AGECROl?T POWER STATIONS 1924-1993 - About the author PETER HOOTON joined the electricity supply industry in 1950 at A as a trainee. He stayed there until his retirement as maintenance service manager in 1991. Peter approached the brochure project in the same way that he approached work - with dedication and enthusiasm. The publication reflects his efforts. Acknowledgements MA1'/Y. members and ex members of staff have contributed to this history by providing technical information and their memories of past events In the long life of the station. Many of the tales provided much laughter but could not possibly be printed. To everyone who has provided informati.on and stories, my thanks. Thanks also to:. Tony Frankland, Local History Library; Andrew Cross, Archivist; Alan Davies, Salford Mining Museum; Tony Glynn, journalist with Swinton & Journal; Bob Brooks, former station manager at Bold ; Joan Jolly, secretary, Agecroft Power Station; Dick Coleman from WordPOWER; and - by no means least! - my wife Margaret for secretarial help and personal encouragement. Finally can I thank Mike Stanton for giving me lhe opportunity to spend many interesting hours talkin11 to coUcagues about a place that gave us years of employment. Peter Hooton 1 September 1993 References

Brochure of the Official Opening of Agecroft Power Station, 25 September 1925; Salford Local History Library. Brochure for Agecroft B and C Stations, published by Central Electricity Generating Board; Salford Local Published by NationaJ Power, History Library. I September, 1993. Photographic albums of the construction of B and (' Edited and designed by WordPOWER, Stations; Salford Local Histo1y Libraty. 0525 8621689. Minutes of Salford County Borough Electricity Typeset by Journalist Services, Farnworth, Greater . Committee; Salford Archive Centre. Printed by Garden House Press, Perivale , Agccroft Collie1y, Complimentary Brochure, publiHhl•d Middlesex. by National Board; Salford Mining Museum. Puge 2 Contents

Foreword 5

Historical Note 7

The A Station 10

The B Station 14

The C Station 19

The staff at play 24

Technical details 40

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A complex web of steel rods reaches to the sky: B station's ::'-io 2 cooling tower under ron~truction in 1948 Pugo 4 Fore-word

FOR almost 70 years electricity has been staff will remain with me for the rest of my life. generated at Agecroft. It is a record of Like you I feel sad that the station has ceased achievement and service that shouJd be to generate. But as this booklet reminds us, acknowledged and this booklet is intended to even the most modern of stations one day grow do that. old and close. The power stations have been blessed with I hope you gain pleasure from reading this good plant through those years. But as booklet. It is not meant to be a technically everyone in the industry knows, good plant is accurate day to day record of the history of only one of the ingredients which go to make Agecroft, more a series of sketches that are, u11 a successful site. Even more important are rightly, as much concerned with people as good people and ever since A station began plant. Peter Hooton deserves our thanks for generating in 1924 Agecroft has been blessed the many hours of effort he has put into it. with exceptionally good staff. I would like to end by thanking all of you for }?or my pa1·t my nine years at Agecroft have your efforts over the years. They have helped been the most enjoyable and rewarding ofmy make Agecroft a success of which we can all be whole career. Memories of the station and its proud.

Mike Stanton Station Manager, Agecroft Power Station

Page 5 The Agecroft site today: the fair place thnt· became an lntlustri:il landscape Pnoo 6 Chapter One Historical Note

THE large-scale production of electricity is (kilowatts). Total cost of generating plant and relatively recent. Its development depended upon distribution system was £42,000. discoveries and inventions over hundreds of years The original supply system was inefficient and and two local people played a significant part in after a few years, partly as a result of a decision to that process. electrify the horse-drawn tramway system, it was One was William Sturgeon, 1783-1 850, the decided to build a new station. A site in Frederick originator of the electro magnet. In his later years Road, Pendleton, next to the Manchester Bolton he lived in and is buried in the church and Bury Canal was chosen and the 6,400 kilowatt which can be seen from the power station. station opened in 1903. The generating plant and The other was James Prescott Joule, 1818- direct current distribution system cost £420,000. A 1889. Joule, who was born in New Bailey Street, further 3,000 KW was added later. Salford on December 24, 1818, has often been With demand continuing to grow arrangements desciibed as the founder of modem physics. were made in 19l2 to take a 2,000 KW supply In his labo~tory at Pendlebury he canied out from the Electric Power Company. many years of research into the conversion of This was regarded as a temporary measure and energy, establishing the scientific unit of energy it was obvious a more comprehensive scheme was which carries his name, the Joule. In later years, needed to meet the Borough's future needs. he lived in Sale and is buried at Southern The 1914-18 war intervened and the Cernete1y. Government restricted new developments but a Britain was a world leader in electricity. The rethink by the Electricity Committee resulted in first public supply was established at Godalming, the station's modernisation, increasing its capacity Surrey, in 1881 and in the following year the first by 70 per cent. legislative measure - the Electric Lighting Act A new station was, however, still needed, not - was passed. only to meet growing local demand but also This Act, and a succeeding one of 1888, enabled the Board of Trade to authorise the supply of electricity and regulated the granting of A family station licences and provisional orders. In 1890, a year after Joule's death, a The electricity supply industry has Fleet, Carter, Fairhurst, Lowe, provisional order was granted authorising the always had strong family Kilgallon, Briggs, Voce, Royle. Salford Corporation to supply electricity traditions. Husbands. wives, sons, Dolan, Tomlinson, Berry. Bent. throughout the Borough. But it was not until 1895 daughters, and in-laws made up an Riley. Rogers. Watkiss, llarri~on, that a single phase alternating c1ment distribution amazingly high proportion of the Fellinger, Peers, Mecson, llaqJcr, system was inaugurated. employees of the three power Vancalsteran - and the 111Jiq11ito11~ Parrs Indeed there ,~ere so 111:111~ The power station on the banks of the River stations built on the Agecroft site. This list of surnames may not be Parrs that the ~•a lion wa~ Irwell at Walncss Road, Pendleton and the the total: Ditchburn. Riddex. Hunt, sometime~ referred lo a, Agc1:ro n generating capacity was a modest 360 KW Wilson, Clancy, Doyle, Dignam, Parr Station.

Page 7 -: :~ -i

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Stately home that em igrated AGE°'OFT is unusual in that the A station the hall worsened. The structure began to decay shared the site with a 15th Century hall. The for want of maintenance and mining subsidence estate itself was an ancient one. The earliest damaged the foundations. Deed still surviving is King John's grant of In 1920 the pastureland sweeping down to the Pendlebury to Elias de Pendleburi in 1199. river was taken for the construction of the A , which was built by Sir Robert station, at which point Evelyn Dauntesey moved Langley, was a pleasant black and white out, leaving the hall to become derelict. building of timber, plaster and brick, set on a But in 1924 an enlightened American, Thomas low stone base and surrounding a central C Williams Junior, bought the building. It was courtyard. dismantled piece by piece and re-erected in It stood on the west side of the Irwell Y alley in a Richmond, Virginia. rural setting with trees, pastures and cornfields There it still stands- pictured above - on the sloping down to the river. But later the area banks of the James River, as a museum to 15th attracted industrial development. The canal and Century . railway were built close to the hall. Agecroft The issue was raised in the House of Commons Colliery, opened in the 1840s, was also close and but nothing was done to prevent the transfer of later the Chloride and Magnesium Electron the hall from the banks of the now Works were built to the north. industrialised Irwell. A comment in the By the 1890s the owners, the Daunteseys, Manchester Guardian perhaps reflected a became unhappy about their surroundings and majority view: "Agecroft Hall is too the hall was offered for lease. There were no reproachful a jewel to leave in that ruined takers. Over the next 20 years the situation of landscape."

Pnoo 8 demand from South East Lancashire. But it was Over the years the gentry had built their homes not an easy matter to resolve. The Borough along the banks of the river: Kearsley Hall, Electricity Committee Annual's Report in March Clifton Hall, I1well House, Agecroft Hall, 1918 highlighted the difficulty in taking a Hall and Pendleton Old Hall. decision when the future of Change began w ith the building of the was being considered on a national basis and Manchester Bury & Bolton Canal in 1793 to there was the possibility that the ownership of move coal and goods from the numerous mines power stations would be changed by statute. and small factories that had developing north of "The Committee is aware that the Board of Manchester. Trade has appointed a Committee to investigate Then came the Manchester to Bolton railway, and report upon power supply for the whole built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway country and it appears certain that a scheme for Company, which still today runs alongside the centralising the generati11 g of electricity in large canal at Agecroft. stations owned and operated by District Boards Those two developments, along w ith the representing the statutory authorities in each extensive coal-mining, were to change Agecroft district, will be authorised and put into operation from 'a fair place' into an industrial landscape. at an early date." The Board of Trade Committee did report and this led to the Electricity (Supply) Act 1919 and the creation of a new regulatory body, The Electricity Commissioners. The Commissioners did not, however, have compulsory powers to take over existing power stations. The Borough Electricity Committee decided to go ahead with the new station and a plot of land on the west bank of the at Agecroft was selected as the site. The land, which had originally\een purchased for tipping, was considered ideal for the purpose. There were a number of setbacks but con sent from the Electricity Commissioners was finally obtained in June 1922 and the main contracts for what was to become Agecroft A Power Station, the first of three power station on the site, was placed by the following September. Surprising ly Agecroft A was not the first station in the immediate locality. In I 914 a power Lighting the way station at was built at Clifton Junction by the Godalming in Surrey saw the first notices warning guests that they Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company to public electric supply - on needed only to turn the switch: provide direct current supplies for the then new Monday, 26 September 1881. But unlike gas it did not need lighting Manchester to Bury electric rail line. The line trials had been held elsewhere, with a match. continues to operate today but the power station notably during the 1878 Paris A contemporary l)UClll caldlC\ l hl' was taken over by the Lancashire Electric Power Electrical Exhibition, and the new feeling: incandescent lamp had been Company in 1931 and closed in 1933. D ear ./011e1·. al l'<'l/(ll,·11111 lu,t lli/:hl I denonstrated in London. sa11· !he fi1111cil ch·c•fl re· /11:/11. Today it is difficult to imagine what the valley Initially there was great suspicion of the River Irwell was like before the Industrial of the newfangled electric light :Inc/ us I A11ow 1·011 r111h, ·1 c/011/1111. Revolution. It was an attractive area. and hotels using it would post / 11·n1e 10 1d/ rn11 all 01>,111111

Page 9 Chapter Two The A station

The Agecroft site INITIAL work on the site of the first power first 12.5 MW turbo-alternator began generating has hosted three station at Agecroft - later to be known as the A power stations. in 1924. It was made at the Trafford Park works Today the first is station - began in January 1921. of Metropolitan Vickers, which also made all later called the A station The area was levelled and by the time major turbo-alternators to be installed on the site. - the others are B work started two years later the substantial The steam for the first three turbo-alternator and C stations boundary wall with wrought-iron fencing and was supplied by six Babcock & Wilcox gates had been completed. The site, then of some each producing 65,000 pounds of steam an hour at 65 acres, was an exceptionally good one for a temperature of 720 Fahrenheit and a pressure of power generation. Ample supplies of cooling 325 pounds a square inch. water were available from the river while the By the time the station was officially opened Aqueduct, next to the site, could on September 25, 1925, the two additional 12.5 provide ~ins water. There was good road access MW turbo-alternators had been commissioned and both the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal giving an installed capacity at that time of 37.5 and the main railway line from Manchester to MW - more than a thousand times the capacity Bolton provided excellent transpmt facilities for of that first Salford station at Walness Road. coal from the numerous collieries in East The opening ceremony was perfo1med by the Lancashire. Mayor, Alden.nan G Billington, who had been The site was also well placed for connection to chai1man of the Electricity Committee from 1909. other large stations: Manchester's Barton and He had been behind the proposal to build the Stua1t Street power stations were within six miles station and the council's adoption of the proposal and the Lancashire Electric Power Company's could be attributed to his efforts and enthusiasm. was about four miles to It was fitting that the station should be completed the north. during his te1m of office. Although the area has many geological faults, The station could take coal by rail, canal or the cost of foundations was comparatively low as road. Jn view of the costs involved in bridging the a thick bed of sandstone extends over the site only canal it was decided to unload from both rail and 12 to 15 feet below the surface. canal at Clifton Junction sidings about three-quar­ A narrow gauge rail trnck with steam cranes ters of a mile north west of the station hou­ was used for construction of the building. se and move the coal over the canal by conveyor. Although the rail lines were later removed the A wagon tippler discharged coal on to a sleepers were not. They were used for the conveyor feeding a nearby hopper which also foundations of the roadway that would become took coal lifted by a rail mounted jib crane from the main entrance to the later B and C Stations. lt canal barges. was not until 1989 when the road surface began The combined input was then lifted by break up was this discovered. conveyor over the canal to a hopper on the cast The original scheme for the A station provided bank which discharged directly into 2-ton wagons for an ultimate generating capacity of 50,000 KW operating on a 2 ft 6 inch gauge electrified - 50 megawatts - to be installed in stages. The railway.

Pooe 10 The rail line began in a loop under the extension. The other main plant building was the The A station, opened on discharge hopper and then ran the half a mile to three-storey high-voltage switch house which September 23, 1925. the station where the wagons were discharged housed the 33,000 volt switchgear for the main into bucket elevators and then on to the boiler distribution circuits. This along with the bunkers by conveyor. workshop/stores building and the administration At the power station end of the line it looped building were all that remained of the A station round a coal storage area to allow stocking or when the site closed. reclaiming by an electric jib crane which ran on At the time of the official opening, the capital its own line within the loop, picking up from cost of the station was about £750,000. The discharge wagons and placing on stock or filling Salford electricity undertaking could claim to be wagons. A branch line ran to the locomotive shed one of the most prosperous and progressive in the where maintenance of the locomotives - made country and profits helped to reduce the by English Electric - was ca1Tied out. borough's rates. At first ash was canied by the rail system to In 1928 an application was made to the the northern comer of the site for disposal but Electricity Commissioners for sanction to bo1Tow later it became prized by the building trade and £150,000 to cover the cost of a new 20MW turbo­ was disposed of in that way. alternator, boiler plant and switchgear. This was The use of the canal for transport of coal was granted and the installation was completed by dispensed with early in the life of the station. In October 1929. the 1940s the naITow gauge railway was closed to There was sufficient space within the existing be replaced by lorries. boiler and turbine house for the new plant, thanks The boiler and turbine houses were of to improvements in design and plant perfonnnncc structural steel and brick construction with the which allowed increased output for a given size. north-facing wall clad in metal to allow easy The new boiler plant was manufactured and

Page 11 installed by John Thompson Water Tube Boilers. late 30s and the Electricity Committee planned a The addition of the new plant brought the final second station at the Agecroft site. But before generating capacity to 57.5 MW. work could start the war intervened and the plans At the time the station was built, smoke had to be shelved. emission from chimneys was regulated but Throughout the war years maintaining technology for minimising emissions was not electricity supplies was given top priority and available. while statutory regulations were observed plant Particle emissions were controlled by grit was run with the minimum of maintenance. arrestors that were not al ways successful. At The turbo-alternators were completely covered dawn an onlooker watching the station start up with large sectional reinforced concrete covers to across a mist- covered river gained an impression protect them from bombs. These covers were to of a First World War battleship steaming up the be used fo r storage at the later C station. channel. When walking along Agecroft Road past Brickwork and concrete on all the buildings was the station every footstep resulted in a crunching painted in camouflage, traces of which remain. noise. Blast walls were built and all personnel trained in Those were the days of frequent smogs but air-raid precautions. every household had a coal fire and nobody Many station employees served as air-raid pointed an accusing finger at power stations. wardens or with the Home Guard or Auxiliary Cooling water from the river was filtered Fire Service. They were called out on numerous through fixed and rotary screens which collected occasions, especially at the time of the many interesting objects. Manchester blitz. The bombers' main target was Trafford Park General rubbish was removed and tipped but Industrial Estate. Fortunately no bombs fell on wood, tree branches, furniture etc. were placed Agecroft station though m any flares and aside to dry and eventually cut to size to keep incendiary bombs dropped close by and several many a home fire burning. The cooling water, land mines came down in the area. There was loss although a little wanner after completing its task of life and much damage in Salford but the station of cooling was returned to the river with less escaped unscathed. debris. r By the end of the war the electricity supply By 1930-31 new main switchgear had been industiy was in a parlous state. Little new plant installed at the station so power could be sent to bad been built during the war. Spare pa1ts were in the new Grid System being established by the short supply or not available at all so many had to recently created Central Electricity Board. But it be made on site. was not until 1935 that the station was to operate under the N.W. England and N. Wales Electricity At Agecroft what had been the locomotive Scheme of the Grid system. Despite advantages s hed was modified to accommodate a from the pooling of generating plant that the blacksmith ' s forge and there Jack F leet the National Grid provided, further generating blacksmith used his skill, and in some cases his capacity was required in the Salford area in the imagination, to fashion with the help of bis striker Charlie Dignam, many pa1ts not possible to obtain elsewhere. The word was "It's alrigbt if you break A very first small step it - Jack' ll remake it". The end of the war brought no reduction in THE 360 kilowatt capacity of needs of Jess than 400 people. Each Satford's first power station, at unit in a modern coal-fired power electricity demand. Indeed demand increased and Walness Road, Pendleton, would station will generate more than 500 the indications were that it would double within have been just enough to power MW, enough for half a million ten years. 360 one-kilowatt single bar electric people. Coal was in sho rt supply and power cuts !ires. Today it would meet the frequent. Page 12 Nature made its mark on 20 September 1946 when, after many days of ton-ential rain, the River Irwell rose 17 feet above its normal level causing major flooding in Salford. The station's river intake was flooded and the screening plant bypassed, shutting down the station and causing power cuts. '• When major overhauls were resumed after the war, excessive wear on the turbo- alternators was seen to have taken place and the general consensus was that only robust design and high manufacturing quality had prevented major failures. The boiler plant had developed serious problems. The two John Thompson boilers had of age and required increased maintenance. Major The wooden cooling six drums, three drums in each showed major changes were made that gave the station a new towers of the A station, very cracking and had to be renewed. lease of life. Steam and condensate pipe lines different to those on By today's standards the boiler house was were built from the B Station so that by operating lhc Band C stations always full of activity. Firing of the boilers was all the boilers at 'B' Station, sufficient lower cost by chain grates, requiring constant supervision by steam could be supplied to operate the 20 MW the operations staff. The journey from one end of turbo-alternator at A Station. There were some the boiler house to the other was hazardous. technical problems but the . scheme was Twelve-foot slide bars, either laid on the floor or successful. in the hands of the stokers, and piles of ash The second decision was to take Numbers l looking deceptively cool had to be avoided. and 2 Boilers out of service and convert the The mass of structural steelwork made it remainder to bum light fuel oil. The plant was difficult to check the time on the clock set high at easier to operate but the major advantage was that the south end of the building. Fortunately there the environment was improved. Smoke emission was always one of the maintenance staff working was reduced and it was not always possible for on the boiler gauge glass gantry from which the passers by to see that the plant was in operation. clock was easily read. These changes to plant resulted in There were regular requests from the floor for requirements for training and reductions in staff. an update but with all the noise, sign language By that time the A and B Stations had been had to be used. This was satisfactory except when integrated and staff transfer carried out on a Bert Barker, a tall, mild-mannered fitter, was up regular basis. This had early problems since not aloft. Bert had lost half a finger in an accident. everyone knew everyone else. In fact two men When he provided the time it was unclear whether appeared on site for two night shifts before it was it was 2.30 or 3pm. Challenged on this Bert would discovered they were actually patients from the lose his mild manner. local psychiatric hospital. The commissioning of B Station in 1950 had As a result of the modifications, A station little effect on the operation of A station as continued to produce electricity during the 1960s electricity remained in short supply. However, by and finally closed in 1970 after 45 years of the late 1950s the pattern began to change and the service. With the commissioning of B Station in A station began to operate only at times of peak 1950 and C station in 1960, this meant that the demand. three Agecroft power stations generated together The original boiler plant had reached 30 years for 10 years.

Page 13 Chapter Three The B station

EVEN before the Second World War the preliminary work for the new station and in generating capacity available at Agecroft Power December 1944 the Electricity Commissioners Station was insufficient for Salford's needs and were asked for consent to build two 55 MW large additional supplies had to be bought from generators with necessa1y ancillary equipment at the Central Electricity Board. an estimated cost of £3 million. This application Agecroft was a "selected station" under the was eventually granted. direct control of the CEB who advised the Salford The new station was to be known as Agecroft Electricity Committee that there was an HP - the initials stood for high pressure, relating immediate requirement for an additional 100 MW to the steam - but later became known more of generation in the area, with an ultimate prosaically as Agecroft B Station. requirement of 200 MW, and asked the borough The generators were to be of essentially pre­ to provide it. war design and made by Metropolitan Vickers Refusal of the request was not a practical with boiler plant made by Internationa l option as it would have resulted in the loss of the Combustion Ltd. A Station to the CEB or another electricity There was sufficient land available for the undertaking. station on the eastern side of the canal but a But the war halted all progress on the project fmther 44 acres was needed on the western side or apait from design work on plant and equipment. the railway for ra ilways sidings. This was The Salford City Electrical Engineer, Mr L purchased for £ 13,000 from Mrs Evelyn Romero, arranged for civil eng ineering Dauntesey, the previous owner of Agecroft Hall. consultants L G Monchel & Paitners, to carry out Site preparation began in 1947 a nd Page 14 Recipe for a good canteen

CANTEE!\ facilities at Agecroft forgetting contractors during varied over the years. overhauls. Jn the early years of A station During those years the canteen there were none at all. Then in manager had 23 staff. With the 1929 came a wooden site engineers' closure of A station and the hut followed in 1948 by a war time departure of the Northern Project British Restaurant which had been Group to new headquarters in used in Salford. South ,1\11.anchester, the number of '.'lone encouraged relaxation or meals served fell away. It rose socialising but everything changed again \litb the opening of the new in 1960 when a new and spacious t raining centre on the site of A canteen was opened. station boiler and turbine houses. Its facilities may well have owed This brought new customers with something to the fact that healthy appetites. Northern Project Group, then From 1950 onwards to the clo, urc based at Agccroft, also used its uf the canteen in 1992, the ca nlt'cn facilities. staff contributed hy their cffn1•1, to In the 60s and 70s, the canteen was the success of the ~tat ion·, open ke])t at full stretch prnviding 1,000 d ays, children's parlic,, l'l'tirl'd meals a clay for staff at Agecroft, employees' d inners and olhl'r the Project Group, and Barton and social event, . M1ch ll\ hmvl,, cricl,ct Trafford power stations - not and football 111 alchc, .

Page 15 immediately revealed difficulties. Although there station offices and the workshop/stores blocks. was a good sandstone rock base for the These housed the engineering, drawing office and foundations, it was found to be at varying levels. administrative services provided by the British More significantly there was a crack in the strata, Electricity Authority's Generation and where the No 1 turbo-alternator foundation block Construction Department, later renamed the was to be placed, from which 30,000 gallons of Northern Project Group. water an hour flooded into the construction area. The major effect of nationalisation for The problem was solved by the construction next Agecroft was the re-appraisal of the original plans to the crack of what became known as the "Rock for a 200 MW station. The first l 00 MW phase Fissure" pump house. This collected the water was not affected except that it was renamed which was eventually used as replenishment for Agecroft B LP (for Low Pressure). But the second the cooling towers. phase was re-designed and was to be known as Also encountered in the bedrock were rnnning Agecroft B HP. Both titles were later of course, pockets of sand, streams, underground channels changed once more. and fossilised tree trunks. More substantial A main feature of the construction ofB Station foundations were required which along with other was the chimney, at the time the tallest in Europe. problems faced during construction resulted in the This was built by P C Richardson & Company final cost of the station rising to £6 million. and contained 1.75 million Accrington bricks, With nationalisation the late 1940s was a time weighed between 5000 and 6000 tons and reached of organisational upheaval in the electricity a height of 365 feet. supply industry. The British Electricity Authority Foreman in charge of the project was Ted was created and took over all generating plant and Henderson who ten years later was to build the C became responsible for the construction of all new station chimney. He placed 14 shillings (70p) plant. Thus ended the Salford Electricity under the last brick as it was laid and said: "If Committee' s involvement with the Agecroft anybody wants to get at it they'll have a long power stations. At nationalisation several power climb and welcome to it". stations were being built in the North West, Other features of the new B station were the Merseyside and North Wales areas and all two cooling towers, easily distinguished from the required design and project supervision. Offices later C station towers by the holes around the were needed in the area and these were built at circumference at the top of the 312-foot towers. Agecroft as a two-storey wing between the A The holes were inserted to create additional turbulence in the escaping vapour to help disperse Ups and downs on shop floor water droplets. Later an eliminator or baffle was fitted within the tower to serve the same purpose. :!\10ST of the staff at Agecroft answered, output was restored. Development of the land to the west of the knew their stuff about the station's The engineer put the phone down main rail line continued from 1947 until the complex plant and machinery ... only to see the output again fall. He conunissioning of C station in 1960. but not all of them. One recruit rang again, only to see the output The biggest job was construction of the rail Joe, a most personable chap. had rise. sidings. There was no direct access to the main no engineering knowledge. But It was then the operator had line but a junction south of Agecroft Road was at then he did not need it: his job was noticed that Joe was sitting on the a suitable level. Before the connection could be to keep the turbine house tidy. main steam valve relay cylinder, He decided to take a break and had partially closing the valve. When made a new bridge was needed for the road and just sat down when the phone rang. the phone rang. he stood up to Tbirlmere aqueduct had to be diverted. It was the control engineer who answer it, opening the valve. When The sidings system was about one mile Jong wanted to know from the turbine all was ex1>lained to Joe his reply and consisted of five lines either side of a double operator why the output on his was: "It' s a stupid place to put it discharge tippler house, a locomotive shed and turbo-alternator had fallen. anyway". He may well have been two conveyors. The conveyors carried coal from But even before the call was right. the tippler house hopper to a single conveyor P11ge 16 CEGB Board passing over the main line and canal. That single can still be seen in operation at weekends in the '.\:lember E S Booth conveyor fed two coal bunker conveyors for B Manchester Museum of Science and Industry officially opens the Station. where Ken Corfield, ex Agecroft locomotive Band C stations on driver, keeps his hand in. '.\fay 25, 1962. Staff amenities were built in the sidings area Below, the key to and overlooked, what for a few years, was a With the sidings isolated from tbe station the station which pleasant small lake area frequented by herons and buildings and accessible only by foot over a high was presented to W other water fowl. A scaffolding plank resting on level bridge across the main line and the canal, C Parker ~ orth West Regional bri cks served as a pleasant observation post to the staff were a community on their own. director. watch the wildlife at break-times and it was Operation of the sidings system was within hailing distance of the 3A Conveyor straightforward. The working locomotive Operator, who could give warning of approaching collecting the full coal wagons from the junction authority. sidings to the south and took them to the wagon To work the new sidings, two 0-4-0 saddle tippler. This was capable of dealing with two tank locomotives were bought from Robert rakes of wagons simultaneously but the wagons Stephenson & Hawthorn. The locos, named were tipped one at a time. The emptied wagons imaginatively Agecroft l and Agecroft 2, were were then pushed to the north sidings and brought into operation in late 1950. A third of the subsequently hauled back to the south sidings for :,amc design was acquired from Bolton Power collection by British Rail. Station in late 1954 and this became Agecroft 3. There were many amusing and not so amusing I hcse engines were in continuous use up to 1981. incidents related by the staff. On on e s uch ( >n September 13 and 14 of that year a "Farewell occasion the tippler operator saw something drop to Steam" weekend was held and 4,000 railway from the wagon he was tipping on to the grid. It enthusiasts took a final opportunity to observe and was a body. The operator immediately stopped t1avcl the length of the railway sidings. No 3 loco the operation and shouted to the locomoti vc

Page 17 driver, Alan Pan. They apprehensively walked on being discharged up the tall chimney. Flue gas to the grid to find a man shaken but, thankfully, treatment was the single most important uninjured. An ambulance was called and it was environmental improvement for the surrounding later discovered he had absconded from a local area. psychiatric hospital and had spent the night in the The new workshops, laborato1y and amenities wagon on top of the coal. were a big improvement on A station's. Even so By late 1950 construction of the new station several staff who had been transferred from A was well advanced and the first turbo-alternator station asked to return: the change was too much. was commissioned on Chrishnas Day. There were many colomful characters working Among the Metropolitan Vickers engineers on on the station. One who knew everyone was site at the time was Ron Agnew, whose family Jimmy Ross who had a second job as a 'bookies had long associations with Agccroft. His father nmner' . He would collect the bets, put the money had worked for the same company erecting No 4 in his cap and set off to the bookies on his bike. turbo-alternator at the A station in 1929. Ron Unfortunately, one day he had a slight accident himself later returned to Agecroft and became the close to the main gate and fell off his bike. The station's mechanical maintenance engineer. tale goes that onlookers left him to fend for While the design of the new plant was himself and ran after his cap! essentially pre-war, some new equipment, albeit In the early years of B station, national in its early stage of development, was installed. electricity demand was often high for the Automatic boiler control was one example. It was country's generating capacity and the station ran not a success but provided an insight to at base load - 24 hour a day operation. operational and maintenance personnel into the ln 1954 the March/April edition of Northern way plant control was developing. Lights, the monthly magazine of the North West Turbo-alternator plant was little different from & Merseyside Division of the Central Electricity that in the A station, except of course iu size. The Authority - as the BEA had by then been boiler plant however was very different. renamed - contained a question for Mr A R Instead of the old moving chain grates, the new Cooper, the Divisional Controller submitted by boilers used pulverised fuel firing. Mills ground "four weary turbine operators at Agecroft B." the coal as fine as face powder before it was They asked: Is il not possible to abolish the blown into the boilers, to burn like a gas. The flue night shift? gases passed through electrostatic precipitators to remove suspended particles of fine ash before Mr Cooper's reply was not encouraging. He said: " f am afraid that we shall have to endure night shifts for a long time yet but there seems to be no reason why we s hould have Turbine Operators feeling weary long before the end of the Typecast team shift. You fellows will really have to start going to bed in the daytime." AFTER the station's first open '.'iorman Dixon, head Chelsea The B station had I O years of undivided weekend it was obvious that Pensioner, in charge of the fossils: attention but with the commissioning of C Station members of staff had a preference Ken King, Jimmy Young, always it took a secondary role. It proved, however, to be for, or were particularly well suited on the radio; Arthur Tattersall, to, particular duties. road runner, never still; Beryl Peel, an excell ent training ground for C station A list of proposed noms­ town crier, always shouting; and operations staff. In 1980, after 30 years of cles-plumes for these staff was Jim Archer, Billy Graham, had a continuous service, B station was closed and compiled by Jack Lewis. lot of followers. decommissioned. It included: Ged Dutton, Alec The author apologises for omitting Guinness, in charge of the bridge; anyone - but there are limits!

Pogo 18 Chapter Four C station decision

PROVISIONAL plans for B station called for the transfer of B station operations staff to C station installation of four 55 MW turbo-alternators. But during commissioning. by the 1950s advances in design made it possible Number 3 Unit was commissioned in 1959 to provide the same capacity with two 120 MW followed by Number 4 Unit in 1960. machines, offering higher efficiencies and lower No particular problems arose when building capital costs. the station. Advantages were taken to improve The application to build the station went various plant operations. These included the through the various stages of the planning process disposal of pulverised fuel asb. A pipe line was and objections were raised by various used to move the ash to the tip area, avoiding a organisations, including Salford Borough local environmental problem that transport by Council, mainly on the grounds of air pollution truck would have created. from chimney emission and dust tip nuisance. The pipeline proved a key factor in the Assurnnces were given about dust disposal and decision of Thermalite to build a factory next to the chimney height was raised from 365 feet to the tip to make building blocks from pulverised 450 feet to allow for extra clearance above the fuel ash. high ground on each side of the valley. Consent From 1962 onwards within a radius of a was finally given in 1955 and site work started the quarter mile there was a mine, power station and fo llowing year. The total cost was £ 13 million. a block manufacturer. At their peak the three collectively employed some 2,200 people. The site was capable of providing all the The official opening ceremony on May 25, essential services for the increased capacity at minimum cost. 1962 was performed by Mr E S Booth, the CEGB Board member for engineering. lt was an But restriction were placed on the design of the station on environmental and planning grounds. It Hellfire and Agecroft! had to conform as closely as possible to the original layout for the B station. AGECROFT was a popular most educationally informative destinati.on for schools and other they had experienced. Many The east-facing wall of the new turbine house groups of visitors and for C station comments and questions could be had to follow the line of the existing building and such visits became a daily anticipated and answered. Some the two chimneys had to line up. The available occurrence. however were unusual. area was limited and as a result the subsequent \Vith the cooperation of Like the comment of a pric~t who design created operational problems which were Manchester Museum of Science accompanied a party. On looking never satisfactorily overcome. and Industry, school parties from at the flames in the boiler ht• ~uid: The station main plant was manufactured by near and far visited the museum ";\;owl know what llcll i~ lil,t'". and then went on to the station for T here was also the q11 c~lion l'ron1 11 Metropolitan Vickers and International a talk and guided tour conducted young boy after being told 111111111 'ombustion - the same companies as at B by live enthusiastic lady guides. the conveyor hell 11111 1 \\a, :;tntion. This had its obvious advantages. Training Without exception, the joint suspended over Agl'crnft l{ond . was simplified and staff could observe the plant scheme was a success. Teachers "\\,'hat goc~ on the , 11,pcndcr during its installation. This made easier the and pupils often said they were the belt?" he a~kcd.

o~n.o. 10 A strangely rural appropriate choice. He had been Salford City With the decision to re-open the colliery, it perspective on Electrical Engineer and manager when the B Agecroft. became obvious that the station could reduce its station was being built by the Corporation in the costs by taking coal direct by conveyor belt rather mjd 1940s. Mr Booth presented the Station Key to than by rail. the chainnan of the ceremony, Mr W C Parker, the Arrangements for receiving the additional coal CEGB 's North Western regional director. The required for C station had been made in the station superintendent was Mr J W Steeley, whose original design plans. These were modified to high standards were to set a pattern w hich include the addition of: tlu·ee coal conveyor belts continued throughout the difficult early years of linked by a further con veyor to a receiving the station. hopper; a reinforced concrete bridge over The boiler plant had been designed to use coal Agecroft Road and an interconnecting conveyor from Moseley Common Colliery. But in Septem­ between B and C station bunkers. ber 1953 the National Coal Board gained consent The system was commissioned in 1961 and to re-open the neighbow-ing . with the existing coal plant gave five points of The original collie1y, which had opened in the supply in addition to two coal stock receiving and 1840s, had worked an area to the south of the reclaiming points. It was a case of perming aiw lrwell Valley geological fault, a natural banier to one from seven. One conveyor was reversible and mining. Production ceased in 1932 and the site perhaps it was fortunate that it was not the colliery was abandoned until impending exhaustion of supply conveyor. With such a flexible system it nearby collieries prompted the National Coal would have been possible for the collie1y to have Board to seek replacement capacity. Test boring at got their own coal back. Agecroft to the north of the fault revealed that The first coal from the reopened colliery there were recoverable reserves of 80 million became available in August 1960 as C station was tonnes. commissioning. The collie1y was to provide much Page 20 of the station's needs for the next 30 years despite Technical problems that faced the station in the difficult geological conditions which included early years included failme of boiler tubes due to dipping coal seams and major problems with what was termed hydrogen embrittlement, a water. Jt was said that miners travelling along the defect that many other stations of the same era service road on their way to the coal face knew experienced. It was not solved until improved from the water leakage when they passed under boiler water treatment plant was installed and the River Irwell. That may well have been an much of the pioneering work that lead to the exaggeration but conditions in the pit did prompt solution was undertaken at Agecroft. comments such as "lf you send down Joe Another serious problem was cracking in the Gormley (then Lancashire NUM Secretary) and bolts and studs used in high temperature areas of take him on the top roadway he can swim out". the turbine and boiler. Removal of the studs was There were always close links between the pit difficult and various methods were tried until and the power station and mutual regard and Rick Longden, mechanical engineer, assisted by understanding for one another's problems. Dming Terry Horsfield, welder, developed and made the long coal strike of 1984 the colliery continued equipment that provided a solution. to produce and supply coal to the station so it One of the earlier techniques which did not could continue generating. succeed used a small explosive charge. Its trial A number of station staff made trips down the was carefully planned: there was no danger to mine and saw for themselves the difficult staff but they were wamed that a loud bang would conditions. They were well treated but were not be heard. Unfortunately one man working in a spared the rigors of diving on to moving confined space beneath the generator failed to get conveyors and crawling along narrow faces at the warning though he was in no physical danger. inclines of one in two. Reciprocal visits to the The charge was ignited, the bang echoed around power station must have seemed rather tame to the turbine room. Some minutes later the man the colliery staff. emerged from beneath the generator looking very In the mid 1960s the colliery had some 1800 shaken and made his way quickly to the employees and coal output over a five-month per­ wash.room. iod in 1965 reached 490,000 tons. Large quant­ In those early years of operation C Station was ities were supplied to undertakings and companies one of B1itain's ten most efficient power stations other than the Central Electricity Generating and ran continuously. Board which had by now taken over from the In 1968 with the collapse in high winds of Central Electricity Authority. This was the cooling towers at another power station, Agecroft colliery's heyday. But even then coal faces could towers were assessed and classified. Numbers 3 abruptly vanish and would have to be found again and 4 cooling towers had to be strengthened by before output could continue. Normally two applying an extra skin of concrete, ranging in seams were worked but by the late 1980s severe thickness from 9 inches to 4 inches up to a height faulting closed one. This and other constraints led to of230 feet. a decline in output and finally, in 1990, to closure. In the mid 80s the wooden packing inside the Moisture was a problem when using coal from towers was removed and a plastic pack fitted to the station's stocking area - Manchester is not improve performance. Throughout the 70s and renowned for its dry climate. Jack Holden, the 80s asbestos had become a major influence on operations manager, remembering how domestic both the operation and the maintenance of the coal was normally kept dry in a coal shed, plant. The laggers of those days - Jack (Max broached the idea of a large shed sufficient to Bygraves - 'Let me tell you a sto1y') Lewis and contain dry coal for initial firing of the boilers. Bob (Dick Turpin - 'Held everyone up ') Lawton This would make boiler start-up easier and - were always in demand. quicker, he said. A shed to contain 20,000 tonnes Mr Mike Stanton became station manager in of coal was built and proved very successful. 1984. Although by then C station was 25 years

Page 21 ABOVE: C station control room pulls 'em in

LEFT: These boys can't r esist a bobcat

RIGHT: Daughter gets a dad' s eye view of the world

OPPOSITE: The balloon is up

Poge 22 old, he did not accept the view that it was in decline. To stop the now closed B station damag­ ing morale he ordered its plant to be dismantled. This action provided the impetus for improvement throughout the whole site. Dismantling was not restricted to within the main building. Coal handling and dust handling plant were also included and any difficulties in operating nearby plant were anticipated and successfully avoided. What was not anticipated was the necessity to remove fledglings from a kestrel's nest. The bird had nested 85 feet up on a coal conveyor tower and was incubating her eggs. Dismantling was delayed as long as possible but eventually Brian Hirst, assistant mechanical maintenance engineer who was experienced in the keeping and breeding of birds, was asked for advice. He contacted the Department of the Environment and was issued with a licence to take, incubate and release the birds into the wild. Access to the nest did not present a problem since Great Manchester City fire teams regularly exercised at Agecroft. Six chicks were safely removed to be expertly reared with the help of a donation from station staff., Some months later all six were released to the wild, something that would not have happened naturally since norm­ ally the weakest of the brood does not survive. Dismantling and reforbishment brought the station su ccess in the CEGB 's Good I lousekeeping Competition. Agecroft gained ~ccond place - an astonishing achievement for a station of its age. After the competition and on a rurther occasion the station was opened to the publi c. Both these 'Open Weekends' were very , uccessful, thanks to the enthusiasm of the staff. on-stream. The other was the eventua] rein­ With privatisation the 90s brought yet more forcement of the North Manchester distribution organisational change for the electricity supply system removing the need for Agecroft to be industry. The Central Electricity Generating available to support the local system at times of lloard was divided into four successor companies. high demand. t\gccroft Power Station was allocated to National Finally, on September 30, 1992 the closure of Power, the biggest of the generators, while the Agecroft Power station was announced, 59 years lrn ining centre in the old A station turbine hall after electricity was first generated on the site. It was allocated to Nuclear Electric. was like the hearing of the death of a very elderly In later years the operating regime of the but much loved relative: the announcement may , 1:1tion was determined by two factors. One was have been long expected but it was nonclhuless lli :it more efficient power stations were coming very painful.

Page 23 Chapter Five The staff at play

AGECROFT had an active sports and social club, even Teddy 'B' (Brandon) who had bis last wood founded in 1951 after the Generation and returned to him by a porter from Prestwich Station Construction Department was based on the who found it on the rail line. One of the most station. fancied, Bill Berry, was soon eliminated and at Initially sport was uppennost in the minds of least 3d changed hands over his defeat. There the committee and since several of them were were several dark horses but they failed to stay bowlers, bowls became the pliority. A team was the pace and all were out of it by the quarter entered in the Salford Workshop Amateur fornls. After tea the games took a note of keenness Bowling League and they won the knockout and the semi-finals and final were a treat to watch, competition at the first time of asking. all players being on scratch." Keenly fought matches with local power By 1955 the football team had improved to stations were a marked contrast to the annual such an extent that it was accepted into the station handicap. An article written in the Manchester Amateur League in which it played divisional newsletter Northern Lights by for a number of years. Enthusiasm for football "Stripey", believed to be Stan Miller, sets the reached its height in 1972 when, in addition to the scene. regular friendly matches and the Regional "The Bowling section of the club staged its "Cooper Cup" Knockout Competition, the club annual handicap on Sunday 30 May (1954) at joined the Bury Amateur League and the Salford Prestwich Cricket Club ground, thirty members Sunday League. takfog part. Twelve good bowlers and the rest not Cricket was played against other stations with so good but we all had a dabble and enjoyed it, some success but the needle match of the season was within the club and played between the Rafts raised the cash Northern Project Group and the station. During the late 50s and early 60s some success THE annual Agecroft raft races, held This was particular true of one vessel was achieved in angling. Bert Crocket won the on the River Irwell, were one of the designed by Jeff :vloss and built by a North West Merseyside and N01th Wales Region attractions floated by the sports and number of the station's maintenance President' s Cup Competition on a number of social club. fitters. The raft appear·ed to be occasions. The sport remained popular throughout The event started off in a small way constructed to withstand an Exocet with just a few rafts. But within three missile and it took 20 people to lift it the life of the club. years thanks to the efforts of Brian into the river. :'ieverthcless it was too It was inevitable that all the popular social club Williams, Dave Bramley and the buoyant. With one person on the raft and another person stepping on, it sports such as snooker and darts would be committee, it was attracting more than introduced and eventually a rifle section was 40 rafts from local industry, clubs and tipped - throwing the passenger off. pubs. The rnces finished at the Mark Addy formed which used the range at the nearby pub in Manchester where Ma1::,rnesium Electron Sports Club. Daits success The designs were innovative and entertainment was provided. In five came to the club over a number of years with varied, some more successful than years tbe event raised £5,000 which was others but none wou Id have been rated given to children's wards at local George Fairhurst willling the North West Region A I at Lloyds. hospitals. "Briggs Cup" six times.

Page 24 .,,,......

ABOVE: The sports and social club offered a wide range of activities - and other less active ones. Living it up at Morecambe in 1968: Alan Ainscow, Eddie Saul, Peter Hooton, Bill Gow and Bob Shepperd.

RIGHT: Another of the more active activities, a dance at the sports and social club

Poue 25 Snooker was always popular. During the early was chairman for 25 years. Towards the encl of 70s a team was formed and in 1973/74 this team each year of office Bill would declare that he did joined the Pendleton and District Snooker League. not wish to stand again but was always persuaded l n 1972 a Park Drive snooker tournament was to serve 'just another year'. held in the station canteen between John Spencer The following extract from the com mittee and Alec (Hurricane) Higgins, both one-time minutes of 9 May 1972 illustrates how active the world champions. club was at that time. It was a com plete success but had provoked "Minu te No 8: Nomina t ion of Section much serious debate at a previous committee Representatives. The Section Representatives meeting. The question at issue: how much liquid were elected as follows: snooker, Mr B Jones; refreshment should be ordered. After deliberating badminton, Mr J Lewis; table tennis, Mr J Lewis; for some time the committee reached a decision: darts, Mr B Duffy; shop, Mr L Winstanley; bowls, 150 gallons of mild and 150 gall ons ofbitter. Mr R Nottingham; football, Mr E Fox; old tyme With the depa1ture from Agecroft of No1t hem dancing, Mr D Bramley; modern dancing, Mr D Project Group, it was decided to rename the club Bramley; works outings, Mr B Smith; children's Agecroft Power Station Spotts & Social Club and party, Mr G Fairhurst; children's outings, Mr W a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Bill Stubbs; cricket, Mr B Smith; rifle, Mr R Hibbe1t ; Gow re-wrote the rules. W hen the Regional fishing, M r R Hibbert; motoring, Mr L Training Centre was established, the staff were Winstanley; cabaret, R Coucill." allowed to join as associate members. Trips to popular seaside resorts for days out From the 1960 up until the station closure, the were ananged - lady members and wives were Christmas events, children's parties, visits to not invited. The chauvinistic attitude of those pantomime, retired employees parties and the days did not allow it. This was to change in later station Christmas dinners, were organised by the years. club committee members. Some served the club Many other enterprises were begun in the early for many years. They included Bill Stubbs who 1960s. These included the motoring section which organised the hiring of equipment and tools for car repairs. Trading in various goods at discounts Medal for maintenance proved popular. These member benefits continued th roughout the life of the station. Gardening Dt:ilr.'IG the 1980s there were chest but he did get to the horse. Stuart supplies were organised by Jean Peers, paint incidents" hich had little to do "ith the H opkins, a good s,~immer joined him, supplies by several members of the laboratory generation of electricity bnt brought as did John Allen. Derck Cook (Big D), staff and the "Open A ll Hours Shop" run by credit to the station. One resulted in a jumped in and disappeared before Martin (Cat Weasel) Mccawley. group of maintenance staff gaining :111 e\"entually re-surfacing covered in RSPCA Bronze :Wedal for saving a reeds. In 1974 a number of club members suggested a horse trapped in the canal. ~l1ile it was The next phase of the rescue was to trip abroad. The following year John Fellinger a serious incident, it did have an secure the horse so as not to harm it. arranged a four-day holiday in Benidorm. This amusing side. This did not pro,·e easy. The lads on the was to be the first of many popular holidays The group were in the locker room, towpath, comfortably clear of the flying abroad, day trips in the UK , and theatre trips getting ready for work ,~hen they were hooves, shouted words of told about the horse. They set off for encouragement as straps 11 cre passed w hich in later years were run by Maureen the canal, collecting planks, rnpes and under the horse and fastened. Finally a Topping and othe r members of an active stra1>s on the way, to find the horse line 1>as secured to the horse and the committee. caught in reeds on the opposite bank, bankside team - Ged Dutton, Charlie Th e success of th e club can p erhaps be t•nable to move. Burdaky and Bernie Orm rod - and Peter Burke. who had come prepared the four in the water hauled the horse measured by the enthusiasm that still remains and "ith wellies. lo11 cred him~elf info the out. By this time the g~11sies "ho owned which is now being directed towards an Agecroft water. He soon found himself up to his the horse arrived to thank the rescuers. Retired Employees Association.

Pooo 26 The children's parties were one of the ve1·y popular events staged by the sports and social club.

Above: young singers on the stage

Far left: evenonc loves posin,:.: ior thL• cnmcra

Ll'f't: l' II\\ 11111' 11 11,I l11cll 11 11, 111 1, ·11•111 , not "' P lll'1•11 111 11

HOLSTER

Page 27 For the technically minded

A STATION BSTATION C STATION

Gross Electrical Output 1 x 0.6 MW+ 3 x 12.5 l\'IW 2 x 55.5 = 111 MW 2 x 124 MW= 248 MW per generator and per + 1 x 20 MW = 58.l station

Generated voltage 6,600 Volts 33,000 Volts 13,800 Volts Thermal efficiency 13% 26% 32.8% Cooling towe1·s

Number 4 2 2

Construction Timber Reinfotced concrete Reinforced concrete Height 312' - 95mtr 312' -95 mtr Diameter at top 132' - 40.2 mtr 132' - 40.2 mtr Water rate 1.2mil.gal/hr - 3.9 mil.gal/hr - 2.9 mil.gal/hr - 5.45 mil.ltr/hr .17.7 mil.Jtr/h1· 13.18 mil.ltr/hr Chimney

Height 365' - 11.25 mtr. 450' -137.2 mtr.

Diameter at top 22'-6.7mtr. 22' - 6.7 mtr. Construction Steel Brick Brick Boilers, number and 6 x 65,000 lb/hr - 29,484 kg/hr 4 x 315,000 tb/hr - 143,000 l

Outlet steam 325 p.s.i.g - 22.6 bar 630 p.s.i.g, - 43.9 bar 1,600 p.s.i.g. - 111 .4 bar pressure

Outlet steam 720°F - 382.2°C 865°F - 462.8°C 1,010°F - 543.3°C temperature Combustion Equipment

Type Travelling chain grate Pulverised fuel firiltg Pulverised fuel firing

No. of pulverising 3 5 mills per boiler Capacity per pulverising mill 7.4 tonnes/hr 15 tonnes/hr Maximum coal 9; 750 tonnes/week 16;760 tonnes/week consumption

Coal stock capacity 37,000 tonnes

Page 28