FIDDLERS FERRY
DAVID CLOUGH charts the rise and fall of the North West power base
FIDDLERS Ferry Power Station, located on the north bank of the River Mersey estuary between Widnes and Warrington, closed on March 31.
It began coal-fired electricity generation in 1971, with a west-facing connection to the site from the Warrington Bank Quay low level route laid in for rail-borne deliveries.
Until closure of the Woodhead route in 1981, the majority of coal deliveries came from the South Yorkshire coalfield. Electric traction gave way to one of Crewe Depot’s slow speed-fitted Class 47s at Mottram Yard, to the east of Greater Manchester. Sixteen paths were available for these merry-goround workings.
Local collieries on the Lancashire coalfield also provided fuel. These were trip workings off Wigan Diesel Depot or Newton Heath, and loaded at Bickershaw, Bold and Parkside collieries. Unlike deliveries via Woodhead, which benefited from a straight run into the Ferry, these local trips had to make two reversals in the Warrington area.
By the 1980s, other sources began to replace supplies from Yorkshire. Imported coal was trans-shipped initially at Bidston iron ore dock, although this changed later to Liverpool’s Gladstone Dock. A new coal handling facility opened here during the 1990s, creating Liverpool Bulk Terminal.
Meanwhile, Point of Ayr (North Wales) and Silverdale (Staffordshire) collieries, as well as the Cumbrian coalfield, also supplied their output to the Ferry.
The rundown of UK coal extraction during the 1990s brought further overseas substitution - via Avonmouth or Portishead in the Bristol area, Ellesmere Port adjacent to the River Mersey, Hunterston in south west Scotland, and Redcar in north east England.
By the 2010s, Fiddlers Ferry had become uneconomic and coal deliveries had ceased by spring 2019. Latterly, Peak District limestone for sulphur capture has been the only material shipped in by rail, with the last delivery on February 27. Gypsum produced by the sulphur capture was then transported to Kirkby Thore on the Settle-Carlisle Line for plasterboard manufacture.
Motive power has experienced many changes as BR’s freight traction fleet evolved.
Crewe’s Class 47s held sway for over a decade, until the arrival of pairs of
Class 20s displaced from the East
Midlands. Class 56s covered some duties and then Class 60s took over. In the post-BR era, Class
66s dominated with Class 70s also taking a share.
The closure process began in 2019 when one of the four units was shut down before generation ceased finally on March 31.