Lemington Power Station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lemington power station | |
|---|---|
 Lemington Power Station, alongside disused ironworks Viewed from the Lemington Gut c.1903. | |
 | |
| Country | England |
| Location | Lemington |
| Coordinates | 54°58′28″N 1°42′42″W / 54.97444°N 1.71167°W |
| Status | Decommissioned and partially demolished |
| Commission date | 1903 |
| Decommission date | 1919 |
| Owner | |
| Operator | Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company |
| Thermal power station | |
| Primary fuel | Coal |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | Two 410 kW and one 150 kW C. A. Parsons and Company |
| Nameplate capacity | 970 kW |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Lemington Power Station was a small, now demolished coal-fired power station, located in North East England. It was situated on the Lemington Gut, a backwater of the River Tyne, at Lemington, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. The station's main building stood until 2017 as a rare example of an early power station, dating from before the nationalisation of the United Kingdom's electrical supply industry.
The station was opened in 1903 with a total generating capacity of 970 kilowatts, the electricity generated being used to power a tram system, and provide local households and streets with electric lighting. The station ceased generating electricity in 1919, however the structure was retained for use as a sub-station until 1946 when the tram line closed. The station was partially demolished in 1949, but was made a locally listed building and its site currently owned by construction company Nortland Construction. In March 2012 Norland applied to Newcastle City Council for permission to demolish the building on the grounds of it being at risk of collapse. The station was finally demolished in 2017.
In the early 1900s, an increasing number of areas were being provided with electricity, and train and tram lines were being electrified. In the area around Newcastle upon Tyne, this required the opening of power stations at Wallsend, Forth Banks and The Close. Two supply companies built the stations, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company (NESCo) to the east of Newcastle, and the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company (DisCo) to the west.[1]
DisCo built a station at Lemington, in the western outskirts of the city, to provide electricity for a tram line which ran through their supply area, from the City Centre to Throckley.[2] The station was sited amid the derelict buildings of the Tyne Iron Company's ironworks. They had opened in 1797 and closed in 1886. The works were largely demolished, but some of the ironworks' buildings and chimneys still stood unused, and the power station was built amongst them. DisCo opened Lemington Power Station in 1903.[3]
Design and specification
The station consists of a parallel boiler house and turbine hall, which creates a large double-gabled building. It is of steel frame construction with brick cladding. Other features include round-headed openings and ridge ventilators.[2][4] This building originally housed the station's boilers and turbo generators. Constructed alongside the station was a brick built chimney, to remove gasses from the boilers.[5] The station was first brick built power station in North East England, with corrugated iron being the usual material used prior to this.[4][5]
The station's boiler house housed three coal-fired Lancashire boilers, each of 200 HP capacity and each with individual economisers. These boilers provided steam for two 410 kilowatt (kW) and one 150 kW direct current Parsons turbo generators.[4] This gave the station a total generating capacity of 970 kW. Before being used in the Lemington power station, these generators had been used in Forth Banks Power Station and in Newburn Steelworks.[4][6] One of the steam turbines from these sets is now on display at the Electric Power and Historical Museum in Yokohama, Japan, after sitting on display in the entrance to Blyth Power Station for many years.[6]
