Resources on the role of the railways in the build-out of Britain's national electrical grid?

[bigboyboris]

I'm interested in learning more about the specifics of British Railways' involvement in the building out of Britain's electrical grid for the BEA/CEA/CEGB. I am aware from photos I've seen around the web that BR carried transformers on special rolling stock, and also big rolls of cable and other construction supplies. What I'd really like to understand is more of the context around these photos - what kinds of traction were likely to be used, how did the trip from factory to final site break down, were there staging yards used en route, were materials delivered direct to site or moved off of the rails at the start and end of the journey, that kind of thing. 

 

Hoping the knowledgeable folk of RMWeb might be able to recommend books or sites or documentaries or the like where I'm able to learn more. Many thanks in advance for any suggestions. 

[Nearholmer]

There is a fantastically interesting British Transport Films film of the transporting of a large transformer to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, which shows all the detail of out of gauge load transport. The name of the film …… will come back to me ….. eventually!

 

Some generating station sites were direct linked by temporary sidings built for the construction phase, and many needed rail transport for coal, oil or nuclear fuel so needed a permanent siding or branch  anyway, although in the latter case most used road transport of fuel for the final couple of miles.

 

Cable drums could go as in-gauge loads provided they were no bigger than, I think, 10ft diameter, possibly slightly larger, and not too wide. Things like switchgear, small transformers, insulators for “pylons” etc were again in-gauge loads, anything fragile going in wooden packing cases. Things like boilers and turbines, as well as the largest transformers, did end up as out of gauge loads.

 

In-gauge loads could travel in ordinary trains, so unless there was a large shipment all in one go then wouldn’t merit special trains.

 

The big suppliers of kit had sidings at their factories, so a good deal of this could be done end-to-end by rail.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Nearholmer

[HillsideDepot]

5 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

There is a fantastically interesting British Transport Films film of the transporting of a large transformer to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, which shows all the detail of out of gauge load transport. The name of the film …… will come back to me ….. eventually!

 

It's "Measured for Transport" (1962)

[Wickham Green too]

14 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

...  nuclear fuel ... most used road transport of fuel for the final couple of miles. ...

Never understood that, myself ... my 'local' nuclear* power station boundary is only a couple of hundred yards from the former Dungeness station - yet the flasks are transferred to road at a site on the branch about half a mile away.

 

* I'm sure power stations and bombs were 'atomic' when I was young - but have become 'nuclear' in recent years.

[Nearholmer]

Dungeness is particularly bizarre in that respect isnt it? The branchline used to go to the site of the station I think, so why they didnt retain or reinstate it, I'm not sure. Not as if it would need major civil engineering! Very interesting military 2ft gauge nearby too. I gather that Lydd station burned down a couple of weeks ago.

[keefer]

 

The transformer featured is for the hydro-electric power station.

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by keefer

[keefer]

Another hydro-electric scheme is featured in 'They Take the High Road' - from about 4 mins in, it shows the lorry drivers based in an old coach at Killin station. Materials brought in by the railway and transferred to lorries for delivery to site, up the mountain.

 

[Fat Controller]

On 13/12/2022 at 19:46, Nearholmer said:

There is a fantastically interesting British Transport Films film of the transporting of a large transformer to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, which shows all the detail of out of gauge load transport. The name of the film …… will come back to me ….. eventually!

 

Some generating station sites were direct linked by temporary sidings built for the construction phase, and many needed rail transport for coal, oil or nuclear fuel so needed a permanent siding or branch  anyway, although in the latter case most used road transport of fuel for the final couple of miles.

 

Cable drums could go as in-gauge loads provided they were no bigger than, I think, 10ft diameter, possibly slightly larger, and not too wide. Things like switchgear, small transformers, insulators for “pylons” etc were again in-gauge loads, anything fragile going in wooden packing cases. Things like boilers and turbines, as well as the largest transformers, did end up as out of gauge loads.

 

In-gauge loads could travel in ordinary trains, so unless there was a large shipment all in one go then wouldn’t merit special trains.

 

The big suppliers of kit had sidings at their factories, so a good deal of this could be done end-to-end by rail.

 

 

 

 

I've seen quite a few ground plans of power stations, showing track going into the Turbine Halls. 

[Bernard Lamb]

22 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Never understood that, myself ... my 'local' nuclear* power station boundary is only a couple of hundred yards from the former Dungeness station - yet the flasks are transferred to road at a site on the branch about half a mile away.

 

* I'm sure power stations and bombs were 'atomic' when I was young - but have become 'nuclear' in recent years.

You could make a similar case for connecting Bradwell with Southminster. A bit further in distance but not much in the way that would need serious work to clear a  path for a longish siding. Torness is even closer to the ECML and could easily have been rail served.

Bernard

[Wickham Green too]

Similarly, Sizewell & Berkeley - I think the only one that was a significant distance from a railhead was Dounreay.

[RichardT]

22 hours ago, keefer said:

 

The transformer featured is for the hydro-electric power station.

 

Splendid film. I’d often wondered how those girder-sided transformer wagons were loaded and unloaded.

 

Other smaller delights:  the RP narrator’s reference to the “trensport men”; and the obviously dubbed-on “generic cockney working class chappies’ shop-floor banter” during the close-ups of the unloading process.  Presumably to obscure the Brummie/North Walian effing and blinding the sound recordist actually picked up on location…

 

RichardT

Edited December 15, 2022 by RichardT
Punctuation

[pharrc20]

Don't forget the steelwork parts for the transmission towers too, they could be loaded onto flat wagons in lengths or as part-built kit form. There is some evidence of trainloads of steel section and part-built tower sections being moved by rail especially in the mid to late 1960s, when the Supergrid was under construction. There were some interesting photos hosted on Flickr I think it was showing a train of bolster wagons loaded with what is thought to be steelwork for towers that were loaded at Hereford and coming from the Painter Brothers factory there. I suspect the original National Grid i.e. up to 132kV used towers made locally to approved standard designs and it may be only when the 275kV Supergrid came along that rail transport was used to move tower parts.

Cheers Paul