Difference between revisions of "Stourport Power Station"

Association with the Severn Valley Railway

Stourport Power Station from the air in 1948. The 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 Britain from Above

Coal was initially delivered via the River Severn or the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal (which passes under the SVRSevern Valley Railway at Falling Sands Viaduct). A branch line from Stourport station along the embankment was constructed in 1940 so that coal could be brought in directly by rail. A portion of the coal for Stourport Power Station came from Collieries served by the Severn Valley Railway, with approximately 30% of the output of Alveley Colliery being sent to the power station. The majority of the coal came 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.^[1] A former NCBNational Coal Board employee's recollections of coal workings can be found in Tales from the Severn Valley.

Locomotives

At least one ex-Stourport power station locomotive has been preserved. Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST works number 2088/1940 "Sir Thomas Royden" was delivered new on 28th May 1940. The locomptive 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 Rutland Railway Museum.^[2]

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  Sir Thomas Royden at Rocks by Rail (Wikimedia Commons)

Closure

Coal continued to be delivered to the power station by rail via Hartlebury until coal trains ceased in March 1979,^[3] the line itself finally being taken out of use on 12 January 1981.^[4] The power station closed in 1984 and has since been demolished, with the area now mainly being a housing estate.

See also

Stourport
Pre-1963 map

References

1. ↑ Recollection of former NCB employee
2. ↑ Rocks by Rail (Retrieved 13 June 2016)
3. ↑ Mitchell & Smith (2007)
4. ↑ Vanns p. 94.

Links

Unlocking Stourport's Past (Power Station page)