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[Varche]

Latest change to UK skyline as more cooling towers have been demolished.

It got me thinking about the changing face of England. I remember some of the coal fired power stations cooling towers being built. Impressive stuff at the time. When I could see Ferrybridge looming I knew I was about halfway home. Same with the iconic slag heaps alongside the A1. Now they are green spaces ,landscaped to an extent and even have trees.

Anyone else have memories of these dinosaur landmarks ?

[Lizzie Zoom]

Yes.  As a child I was fascinated by the local town gas works that looked and smelt so interesting, that I often asked to be walked past it.  The local brick works were the same; so interesting.  In both cases the railway served them, with coal trains often headed by a 9F coming into the gas works, and wagons being loaded, just down the line, with the produce of the brick works.

All gone now, like the cooling towers of Didcot that I passed at a distance so often on the A34, consigned to history!

[Varche]

Forgot about gas works. Dad used to take us to the one at Scarborough for a load of coke to power his greenhouse heaters. That area now is car dealers, pc world , carpet warehouses and so on. The football pitch and stands opposite is now a Lidl.

[ronnyd]

Has been reported that when they blew the towers there was a massive power cut in the area. The buggers getting their own back whilst in their death throws? 

[Entwood]

According to the local news, ... a massive amount of dust struck high tension wires in the vicinity causing large "flares" which ignited the actual pylons (?) so they burned down !! thus causing the high tension wires to touch the ground and short out. Power was off for around an hour until damaged area bypassed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-49375917

According to a local paper ... a drone launched to film the demolition struck the high tension wires causing them to short .....

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/17844679.didcot-power-station-towers-demolished---video/


Which is correct who knows but someone is making things up !!

[Kevin Wood]

Quite how a drone can "short out high tension wires" remains to be seen.

 

[biggriffin]

Arlesey brickworks, could see the chimneys for miles, and the bright red AEC/fodens of LBC trundling along.

[Sir Tigger KC]

So we shut down the coal fired power stations which have reliably delivered power for decades, and now we're having blackouts...... 

[dave the builder]

So we shut down the coal fired power stations which have reliably delivered power for decades, and now we're having blackouts...... 

Yep 
lets encourage everyone to buy electric cars too
and discourage fitting natural gas boilers in favour of air source heat pumps because they are more efficient (but electricity costs 4 times more, if there is any left in the grid  )

[Toledodude1973]

I work for cadent gas and all the disused natural gas holders are being demolished within the next couple of years so all the local landmarks will be gone along with any memories

[TheBoy]

Quite how a drone can "short out high tension wires" remains to be seen.

 

Unless it was the size of a light aircraft .  You've seen (and flown IIRC) the multirotors I fly, and that couldn't short out an 11Kv wire/pylon, let alone a 400Kv one.

Yeah, the media are full of crap

[dave the builder]

crash the drone into the disconnecter cap (explosive charge )

[Kevin Wood]

Quite how a drone can "short out high tension wires" remains to be seen.

 

Unless it was the size of a light aircraft .  You've seen (and flown IIRC) the multirotors I fly, and that couldn't short out an 11Kv wire/pylon, let alone a 400Kv one.

Yeah, the media are full of crap

.. and drone=bad, so if there was one there, then it did it.

[BazaJT]

Yes I remember being fascinated by the gasometer at the bottom end of the town I grew up in the way it gradually deflated as the gas in it was used up and then gradually inflated again as more gas was fed into it. Pit heads and slag heaps were part of the natural scenery of the area along with the huge Manvers coking plant at the edge of town and a tar works at the other side of town.Grandad[and later dad] had a scrap yard at the bottom end of town and in one corner of the yard was a kiln[don't know how old it was/is]which had at one time been part of the Rockingham pottery.The yard as such is long gone-it's small industrial units now-but the kiln remains.

[aaronjb]

Quite how a drone can "short out high tension wires" remains to be seen.

 

Unless it was the size of a light aircraft .  You've seen (and flown IIRC) the multirotors I fly, and that couldn't short out an 11Kv wire/pylon, let alone a 400Kv one.

Yeah, the media are full of crap

.. and drone=bad, so if there was one there, then it did it.

Just another excuse to call to ban TBs hobby..