The transformer room machine beds Inside the security doors is the outer chamber of the bunker with the main blast doors at the end. At this point the full strength of the bunker has still not been reached but the walls are still about 10 feet thick. Inside, on the left of the chamber is the transformer room. This supplied the electrical power to the bunker and the equipment beds still remain. All the plant has long gone as has all other equipment of any value. The normal supply from Steyning was backed up by a stand-by emergency generator. This was an 11Kv unit hidden lower down the hill in a low-lying area, next to a small wood, at Erringham Farm. Some four miles of high voltage electrical cable and a 20-pair telephone/control cable were laid along the side of the road up to Truleigh Hill. The Type 14 radar equipment required a rather unusual power supply, 180v AC at 500Hz, in order to drive the equipment at the right frequency.
Some interesting detail is found on a sign on the wall of the transformer room. It identifies the site and gives data for using the hoists, that have long since gone, safely.
On the other side of the chamber is the cable inlet duct with cable ties all down it and access to the under-floor cable ducts. The actual floor is, in most parts of the bunker from here on, about four feet below the walkway and is a potential hazard to the unwary. Although most of the floor panels are still sound there are some missing and some are beginning to show their age. Looking upwards towards the inlet there are a number of cable ties and the duct can be seen to split in two. The bends and twists between here and the surface would help dissipate any blast effects from the surface.
The floor of the duct has a machine bed for equipment and also gives access to the under-floor cable runs. This could also serve as an emergency exit. It was possible, just, to climb up the cable runs and round the various twists a and turns to the surface. The exit was covered by a heavy manhole but the site of this has not yet been pinpointed. The mains and radar feeder cables would be brought to the entry by underground runs.
