[@rosewhite---]

amazing design with all the weight on the slanted supports.

[@Urbexy]

Impressive structures. I no idea either how they built them to that shape. It's great to be able to explore locations like this especialy when you concider how "off limits" the entire site would have been when it was opperational. I thought the drone footage was great!

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much. Yeah I was surprised how easy it was to get on site

[@rydermike33]

Many thanks Martin and Ant. I'd agree with the local people. It would be a great shame to see the towers go. Wonderful pieces of industrial design. Great video as always Martin.

[@MartinZero]

Thanks very much Mike

[@McSynth]

Fascinating video. Keep up the good work ! :-)

[@MartinZero]

Thank you

[@MarkJT1000]

I was waiting for the drone to look down the inside of a fully kitted out tower so I could see how it all worked, instead of the stripped out one. Points lost this week Martin 😉. On the photo showing the towers construction it looks like a central riser pipe has already been erected on the left of the photo, with the tower itself to be built around it later. Awesome structures.

[@MartinZero]

Take a look at Ants video for that. But you still cant make it all out from the top

[@zr700]

Was hoping for that too

[@GhostTheory]

This was a really awesome video, great views too. Wouldlove to use this sort of place for a short film. Thanks a lot for sharing.

[@MartinZero]

Yeah it makes a good backdrop

[@tomsurbanexplore]

Excellent video martin,yeah your right they did have some sort of system where the sprays of water came out of a series of pipes now I know what it's like from above now blimey they are gigantic as the so called " the five sisters " looking forward to next week's video 👍

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Thomas

[@terryfrancis5135]

Watching your excellent videos along with a dram of glenmorangie both indispensible ! Well done martin.

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Terry 🍷

[@777mjt]

I drive close to these on the A50 twice a week, year round on my travels between Manchester and the South. Now I know what I'm missing each time I pass by! I must admit I'm baffled as to how the supports at the base manage to take all the weight of the concrete above. Btw the drone footage was great x

[@MartinZero]

Thank you, yes 6500 tonnes on those thin concrete legs !!!

[@hovermotion]

Wow...what a great vid Martin .... The cooling tower design has always has amazed me on how they constructed and designed them . Stunning vid.... Jim

[@BrianRS1968]

Missed a few but, glad i got this one. Another great video, Martin. Thank you.

[@munocat]

I think the cooling towers are amazing, thank you for this vlog. These are a great testament to the end of the Industrial Age. Hope they keep these.

[@MartinZero]

Cheers Warren, me as well

[@jpl2283]

I have always amazed the cooling towers in UK. In my country, Finland, we don’t have them, because the ”waste” heat is used in district heating.

[@MartinZero]

Thats a much better idea

[@johnkeepin7527]

District heating associated with power stations isn’t popular in the UK at present, though in the past it has been used, e.g. in London the old Battersea power station did the same thing in the local area.

[@iansinclair521]

Got it in one, Martin -- that big valve controlled cooling water flow into the tower.