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Narrow gauge line info added
==Association with the Severn Valley Railway==
[[File: Stourport_OS.jpg |thumb|300px|right| Extract from 1951 OS Map showing Stourport]]
Coal was initially delivered to the power station via the [[River Severn]] or the [[Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal]] (which can be seen passing under the SVR at [[Falling Sands Viaduct]]). The additional sidings and canal basin built at [[Stourport | Stourport Station]] in 1885 allowed coal to be brought there by rail, then transshipped to boats for the final leg of its journey to the power station. The majority of the coal came via the canal by barge direct from collieries in the Cannock Coalfield. The coal was unloaded from the barges at the 'Furthermost Basin' by two electric grabs, and transferred to the power station via hoppers along a short length of aerial ropeway.<ref>''Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal'' (1974), J. Ian Longford, p. 180.</ref>
===Electric railway===
The coal was unloaded from the barges at the 'Furthermost Basin' by two electric grabs, and transferred to the power station via hoppers along a short length of aerial ropeway.<ref>''Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal'' (1974), J. Ian Longford, p. 180.</ref>
Coal was brought in by a 2ft 6in gauge railway. At the company's private wharf two jib-cranes (or derricks) were utilised to unload the barges, and they discharged into hoppers feeding conveyor belts. These took the coal above Severn Road and discharged into more hoppers situated above the 2ft 6in gauge railway tracks, upon which were waiting rows of small coal trucks.
To operate the traffic the power station obtained, in 1925, two four-wheel battery-electric locomotives from English Electric (W/Nos 688 and 689). They were painted in a dark green livery and were numbered 1 and 2. The lettering 'English Electric Co Ltd/Dick Kerr system' was inscribed on their controllers. They were small, low, locomotives, with outside frames almost down to track level, and unusually they were fitted with wooden block buffers. They were fitted with a very cramped end-cab and were powered by rechargeable heavy duty storage batteries. A fitting shop, with two tracks, was provided for stabling and servicing the locos, and to provide battery recharging facilities.
Their basic duties were twofold. They were principally used to collect coal tubs from the wharf hopper, and trundle them past the coal stocking areas to the boiler house. Normally eight tubs at a time were moved, each weighing about half a ton, although they reputedly pulled over a dozen tubs at busy times, particularly during the Second World War. The coal was offloaded, passed through hoppers and a weighing machine, and thence ran by conveyor belt to the boiler house bunkers. Any coal not immediately required was diverted to another conveyor belt and stockpiled at the storage grounds. Their second duty was ash disposal. A large quantity of waste ash was produced when coal was burned in the boilers, and this was deposited into storage bunkers outside the boiler house. From there it was dropped into purchasers' lorries, or into narrow gauge wagons. The English Electric locos then transferred the tubs to the tip, or to the wharf for loading the ash into purchasers' water-borne transport.
===Standard gauge branch===
Authorisation for construction of the power station granted in 1918 included a branch railway of 7.3 furlongs along an embankment, joining the Severn Valley branch 25 yards east of the bridge over the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. This was not built at the time and the powers lapsed. They were renewed in 1938 and the branch line constructed so that coal could be brought in directly by rail. From Stourport the branch successively crossed Mill Road, the River Stour, Hartlebury Road and Worcester Road on plate girder bridges. Main line locomotives were not allowed beyond this last bridge.<ref name=Marshall88>[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] p. 88.</ref>
File:Rocks by Rail - train of mineral wagons (geograph 4740737).jpg | Sir Thomas Royden at Rocks by Rail (Wikimedia Commons)
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Greenwood Batley 2000/1945 ‘Greenbat’ was used by the Central Electricity Generating Board for shunting wagons at Stourport Power Station until the conversion to merry-go-round system of coal delivery rendered the locomotive redundant. It can be found at Ribble Steam Railway and Museum<ref>[https://ribblesteam.org.uk/exhibits/diesel/greenwood-batley-2000-1945-greenbat/ Greenwood Batley 2000/1945 ‘Greenbat’, Ribble Steam Railway and Museum] (Retrieved 25 November 2020)</ref>.
==Closure==
==References==
<references/>
[https://www.facebook.com/Archivist-109069043853410 'The Archivist' Facebook page, 25 November 2020] (Retrieved 25 November 2020) from which details of the narrow gauge railway are taken.
== Links ==
