4th TRIP

Following the first 3 trips, I had gained enough knowledge to explore 'off the ground floor'. A term that will resonate with some explorers who announced on forums they couldn't get off the ground floor. Indeed it took me two trips to achieve this. The third trip involved using a rather convoluted trip to getting up to the upper floors. I used a ladder propped against a beam overhead on B side. I had dragged it 'stealthily' up from the lower floors. Waiting for the security chaps to finish a round, and then scooting up. My first priority was to find a way to get down without using the ladder. As an explorer that's trespassing, ideally you want options to get out a different route. Annoyingly I found a stairwell that lead out to the same level of B side that i'd put the ladder up against. It was in an open area, which is my excuse for missing it!
On B side's ground floor of the station a set of statue's that had previously graced the place were lined up. The security had given them hi-vis jackets, scarecrows to keep explorers and other's out.

Looking out at the dock cranes from B side.

The main bus for reactor 5.

Manufacturer stamp.

Empty offices on the South of B Side. All sorts of strange stairwells layabout going between floors.

Boxes full of failed plans for the station at the other end of the room above. Note fire escape leads to smaller stairwell.

Close up of various plans that never made fruition.

The former turbine hall of Station B.

Wages office on the ground floor of B station.

At the bottom of the main B Station stairwell was another area full of clutter. Amongst the clutter was this bizarre idea for the station. On the pic next to it you can see a plan to build a large spire tower.

A reason to love the building for Thatcher (Milk Snatcher) lovers. Sat amongst the clutter.

Plans room on top floor of B side.

Weird calculator machine.

Ladder to nowhere. The skylights that are on B Station roof.

The security chaps finishing their round. Interesting job walking around the station every hour. Part of the money pit that the BPS has become.

Work occurs every now and again, maintaining the building etc. This is the workers area. Health & Safety galore.

Not a door you'd want to walk through, unless you like 10m+ drops. Looking down at the B station ground floor.

The unexplored room on B side. It's only reachable by rope, so not something i've ever done.

The girders of A Station.

Scaf stairs up to the white room. A void area sits above it with no connection to floors above or below. And the top floor is Control Room A. At this stage still elusive.

Encouraged by my continuing adventures and discoveries, I felt the next trip would be more beneficial.

5th TRIP

I'd been talking to Oxygen Thief a few times about accessing Control Room A. I knew he'd been there. But he wouldn't give me access details. I had a vague idea of how to try to get in. I fancied trying to team up with another explorer, as I felt I was close, and not many people had been in here. I chose LiamCH, as it looked like he knew his stuff and had done a number of explores on the forum I was on at the time. We met up, and set about trying to gain access. This involved teasing back a board covering the rear doors, but it only revealed the doors behind were locked tight, and had been for decades. I wandered up onto the roof, and thought about tackling the chimneys. LiamCH who hadn't been off the ground floor before, set about grabbing some shots. It was difficult to talk to him, as he didn't say much and mostly messed about with his mobile the whole time.

I had a eureka moment, and set about establishing whether it might work. It turned out it did, and before I knew it I was wandering around Control Room A. I debated with myself to let LiamCH know, and in the end told him how to get in, and he joined me. {From memory, it was through the roof, ending up on top of the control cabinets this photo was taken on.} We both stood there in awe of the gloriousness of the room, the attention to detail and fact it had been hidden away for decades just added to it.

Control desk

Something to get excited about.

Original lights and scroll detail around the edges.

6th TRIP

I'm not sure why, but maybe for a sense of completion, but also I didn't know any other explorers at this point. I invited LiamCH again to tackle the last remaining target at BPS, Switch (or Control) Room B. This sat on the far side of the Power Station, and again it was sealed. It also had the only cctv camera i'd seen in the station looking at the door. I had an idea that I was hoping to action, however as we arrived they were filming a pop promo video on the same level as Control Room B. We sat watching the various takes from the back of B side station, although we never did work out who the 'stars' were. Eventually they left later in the evening, and we slipped in to check it out. Maybe because we were extra cautious, it was how I noticed a way in that was a lot easier than the convoluted method I'd thought up. And we were in!
Swiches changing current directions and turning them on and off as demand requested.

Raise the volts!

Close up of switches for Control Battery and Booster.

It was a good conclusion to a fun number of explores. But as with West Park, there were further opportunities for fun and firework displays to be watched from on high.