The end of Didcot Power Station - a look at the trains that served it

[The Stationmaster]

Don't think there are any trains in this shot, but it's a good reminder of how the power station sits in the landscape below the Ridgeway, from where I took this photo in 1989. I lived down that way then and both the power station and the town always looked to me as if a bit of the industrial Midlands had escaped to rural Oxfordshire. Is it an eyesore? Bits of it are, maybe, but so is the A34 roaring through day and night. The shape of the cooling towers is graceful enough, and I'll miss them when they're gone, much like the late-lamented Tinsley Towers.

 

89-2-32.jpg

Seeing that pic is a reminder of all the protests there were about the proposed construction of a large power station at Didcot all those many years ago - this particular view was one that was widely tooted as being 'likely to be utterly destroyed' if the power station was actually going to be built.  I can't recall hearing the same volume of protest about the A34 by-pass which cuts a huge slash across what was once very productive farmland.

[eastwestdivide]

Seeing that pic is a reminder of all the protests there were about the proposed construction of a large power station at Didcot all those many years ago - this particular view was one that was widely tooted as being 'likely to be utterly destroyed' if the power station was actually going to be built.  I can't recall hearing the same volume of protest about the A34 by-pass which cuts a huge slash across what was once very productive farmland.

Well the previous view was destroyed, I suppose. There's plenty more Ridgeway though, and it'll still be there long after Didcot's turned to dust.

Wikipedia gives 1968 for Didcot's completion - a bit before my time down there. The road protesters had their day later, when the A34 through Newbury was bypassed, so I wonder where they were when the Didcot bypass was built. A lot of the A34 development was gradual (stealth?) upgrades to the existing single-carriageway road.

[rob D2]

I actually think it enhances the scene, puts some interest in a fairly flat landscape.

Chinnor cement works was the same, added to the scene for me.

[rob D2]

I actually think it enhances the scene, puts some interest in a fairly flat landscape.

Chinnor cement works was the same, added to the scene for me.

[caradoc]

Many thanks to all those who have posted in this topic, and especially for all the pictures.

 

A question; Why was a coal-fired power station built at Didcot in the first place, given that every ton of coal used had to be hauled many, many miles ? The majority of such installations were located in or near coal producing areas, and areas of dense population - South Oxfordshire is neither ! This has always intrigued me.

[Southernman46]

I always reckoned it was a good compromise between excellent RAIL transport links to the ENGLISH coalfields - (any further south and it gets awkward) and putting a large generating capacity centrally in southern England, the only other large PS's around in the entire South at the time were either in Kent or on the Severn estuary..............

[Rivercider]

I knew that Didcot PS had a limited lifespan but did not realise the end was so soon,

here are a couple of pictures from the 1980s taken at Banbury:-

 

47187 heads north through Banbury with empties, 10/7/81

 

Bescots 47331 heads north through Banbury with empties from Didcot, 28/3/80

 

cheers

 

 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

And here's another Romanian-built Cl.56 from Tinsley on a Barrow Hill - Didcot working. The location being just south of Little Eaton Junction north of Derby.

[Gruffalo]

Many thanks to all those who have posted in this topic, and especially for all the pictures.

 

A question; Why was a coal-fired power station built at Didcot in the first place, given that every ton of coal used had to be hauled many, many miles ? The majority of such installations were located in or near coal producing areas, and areas of dense population - South Oxfordshire is neither ! This has always intrigued me.

There was a significant generating station at Calshott on the side of Southampton Water next to Fawley Oil Refinery. With existing cables into the grid from that site, a bountiful supply of secondary coolant (The Solent), an opportunity to use this warm water for fish farming and an adjacent deepwater harbour, it seemed logical a very logical location in my mind for a coal-fired station to serve southern central England rather than stick another plant 60 miles from the coast and nearest harbours. 

[Welly]

There was a significant generating station at Calshott on the side of Southampton Water next to Fawley Oil Refinery. With existing cables into the grid from that site, a bountiful supply of secondary coolant (The Solent), an opportunity to use this warm water for fish farming and an adjacent deepwater harbour, it seemed logical a very logical location in my mind for a coal-fired station to serve southern central England rather than stick another plant 60 miles from the coast and nearest harbours. 

But that would have meant the coal would have to travel another 60 miles along a much busier railway line to Southampton.

[John M Upton]

I went to an open day at the Calshott plant probably 1979 or 1980!!!

 

There was also Shoreham in Sussex (not sure how the coal got to this one, by ship probably) which went in the early 1980's and a gas fired power station now stands on the same site.

[brian daniels]

Don't forget that Didcot was built on an old MoD site so was already owned by the Government of the day.

[ZiderHead]

I do remember visiting Didcot PS on a school trip back in 1986, seeing the coal being unloaded, the furnaces and the steaming, roaring, rumbling Turbine Hall.

 

me too! although in ~1978. best school trip ever. well ... equal first with the day trip to the SVR that is 

 

watching a coal train unloading looking down from above it was easily the coolest thing I had ever seen. the turbine hall was almost mindblowing - clean like an operating theatre with no moving parts in sight, but all your senses tell you that there is something EXTREMELY powefull going on. 

[NickL2008]

 

I wish I had gotten out bit sooner for the Didcot coals, although I hadn't really bothered with them as they were 66 hauled ... as for the Flyash train that runs today heres my contributions for that taken at Hinskey Yard and around Culham

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrnsphotos/8244296231/in/set-72157632172227386

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrnsphotos/8220548607/in/set-72157632003149360

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrnsphotos/8515576489/in/set-72157632693499707

 

 

NL

 

 

[Leon]

Great thread Jo, espec like the pics of Canton 37's at Didcot on Oils...

[Gruffalo]

But that would have meant the coal would have to travel another 60 miles along a much busier railway line to Southampton.

Not quite true Welly. Right next door to Calshott on Southampton Water is Fawley oil refinery which receives ships of 100,000 DWT. It would have been very easy to add coal offloading next to the southern-most jetty to handle this traffic, given that at the time Didcot was built, we were already importing coal for some of our power stations.

[Welly]

Not quite true Welly. Right next door to Calshott on Southampton Water is Fawley oil refinery which receives ships of 100,000 DWT. It would have been very easy to add coal offloading next to the southern-most jetty to handle this traffic, given that at the time Didcot was built, we were already importing coal for some of our power stations.

That did occur to me after posting my comment on the extra travelling distance for Yorkshire & Nottinghamshire coal. As it turned out, Didcot imported a lot of coal through Avonmouth which created traffic for rail rather than a conveyor belt from a coal jetty at Fawley!

[owentherail]

I remember coal trains from Wales running to Hinksey yard to run round, so could get picture of same loco at Radley 4 times!! I will post some pics when not using ipad, fondest memories on Didcot PS are 73/33 combos, westerns top and tailing round and my first siting of the large logo livery on 56036. The early days of 56s around Didcot were my favourite of times, us kids were well exited as looked like the usual 47/3 from a distance.

[The Stationmaster]

That did occur to me after posting my comment on the extra travelling distance for Yorkshire & Nottinghamshire coal. As it turned out, Didcot imported a lot of coal through Avonmouth which created traffic for rail rather than a conveyor belt from a coal jetty at Fawley!

Didcot was built to run on Midlands coal (in just the same way that Aberthaw was built to run on particular calorific values of Welsh coal) but like any power station coal could be blended (to some extent) on site to change its calorific value and ash etc qualities so it could use different cols.

 

The imported coal scheme via Portbury Dock and BBHT (Bristol Bulk Handling Terminal) at Avonmouth) was intended by the generator (CEGB at that time) to reduce costs by using imported coal and in fact CEGB funded all the necessary railway and port work to create the necessary infrastructure.  They also put a payback time against the project which I believe was probably met although I never saw any detailed figures for the overall scheme but the cost per tonne of imported coal delivered at Didcot was substantially less than, say, Daw Mill coal delivered at Didcot - even if the imported coal came from Newcastle (the one in NSW Australia).

 

BBHT was planned to be able to handle sufficient coal per annum to service Didcot at full base load burn rate or if necessary at peak rate from time to time) plus Aberthaw (again at full base load burn rate) plus one other power station.  The third station was never identified as such but was regarded for operating purposes as being 'somewhere in the Midlands' with the coal routed via Swindon, Didcot, Banbury.  The maximum capacity of BBHT was set at 20million tons p.a. capable of being handled over a 5 day week and I based all of the railway side planning on that figure - for the track layout and siding capacity at BBHT, for the route enhancements between there and Didcot, and for the layout alteration at Didcot.

 

And once the imported coal was passing from BBHT the CEGB and its privatised successors were saving money on every ton - odd though it might seem.

[Banger Blue]

Many thanks to all those who have posted in this topic, and especially for all the pictures.

 

A question; Why was a coal-fired power station built at Didcot in the first place, given that every ton of coal used had to be hauled many, many miles ? The majority of such installations were located in or near coal producing areas, and areas of dense population - South Oxfordshire is neither ! This has always intrigued me.

The ironic thing is, a visit to the Oxford Natural History Museum not so long ago, revealed that Didcot (and most of the rest of Oxfordshire) is actually sat on a massive expanse of coal field! It was quite an eye-opener but I couldn't really picture Oxfordshire / the Cotswolds being turned into the mining landscape of say, South Yorkshire!

[brian daniels]

A few pictures of 47's on Didcot MGR's.

[brian daniels]

Only 50 I know of on Didcot bound MGR's after arriving on a Padd-Oxford train it was sent out to rescue a sick 58.

[brian daniels]

Now some 56's.

[D1059]

I wish I had gotten out bit sooner for the Didcot coals, although I hadn't really bothered with them as they were 66 hauled ... as for the Flyash train that runs today heres my contributions for that taken at Hinskey Yard and around Culham

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrnsphotos/8244296231/in/set-72157632172227386

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrnsphotos/8220548607/in/set-72157632003149360

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrnsphotos/8515576489/in/set-72157632693499707

 

 

NL

 

 

 

I heard from a fellow photographer the other weekend that the Hinksey footbridge was about to be demolished in preparation for the electrification - may have already gone. Apparently the footbridge at Didcot North Junction has already been demolished.

[brian daniels]

Lake Street bridge should be there for a bit longer as the locals are complaining that there is no slope in the replacement for their prams and bikes so the council is moaning as well. I would hope that Networkrail might put a tempory bridge up first as there really is no other way to get over the railway from South Hinksey without a long detour on foot.