WE managed to get into old tunnels which were created for a failed London Underground system and then got used for steam pipes. They lie almost disused but in surprisingly good condition for their age and location. They are situated right outside The Tower Of London where the Crown and Royal Jewels are kept in hyper security and on display to the public.


I encountered Police on the way out who thought I might be a terrorist trying to get into the Tower Of London or the City Hall Of London. Thankfully they were polite and friendly and accepted that I was a youtube content creator and let me go... thankfully my friend had got out another way. Lol.


Some info on the London Hydraulic Company


The company was set up by an Act of Parliament (the London Hydraulic Power Company Act 1884), sponsored by railway engineer Sir James Allport,[1][a] to install a network of high-pressure cast iron water mains under London. It merged the Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company, founded in 1871 by Edward B. Ellington, and the General Hydraulic Power Company, founded in 1882. The network gradually expanded to cover an area mostly north of the Thames from Hyde Park in the west to Docklands in the east.[3]

The system was used as a cleaner and more compact alternative to steam engines, to power workshop machinery, lifts, cranes, theatre machinery (including revolving stages at the London Palladium and the London Coliseum, safety curtains at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the lifting mechanism for the cinema organ at the Leicester Square theatre and the complete Palm Court orchestra platform),[1] and the backup mechanism of Tower Bridge.[3] It was also used to supply fire hydrants, mostly those inside buildings. The water, pumped straight from the Thames, was heated in winter to prevent freezing.[1]


Decline

The system pumped 6.5 million gallons of water each week in 1893; this grew to 32 million gallons in 1933.

From about 1904, business began to decline as electric power became more popular. The company began to replace its steam engines with electric motors from 1923. At its peak, the network consisted of 180 miles (290 km) of pipes, and the total power output was about 7,000 horsepower (5.2 MW).

The system finally closed in June 1977. The company, as a UK statutory authority, had the legal right to dig up the public highways to install and maintain its pipe network. This made it attractive to Mercury Communications (a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless) who bought the company and used the pipes as telecommunications ducts.[3][7] Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, the last of the five to close, later became an arts centre and restaurant.


info from WIKIPEDIA
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Equipment used:
Sony A7s ii with Samyang 14mm full frame lens
Dji Pocket 2 camera
Insta 360x R
Adobe Premiere Pro 2020
Ryzen 3950X
65GB Ram
Windows 10 (No Apple shiz here)
Nvidia RTX 3090 GFX

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