OS Grid Ref: NN 19210 13310(access tunnel portal)
Date opened: 1956
Date closed : Operational
Glenmoriston, commissioned in 1956, was one of the first underground hydro
stations to be built by the Hydro Board.
Glenmoriston is an underground station, capacity 36MW. A relatively small
headpond, Loch Dundreggan, was formed by the Dundreggan dam, 400ft long
and 55ft high. It receives the inflow from a large catchment area, including
discharge from the Ceannacroc power station some miles upstream, and the smaller Livishe station on the shore of Loch Dundreggan, close to the dam. From an intake
adjacent to the dam, water falls down a vertical shaft, 300ft deep, to
Glenmoriston power station which is situated vertically below the dam.
Having passed through the turbines, the water flows out to Loch Ness through
a long tailrace tunnel - 21,800ft long, 20ft in diameter.
Glenmoriston was completely gutted and refurbished in 1999.
There are 48 images of Glenmoriston in the Records, and 7 webpages. They may all be accessed via the drawing at the bottom of this
page, which is a clickable image map - click on the red text to see the
associated webpage, which will open in a new window.
Drilldown to high-resolution imagery IS available online for this site
- click on any image, a high-resolution version will open in a new window
Warning! Some of the archival images (the black & white ones) are VERY
high-resolution scans, up to 5500 x 4000 pixel resolution, 6-8MB. Not intended
for dialup!
A short video sequence touring the machine hall and downstream surge chamber
exists but is not yet online.
I apologise in advance for the poor, grainy quality of some of these images;
the tunnel and power station at Glenmoriston presented some extremely challenging
conditions for underground photography - colour casts, as a result of mixed
sodium and fluorescent lighting, and gross underexposure, especially in
shadows, as a result of generally poor and 'difficult' lighting, resulted
in many of the images requiring heroic 'rescue' treatment in Photoshop.
Some are noticably grainy or 'noisy' as a result.
Photo: Glenmoriston access tunnel portal
Photo by: Mike Ross
Photo: Glenmoriston power station - interior
Photo by: Mike Ross
Drawing: Glenmoriston power station - scheme overview (vertical scale exaggerated)
Drawing by: Scanned by Mike Ross, from 'Water Power', July 1959
Photo: Glenmoriston - machine hall under construction
Photo by: Scanned by Mike Ross, from Duncan Logan archival material
The drawing below is an imagemap - click on the area you wish to explore
(Clickable areas are the red text)
 .
Illustration by: adapted by Mike Ross from an illustration published in
'Water Power', July 1959.
Home Page
Last updated 12th March 2005
Style © 1998-2001 Subterranea Britannica
Words and images © 2005 Michael J. Ross
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