Welcome to my recreational drone channel! I have always had an interest in camera drones to get those unique aerial views which can't be experienced unless you're in a helicopter or briefly flying over in a plane! I have been very interested in the DJI Phantom series and I'll be using mine to explore the world in a new way. I'm a keen amateur photographer and love cinematography, particularly when it comes to video editing afterwards. I am located near Derby, UK.
I was extremely lucky to be allowed access to this power station in 2003 by the site owners. I was taken around the Turbine Rooms which was massive, the control room and the cooling towers. The 3 cooling towers to the south had just been stripped but the ones to the north were still complete. I had to walk up a tall concrete stair case at the side of the tower to were a small wooden door was. It was awesome inside. The water in the ponds at the base of the tower was drained a few months before. The cooling towers had warning Sirens on the ground near to the towers that would sound an alarm if the wind was over a certain speed. Operatives would have to stay away from the towers during windy weather in case they collapse like they did in Yorkshire around 1965. They used to pulverise the coal at Drakelow before it was blown into the boilers.
Well, to run through all the destinations the substation goes out to: One of the power lines heads out through Staffordshire and terminates at a substation north east of Stoke. One of them goes out to where Rugeley Power Station used to be, I think (which has also been demolished). A couple of them head south towards Birmingham, I know one of these terminates at the substation north of the M6 junction with the M5. One of the smaller lines heads down the Trent to Wetmore at the little substation near the Home and Trade warehouse. One of the other smaller ones heads out toward Swadlincote and terminates at the end of Mount Road near Castle Gresley. The rest I think head out to Willington Power Station (also demolished minus the cooling towers of course) which I know is linked to Ratcliffe Power Station out towards Nottingham. So all the power lines starting at Drakelow are being fed by Ratcliffe Power Station, and also Drax and West Burton further up north in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire respectively, because they’re all connected to the National Grid, and also being the only coal fired stations still in operation. Talk about a pale shadow of Britain’s electricity generation capabilities. Back in the day, there were several power stations in the area of the Midlands: Drakelow, Willington, there was one at Castle Donington where the M&S distribution warehouse is, a small one at Spondon near Derby, Rugeley, Meaford up near Stone, Hams Hall down near Coleshill outside Birmingham. All gone, and we’re all complaining about the high cost of energy bills, with all these stations more than capable (several times over more than capable) of powering all the Midlands! A real shame it’s all gone.
I worked at the the substation there from 2013 to 2018 on a major expansion and reconfiguration project for National Grid. Nice to see it in the middle of our work, I can even see my car in the car park!
Fun fact The site of the power station is also the site of the home of Sir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway and designer of both no. 4472 Flying Scotsman and no. 4468 Mallard
My Great Grandma and Great Granddad used to work at Drakelow Hall for Sir Robert Gresley. My Great Grandfather was a gardener so that was interesting for me to see what became of it.
I live in Burton and as a kid I always found it awe inspiring to see that power station dominating the skyline, now it’s demolished and nothing’s been done for 14 YEARS it does hurt me inside in a way I can’t really describe. I hope something is done with the site soon, I did recently hear of plans for a Waste Energy Centre like the one in Derby, but other than that, the potential for redevelopment is enormous, because it’s such an enormous space, same goes with Willington up the road from Burton, they’ve done bugger all with the site and they’ve still got their disused cooling towers, except they’ve been decaying for 20 YEARS and nothing’s been done, so sad.
Hi there. Great Video. Is there any chance that we might be able to use any of the local to Burton Videos. Be more than happy to add details of your page and or website if you have any.
Hello there, My name is Jon and I am part of the Burton TV group. (www.burtontvnews.co.uk) We are starting a new web channel called BTV Your Shout, (www.btvyourshout.co.uk) and we would like to ask you if we can use your video as an example, and invite you to post more in the future. We cannot pay you, but if you set your video to monetise, you will gain views and generate money for yourselves. Please could you reply and give us permission to show the video. If you have any more videos that you would like to show, we have a form here for you to fill. www.burtonbubble.com/upload-your-video/ Thank you, and we hope to hear from you soon. Jon Buglass www.burtonbubble.com/contact-us-here/
Really enjoyed this, originally from Burton, it was interesting, and I was hoping you might have gone into my home area, Anglesey Road, Beech street, etc. Music very haunting, shame your moving onto other areas..
Followed your link from PhantomPilots. Just curious as to the haziness in the video. Fingerprint? Oil? No criticisms. Just looks less sharp than I would expect from 1080p.
