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[[File:StourportPowerStationShuntersBritainFromAbove StourportPS 1948.jpg|thumb|200px300px|right|Two CEGB steam locomotives at Stourport Power Station from the power station circa 1968air in 1948. The small shed can just be seen behind exchange sidings are in the top left, with the coal drops in the middle of the image. Note the smoke stacks are painted in camouflage colours. Image from [http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw013590 Britain from Above]]]Stourport Power Station was built by the Shropshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire Electric Power Co. Construction started in 1923, and it commenced supplying electricity on 1 April 1926. J. T. H. Legge was engineer.<ref name=grace>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Stourport_Electric_Power_Station Stourport Electric Power Station on Grace's Guide]</ref> It was opened in June 1927 by the second enginePrime Minister, and MP for Bewdley, Stanley Baldwin. Unusually the power station did not have the customary cooling towers, drawing cooling water directly from the adjacent [[River Severn]] and [[River Stour]].
After the second World War construction of Stourport Power Station was built by 'B' station took place for the Shropshire & Worcestershire Electric Power Co.British Electricity Authority, and opened in June 1927 by the Prime Minister, and MP for Bewdley, Stanley Baldwin. Unusually the power original station did not have the customary cooling towers, drawing cooling water directly from the adjacent [[River Severn]] and River Stourbecoming Stourport 'A'.<ref name=grace/>
==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 closed . The majority of the coal came via the canal by barge direct from collieries in 1984 and has since been demolished, with the area now mainly being a housing estateCannock Coalfield.
===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 (Works 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. No. 1 was scrapped in 1984.<ref name = "Booth" /> 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> The branch opened in early 1940 and by 1949 all but 5% of the coal arrived by this route. A portion of the coal for Stourport Power Station came from [[Collieries served by the Severn Valley Railway|the collieries served by the Severn Valley line]], with approximately 30% of the output of [[Collieries served by the Severn Valley Railway#Alveley Colliery|Alveley Colliery]] being sent to the power station. The majority of the coal continued to come from Cannock Chase, with such coal arriving at [[Hartlebury]] from Stourbridge, often behind a Midland engine. A shunting locomotive was stationed at Hartlebury to shuttle coal wagons between there and Stourbridge.<ref>[[Tales_from_the_Severn_Valley#Coal_for_Stourport_Power_Station | Recollection of former NCB employee]]</ref> A former NCB employee's recollections of coal workings can be found in [[Tales_from_the_Severn_Valley#Coal_for_Stourport_Power_Station|Tales from the Severn Valley]]. After closure of a nearby sand quarry, the [[Wilden Sand Siding|siding which had served it]] was used to hold trains of coal wagons waiting to enter the power station. A second power station on the site was opened on 26 September 1950; this became known as Stourport B with the earlier station becoming Stourport A.<br clear="all"/> ==Locomotives==[[File:BritainFromAbove StourportPS 1948StourportPowerStationShunters.jpg|thumb|200px300px|right|Stourport Two CEGB steam locomotives at the power station circa 1968. The small shed can just be seen behind the second engine.]]Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST works number 2088/1940 "Sir Thomas Royden" was ordered for the station and delivered new on 28th May 1940. This [http://www.miac.org.uk/stourportps.html article by Adrian Booth] suggests that the delivery was initially to Little Barford Power Station from in Bedfordshire, with a transfer to Stourport in 1941 when the standard gauge facilities on the power station were completed. The locomotive was named after the Chairman of the Edmundsons Electricity Corporation which operated the power station at the time. It remained in service until 1977, and is now preserved at Rocks by Rail, formerly known as the air Rutland Railway Museum.<ref>[http://www.rocks-by-rail.org/exhibit/ab-2088-sir-thomas-royden/ Rocks by Rail] (Retrieved 13 June 2016)</ref> A second locomotive, WG Bagnall 0-4-0ST works number 2665 "General Wade Hayes", arrived in 19481942. These two locomotives were the mainstay of shunting operations for some years, although by January 1958 a third locomotive had arrived, Peckett 0-4-0ST 1893/1936, which had begun life at [[Ironbridge power station]] as Ironbridge No 2. The exchange sidings are Bagnall 2665 was scrapped in 1968, and by 1975 the top leftother locomotives were retained as spare, with their work having been assumed by diesel shunters. Peckett 1893 was also preserved and is now at the coal drops Coleford Railway Museum in the middle Forest of Dean.<ref name = "Booth">Adrian Booth article</ref> <gallery>File:Rocks by Rail - train of mineral wagons (geograph 4740737).jpg | Sir Thomas Royden at Rocks by Rail (Wikimedia Commons)</gallery> 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 imagelocomotive 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>. Note ==Closure== By the smoke stacks are painted 1970s the power station was in decline, with Stourport A being closed in 1976.<ref name = "Booth" /> Coal continued to be delivered to the power station by rail via Hartlebury, but an increasing proportion was delivered by road towards the end of the 1970s, until coal trains ceased in camouflage coloursMarch 1979 and road haulage took over completely. Image from <ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Mitchell & Smith (2007)]]</ref><ref name="StourportPast">[httphttps://www.britainfromabovefacebook.org.ukcom/STOURPORTPAST/posts/1170675616317956 Stourport Past Facebook Page, retrieved 14/image06/eaw013590 Britain from Above2016]</ref> The line itself was finally taken out of use on 12 January 1981.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Vanns]]p. 94.</ref> Stourport B finally closed in 1984 and has since been demolished, with the area now mainly being a housing estate. The bridge over Worcester Road was demolished on 4 February 1986.<ref name=Marshall88/> ==Gallery==<gallery>File:Stourport power station Grace's Guide 1.jpg | Exterior view of the power station in 1927File:Stourport power station Grace's Guide 3.jpg | The generatorsFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 6.jpg | Section through power stationFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 7.jpg | Outdoor transformersFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 8.jpg | Coal conveyorFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 9.jpg | Coal bargesFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 10.jpg | Coal conveyorFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 11.jpg | Coal bunker, wagons and electric locomotivesFile:Stourport power station Grace's Guide Fig 12.jpg | Coal conveyor and bunkers</gallery>
== See also ==
==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 ==
[http://www.unlocking-stourports-past.co.uk/powerstation/powerstation.html Unlocking Stourport's Past (Power Station page)]<br>
[http://www.miac.org.uk/stourportps.html Railways in Worcestershire article by Adrian Booth]<br>
[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Shropshire,_Worcestershire_and_Staffordshire_Electric_Power_Co on Grace's Guide]<br>
[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Stourport_Electric_Power_Station Stourport Electric Power Station on Grace's Guide]
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