Explore #7 of the ‘Hot Filth Tour’
On the last day of our industrial extravaganza we spent an hour or two enjoying a beautiful old forgotten power plant…
History (with thanks and acknowledgment to Behind Closed Doors for their knowledge and research of this site, from which the information below is derived)
This was almost certainly the first plant built to power the Cockerill Sambre steelworks in Charleroi. A later (and also now superseded) power plant was the nearby Blue Power Plant, which I explored in October 2015.
This power plant was built some time betwen 1904 and 1930, and comprised two turbine generators and rotary converters to convert the AC generated power into the DC current required by the steelworks.
Our Explore
Apart from a rather perilous crawl through a bundle of razor wire and dodging some on-site security this was another nice relaxed explore. I’m glad we took the time to see this little slice of industrial heritage, as the final two locations en route to the Eurotunnel were unexpected fails – oh well, can’t win ’em all. Anyway, on with the photos…
A quick phone snap outside…
The main turbine hall, with the rotary converters in the foreground…
One of the ancient turbines…
A rotary converter – used to convert the AC power into DC current…
The logo of the manufacturer ACEC…
Main control boards…
Mark striving to get the best angle for his shot…
A partially stripped blower, used to drive air into the blast furnace…
The two vintage turbines and rotary converters…
James and Jade arrived shortly before we finished, so we made sure to leave them a little present on their car on our way out…
I hope you’ve been converted.
Adam X