INDUSTRY IN KNOTTINGLEY & FERRYBRIDGE

Contents

Croda Distillates
English Welsh & Scottish Railways 
Ferrybridge Power Station  
RJB Mining 

Croda Distillates 

The operations at Croda Distillates has recently been transferred to another company and we are attempting to uncover more information which we will report in the near future.

Situated along Weeland Road on the very eastern edge of the town, Croda Distillates was part of  Croda International Plc, a multinational company employed in the production and refinement of chemicals.  Its origins in the town dated back to the mid 1960's when the Croda organisation, based at Cowick Hall, East Yorkshire, had just become a public company and embarked on an ambitious programme of acquisitions.  These acquisitions included, among others, Midland Yorkshire Holdings, who at that time had business interests in Knottingley.

Croda Distillates was employed in the recycling of valuable resources and offered extractive purification and/or chemical processing, followed by distillation. 

For an historical account of the chemical industry in Knottingley please visit our history section.

Contents  

English Welsh & Scottish Railways

The EWS depot in Knottingley is located on Spawd Bone Lane and was at one time part of  British Rail before the privatisation of the railway industry in the mid 1990's.  In February, 1996 an international consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Company purchased a large section of British Rails freight operations and all the former BR sectors were merged into one company under the name of English Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) 

EWS set to work transforming rail freight in the UK placing an order for 280 new locomotives to inject new life into an ageing fleet. 250 of these locomotives were the pioneering new class 66 developed by EWS and General Motors.  The class 66 has become the form of freight traction in Britain and Europe, following the innovative creation of the class by EWS.  This locomotive has greatly improved performance and reliabilty for customers, with EWS services some of the best performing on the rail network.

EWS also invested in 30 new class 67 locomotives, the first ever 125mph freight locomotives in Britain and long-term deals with wagon manufacturers have also ensured that EWS has the rolling stock it needs to serve new and expanding markets.

Knottingley depot comprises of a motive power depot together with wagon repair shops which are utilised primarily for the transportation of power station coal.

Photographs courtesy of Dave Skipsey

Most of the coal transported to the Aire Valley power stations at Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge in the early 1980's was mined from local collieries such as Kellingley, Prince of Wales, Ackton Hall, Sharlston, Fryston, Askern and Bentley. Today, since the demise of the coal industry immediately after the miners strike of 1984-85, only Kellingley remains out of our local collieries and the majority of the coal seen being transported through the centre of Knottingley on its way to the power station will have been imported and carried down from the North East and Scotland or from East Coast terminals at Immingham and Hull.

Knottingley depot in its present location was opened in 1966.  It commenced transporting coal into Ferrybridge and Thorpe Marsh power stations from Frickley and South Kirkby collieries but it only really came into its own with the commissioning of Eggborough and Drax power stations. Improved staff accommodation was given authority in 1990 and the new building was officially opened on 26th April, 1993

As part of the rail privatisation scheme in the mid 1990's, the door was opened for private operators to set up their own rail transportation businesses.  National Power, who owned both Drax and Eggborough power stations at that time, began transporting its own coal supplies from the Gascoigne Wood mine complex of the Selby coalfield into those two power stations.  They constructed their own motive power depot and wagon repair shops in Ferrybridge on land previously owned by Ferrybridge 'A' Power Station and obtained six locomotives and their own fleet of railway wagons.  The business was later purchased by EWS Railways and the work from both Knottingley and Ferrybridge depots amalgamated into one.

A selection of photographs of Knottingley depot and its activities dating back two decades is available in our Knottingley Depot Photo Gallery

A short account of the first coal train from Kellingley Colliery to Drax Power Station, together with accompanying photographs.

Contents

Ferrybridge 'C' Power Station

Ferrybridge 'C' Power Station is the third Power Station to be constructed in Ferrybridge and first supplied power to the National Grid in 1966. It is a coal fired station and receives deliveries of coal by rail, canal barge and road transport and has a capacity of 2000MW.  It possesses four 500MW coal fired generating units and two additional gas turbines for extra capacity when required.  When operating at full capacity it consumes 800 tonnes of coal per hour and requires 218 million litres of water per hour for cooling purposes.

Construction of the original Ferrybridge A Power Station begin in 1926 and the station was completed in 1927  It was located along the banks of the river Aire adjacent to the old bridge crossing of the river but was closed down in 1957  The main building is still intact today and is used as offices and workshops. Ferrybridge B station was commissioned in 1959 but that too ceased production in recent years and has now been completely demolished.

Ferrybridge 'C' Power Station was the scene of a spectacular collapse during strong winds in November 1965,  when three out of the original eight cooling towers were destroyed and the remaining five were severely damaged.

The Power Station was purchased by Edison Mission Energy from Powergen in 1999 and at that time had approximately 200 employees.  Edison Mission Energy were established in 1986 and are one of the worlds leading independent power producers with investments in around 60 power stations throughout the world.

In December 2001 the station was purchased by AEP Energy Service Ltd.

Contents

RJB Mining

Although no coal mines are actually situated within the town itself, many local people are still employed in what little remains of our coal and associated industries and so we may be justified in presenting a short account of two collieries that are situated on the edge of the town.  Once one of the areas major employers, the mining industry no longer offers the 'job for life' security that it could at one time afford.  Since the end of the year long miners strike in 1985 the coal mining industry throughout the country has been decimated and the Yorkshire coalfield in particular has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory.

Kellingley Colliery is situated just a mile or so outside Knottingley and construction of the shafts began there in 1958 with coal production commencing in 1965.  At the present time, coal is being mined from two main seams, Silkstone and Beeston.  The Silkstone seam lies 650 metres below ground and has estimated reserves of just over 21 million tonnes.  The Beeston seam lies approximately 700 metres below ground and has similar reserves.  Another seam, the Warren House, at 400 metres below ground is available and has estimated reserves of around 17 million tonnes.  It is believed that the colliery has the potential to continue production beyond 2020 though the future of our mining industry can never again be predicted with any degree of certainty.

The latest casualty in the coal mining industry was the closure in October 2002 of the Prince of Wales Colliery which was situated about three miles from Ferrybridge and unlike Kellingley Colliery it was a drift mine.  It was constructed on the site of an existing mine and work began on the drift tunnels in 1975 with coal production commencing in 1980.  Prince Of Wales extracted coal from the Warren House seam which lay at a depth of approximately 500 metres and had estimated reserves of around 5 million tonnes at the beginning of this century.  With such limited reserves the future of the colliery had been uncertain for some time and it came as no great surprise when the mine finally ceased production.

Both Kellingley and Prince Of Wales were acquired by RJB Mining in 1995. For further information about the RJB mining company, visit the RJB web site.

Contents

HOME PAGE