File: Tennyson.txt Cont: The report on the infiltration of the disused Tennyson power station in Brisbane, by Sydney Clan member 14 May 1999 See: Il Draino 50th Edition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tennyson Power Station - Another Northern Cave Clan Triumph During a meeting at an elegant Sydney yacht club with retired Brisbane Cave Clan member Sheep Feet, was given a clue to the whereabouts of yet another chunk of the national grid. Sheep Feet mentioned that, during his employment in a REAL JOB, he became aware that there was a disused power station not ten minutes by train from the Brisbane CBD. Since was en-route to the abandoned Hydro Power Station at Kuranda (via the disused gas-turnine at Rockhampton), he decided he'd have a go at the local offering. Entry is via a short walk from Yeerongpilly station to the northeast side of Softstone St (UBD map 179 F-5) where one climbs over the fence and walks east along the grassy riverbank towards the riverside edge of the old brick building, until one hears the loud 50Hz hum of lots of big transformers. These throbbing juggernauts are behind prison-bar gates, some of which are warped to permit entry to slimmer Clan members... larger persons will need to get down and dirty by getting in through the old coolant pipes which exit into a canal near the river, but this route is not recommended since this requires mud immersion, and some of these pipes are meshed to prevent access. These bars could be jacked or pried by the usual means but be quick, there is not a lot of cover. There is security on site but it is fairly inactive. There was notification of an intruder alarm but it doesnt seem to be active in the bulk of the station. Once inside, ascend the stairs to what used to be the generator floor. The six 150 Megawatt generators were similar to, but larger than, the green giants in the Melbourne station, but they have been removed. Old tanks, oxy-cut beams, concrete mountains which once cradled massive pumps and motors adorn the floor. The walls have rails for a 120-ton crane parked at the west end of the generator hall. All is quiet except for the occasional pigeon. The understory is dark and and also denuded of machinery. It's as if the Borg have come and scooped all the machine elements out of the guts of the building. Eerie that the place should seem so dead. The offices where the control systems were housed have also been cleaned out, only the lino remains. The most amazing visage exists where all the boilers and heat-exchangers have been removed, eight stories of girders and beams jut and grasp into empty space as if trying to avoid the rigor mortis which has already overtaken them; industrial death-throes frozen in time... and it's so VAST. Tennyson has not been entirely gutted. Some small areas, clothed in additional layers of locks, fence mesh, ominous warning signs and coils of razor wire. remain connected to the grid, and highly energised with the squillions of kilovolts which run Brisbane. Tennyson is now merely a switchyard for the juice which comes from the rest of SEQEB's network. I assumed that any intruder detection system would be focussed on these spots, so I avoided them and headded up ladders towards the roof. Three floors up, what appears to have been the administration area is locked off with shiny, newly installed steel-bar doors but there didn't appear to be much of interest beyond them. I lacked lock-picks or a hacksaw so I used more staircases and reached the lower roof. This level has amusing doors which, if you walk through them, permit you a six story plunge to your impact-related death below, but otherwise the entertainment value is a bit thin. More stairs and ladders take you to the middle roof, which has the footings to long-removed smokestacks, and holes which look ten stories down to the sub-basement. From this level one can also access the elevator shaft motors and also the conveyor belts and hoppers for the coal loader system, which is now mainly a gigantic pigeon-shit collector. Cages ladders lead to the topmost roofs, from where one can see the Brisbane CBD skyline. You can also see huge alien crop rectangles where the main smokestacks used to be and, if you're lucky, you can see the bloody enormous Rottweiler inside the fenced-off compound where the security guard lives in his caravan. If it isn't inside, be quick and careful when you leave. I tagged-up discretely and left the plant by the same tight squeeze through which I had come in. Walking east takes you to the electric fence operated by the DPIE, and walking south along this fence takes you to a convenient hole where it meets the fence for the railway line. The rottie has about 500 metres to run from the security compound to this hole and it will leave you more than enough time to get off the substation campus before it arrives. There is probably plenty more to explore at this place before it gets converted to yuppie hi-rise. In all, it's a nice bit of real estate, well worth the effort of fighting with the Queensland Rail system to get to it. Next issue I'll write about the disused power station at Kuranda. would like to thank Brisbane Cave Clan man Sheep Feet for his tip-off. In a business where everyone knows some secret hole in the ground, but can't tell you where it is, accurate intelligence is always welcome. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cave Clan Sydney : December 23 1999