Tullis Russell Power Station

History

Currently posting at 8:30am from another power station - the 14 day grind doesn’t stop for anything.

Opened in 1914 as Markinch power station, this coal fired power station boasted three Parsons turbines, though it was later extended to have a fourth.

Alas, Tullis Russell met the same fate as almost all coal fired power stations in the UK and was closed in 2012 due to the EU Large Combustion Directive as a result of its high emissions from running on coal.

Having been sat empty, cold and isolated for many years, Tullis Russel has given nature a real opportunity to reclaim itself and that is evident throughout the site.

Though this station is much smaller than most, its character supersedes its size with its historical opulence. The old Parsons turbines are always an eyebrow raiser and the jet black control panels are a piece of history only to be marvelled at in awe.

The four turbines sat in a row within the confines of its decaying castle.

The parsons turbines really took the biscuit with their classic blue colour standing out from the white room.

Work had evidently begun on decommissioning the plant, but progress was slow.

The control room was very small compared with more modern stations.

The boiler house and conveyor shaft area for coal felt very open due to the immense decay throughout the site.

The boilers alone showed the archaic state of this power plant.

There’s something different about it, a warmth of nature perhaps, which no other places of its category do. More modern coal power stations are built for purpose, generally by the state, with nothing but cheap and efficient energy production in mind, while Tullis couldn’t be more different. Its distinguished Parsons turbines and solidly constructed building surrounding them is evidence more than any that this place was built with character by a company who really cared about what they were creating. Contemporary flat-pack power plants might be big, noisy and exciting, but they lack the secret ingredient of originality that Tullis Russel so perfectly incapsulates.