Power Station IM, Belgium - September 2012

Another from our recent roadtrip around Belgium, this was something I'd really wanted to see, absolutely love industrial sites and this one is something really special. Me and BAJ arrived a few hours before the others so set about looking for our way in (cheers to JST for the advice!). After a rather awkward method of access we quickly discovered that we could of actually got in a much easier way, so we headed back out to find the other guys and get them in too, eventually we were inside the power station, suitably covered in coal dust and ready to go. During our explore we bumped into a few other groups of explorers, didn't get any names but if it happens to of been anyone reading this then hello and nice to of met you

We spent a good 4 hours or so looking around inside whcih unfortunately meant we didn't have time to go and look at the cooling tower, definitely needs a look in on the next trip to look around any bits we missed.

The power station towers above us. Inside one of the coal conveyors, needless to say we got absolutely filthy in here. Years of moving coal has left a nice thick black layer of dust over everything. Underneath the coal stores, these valves would control the flow of coal to the boilers. The silos must of held a hell of a lot of coal. This was the lowest you could go, the lower levels were all flooded. One of a number of gantry cranes. Looking across from one of the other gantry cranes. An industrial photographers paradise. Beautiful valves. And more valves! Steam pipes running above us. A high level of craftsmanship has gone into the engineering of this station. Years of grime build up on top of this valve. One of the control rooms. Lovely control panels. One of the humongous turbine and generator sets. A dark area filled to the brim with pipe work. More switchgear. This power station was filled with many photogenic spaces. A part of the on site laboratory. Another view of one of the turbines. A partially de constructed turbine,  I'm not entirely sure why it was left like this. Me perched on the track for the biggest gantry crane in the place, it was quite a long way down!.