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Deanie Power Station - Downstream Surge Chamber
Illustration by: Mike Ross, adapted from a photograph of a NOSHEB drawing The access route to the surge chamber starts in the roof of the machine
hall, where a short shaft leads upwards from the crane rail catwalk, into
the roof of the station: Photo by: Mike Ross From the top of the shaft, a short lined tunnel leads to a bulkhead, with
a large fan for station ventilation. The pipes are the station dewatering
pipes, dumping leaked/seepage water out to the tailrace: Photo by: Mike Ross Looking back to the top of the shaft: Photo by: Mike Ross Passing through the yellow bulkhead, a short length of unlined tunnel leads
to a concrete plug which has been retrofitted with a wooden door: Photo by: Mike Ross Through the door, a large void space and another ladder leading down... Photo by: Mike Ross ... pausing at the top of the ladder to allow eyes to adjust to the relatively
feeble illumination, you can see the roof curving away - it's a *large*
space, with a considerable echo! Photo by: Mike Ross Photo: Deanie power station - Downstream Surge Chamber. Photo by: Mike Ross ...and you have emerged onto the stoplog winch gallery, the winches for
raising and lowering the stoplog gates can be seen looking back, the tunnel
we emerged from, and the curve of the roof gives some idea of the size
of the chamber - and most of it is below us, and filled with water! Photo by: Mike Ross Looking down, there's another platform below the first - you can see the
cables attached to the stoplog gates. It doesn't show in the photo, but
the lower platform is only a few feet above the water which fills most
of the shaft - it's around 80ft deep. Photo by: Mike Ross Looking up from the lower platform, in the other direction. The chap in
the yellow helmet is standing at the upper platform level, the stairs which
give access to the lower platform can now be seen. They continue upwards
to the very roof of the surge chamber, which is where the tunnel leading
to the construction adit enters the chamber. There's another page dealing with the construction adit. Photo by: Mike Ross Home Page Last updated 5th March 2003 Style © 1998-2001 Subterranea Britannica Words and images © 2003 Michael J. Ross |