Keadby power station railway access in 1970s

[MisterSheeps]

At one time, Keadby power station (GC, Doncaster to Brigg) was coal fired, and had a railway siding for the supply, also used for a wharf on the Trent, which left the main line immediately before the notoriously unreliable sliding canal bridge. Both LNER encyclopedia and this website on the Isle of Axholme joint railway say that it was retained from Goole to Ealand (near Crowle) until 1972 for maintenance of the power station, but the latter website shows a photo with coal wagons outside the power station "c1970s". Can anyone explain why the Isle of Axholme line, 3½ kilometres distant, was retained instead of using the adjacent siding?

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

Courtesy of a dive into the wormhole that is Wikipedia (paraphrasing);

When the stators (the stationary part of the generators) required maintenance they were taken away and brought back by road. However the bridge carrying the A161 over the Stainforth and Keadby canal was too weak to support the weight. As a result the stators were transferred to rail between Ealand and Belton (or vice versa) in order to cross the canal. They were then put back on the road transporter which had crossed the canal bridge unladen. The CEGB paid for the upkeep of the former Axholme Joint Railway for that purpose.
In 1970 Lindsey District Council replaced the A161 bridge over the canal, allowing the stators to complete their whole journey by road.
The track was then removed in 1972.

The sidings in front of the power station were used to deliver coal.

Regards, Martin

 

[MisterSheeps]

Huh, good bit of research, thank you, but strange bit of logic not spending the money on the road bridge

 

[Gloster]

Huh, good bit of research, thank you, but strange bit of logic not spending the money on the road bridge

Hurst’s Register shows Marshland Junction-Epworth as closing, together with the line to Fockerby, on 5 May 1965. Presumably keeping an unused line in a sufficiently good condition to take the occasional slow-speed movement, much of which would be the loco and empty wagons, was not particularly great. Quite likely the council was telling the CEGB (or whoever) that they would get round to the road bridge in due course, ‘but if you would like to pay for it we can do it sooner.’