Site Records

Glenmoriston: Power Station

The machine hall at Glenmoriston is a relatively simple excavation, with a loading bay, the pair of 16MW turbine/generator units, and a short tunnel leading to the base of the cable/vent shaft to the surface. The following drawing makes the arrangement clear:

General view of the machine hall and loading bay, from the end of the access tunnel:

Turning to the right, from where the above photo was taken, we're looking back at where the access tunnel enters the power station:

Looking back from the far end of the station, the station crane is visible, and the steps down to the turbine floor level on the right:

The far end of the station also contains the local control panel:

A pretty dreadful photo (it was grossly underexposed) but an excellent viewpoint from the crane rails gives a good overview of the station. The left wall is panelled with mirrors, to give a feeling of more space and light - they're not windows! The small passage leading off from the end wall...

...is the entrance to the short tunnel leading to the cable/vent shaft - the base of the shaft is immediately beyond the louvered door at the end of the passage:

Open the louvered door... and look up. The view up the shaft - 300ft/100M up to the support buildings at the dam.

Last but not least, a couple of archive shots of the station under construction. Here, temporary wooden covers are being erected over the generators - to allow their erection to proceed in relatively 'clean' conditions, whilst 'dirty' civil engineering work continues in the rest of the station:

Complete, or virtually so - another view of the station from the crane rails:

Words and images © 2005 Michael J. Ross