Joule in the Crown - Battersea Power Station with Sir Tony Robinson

In the early 1950s I recall my mother bawling her eyes out after dusting our Battersea Park Road flat, that despite the windows being shut, coal dust covered every surface. Itvwas a very polluting power station. In fact the doctors told my parents they should move away as I wasn't thriving. We moved to Bromley then Deal in Kent. Clean, if bracing air. She would have loved the development and shops, but passed away in 1997.

I tiled the Turbine hall floor with industrial bricks , the shape of the original turbines , every day i loved it loved the history and love the fact i did most of it on my own my work at 10,03

I toured the station as part of a school sixth form field trip in 1975 when the place was still running. They've done a fantastic job on Control Room A. I was fascinated by the huge dials.

Imagine making power stations with that kind of attention to beauty and detail in today's world. Everything made today got a sense of decaying late stage civilization.

I started my Electrical Utility career in Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town's original power stations and substations were all based on the British stations. I recognise alot of the design and styles of Battersea. Its sureal to see the similarities. I spent my career upgrading and replacing these old systems. Such a control room will easilly be replaced with just a handfull of panels and a few Computers these days. Allthough imensely more powerfull and functional, it lacks the quality feel and heft of those old panels. These days those stations will not be manned and when I worked there on faults in the middel of the night, it always had this strange and spooky feel. It always felt like I would bump into the ghost of an old operator in those dark narrow passage ways. Great work to all that took the time and effort to restore such an industrial piece of art. #chefskiss ❤

I'm glad to see Battersea power station has been made to look like it was back in the day

It brought electricity to London, It graced a Pink Floyd album cover, It now is immortalized as the first Grade II listing on acid. Drop dead gorgeous in detail and historic preservation with a brilliant repurpose.

I'm so happy it was saved. When I first learned about Battersea power station many years ago I was sad to see the state it was in after a bunch of development plans gone wrong. But now it's looking beautiful

Bucket list item. The first synchroscope has "Fast" on the left side which I thought was a British thing. But in hall B the Synchroscope has Past on the right side like here in America, the kind I've used. Soo good to see the original "Bakelite" covers and parts. They really did a great job restoring the hall. Hopefully there are tours of the place.

This is fab. It’s the perfect topic for Tony’s entertaining, informative and educational presenting style.

What an incredible video and an incredible chap presenting all the details. I feel even more proud of my Battersea neighbourhood :-)

Passed it many times . Brilliant building 👍🇬🇧

Interestingly the biggest serge in power tends to be when everyone gets a shower, before or after work. The water pumps that keep the line pressure all kick in. Also the generators slightly lead the grid wave so that its generating or pulling the grid rather than being a giant motor.

Well done gentlemen. Am very happy to know that it was restored. I hope one day I get to see it with my own eyes.

I'm amazed at the work they have done with Control Room A, but I wish they had included the engine telegraphs that they used to communicate with the engineers in the boiler house and turbine hall. I've seen photos of power station staff standing ready at the telegraphs preparing to let the rest of the staff know what needed to be done. I imagine these were replaced with a different sort of communication system over the lifetime of the station, but I love the idea of swinging the lever to "Full Speed" and hearing the turbines spool up in the turbine hall.

Odd coincidence having a former power station restored by a company called Lucas. Surely no relation to that infamous Lucas Prince of Darkness?

Amazing restoration, my dad visited this station while at school, when it was working … It’s a pity so many other closed power stations are now gone, surely just one modern mega power station has to be preserved for future generations, West Burton or Drax could be used for this purpose, they may be modern now but in 30 years time …???

that is cool as heck. I tell people all the time if i go to London i have to go to Battersea Park and no one knows what I am talking about. So i tell them it's a power station and after that they probably think I'm crazy to want to see a power station, but to me it is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen! They made a mistake by blocking the station with those new buildings!!!

Wow ❤

Wow…. Can’t wait to see that !