Manors Power Station or the Tramways Generating Station is a former
coal-fired power station
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts Nameplate capacity, capacity. They ...
located in the Manors district of the city centre of
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
,
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...
in
North East England
North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
. The station's
turbine hall and other remaining buildings are
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
History
The station was commissioned by the Newcastle Corporation to supply electricity to the
Newcastle Corporation Tramways
Newcastle Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Newcastle upon Tyne between 1901 and 1950.
History
Services began on 16 December 1901. A fleet of twenty ‘A- Class’ tramcars built in 1901 by Hurst Nelson and Co. Ltd. of Mothe ...
system, that was in the process of electrification, and to contain the organisation's offices.
Construction of the station was initially delayed by a bricklayer's strike, but laying of the building's foundations commenced on 14 January 1900.
The construction of the station was completed in 1904.
The station generated electricity until 1936. The origins of this action dated from the 1920s. A Parliamentary report by Lord Weir led to The Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 (repealed 1989), which created the
Central Electricity Board
The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...
and the
National Grid operating at 132 kV (50 Hz). Manors Power Station was deemed too small in generating capacity and its associated plant operated at 40 Hz, thus it suffered the same fate of many other municipal power stations and ceased generation.
However, it was still retained for electrical function. The introduction of the
Newcastle Corporation's trolleybus system, together with the commissioning of new electrically-driven cranes on the Corporation-owned Newcastle Quayside in the 1930s, turned the Manors site into the central control point for the many suburban substations used by the
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es. These substations took the 6 kV AC distributed from Manors and transformed and rectified this to the 550 V DC used by the trolleybuses and rapidly diminishing tram fleet. Manors itself became a substation and supplied the city centre area with the DC power for the trolleybuses and Quayside cranes. The electrically-operated
lifts used on the
Tyne Bridge
The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...
were supplied by Manors station.
Operations
The coal burned in the station's boilers was delivered to the station by rail from Trafalgar South Yard, on the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
at Argyle Street.
From here the hoppered waggons were moved along a high timber and steel
staith
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (moorings), berths ...
from which they could discharge the coal directly into bunkers above the boilers. From these bunkers it was fed by automatic weighing machines into automatic stokers.
Circulating water used in the station's surface condensers was taken from the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
, which was around from the station and at around below the level of the station's engines. A pump house was located on the river's quay wall, for pumping water up to the station. Two diameter pipes ran between the station and the pump house, one for sending water up to the station, the other for discharging it back into the river.
Design and specification
The station was designed by architect Benjamin Simpson.
Its engine and boiler house are large ornate steel framed, brick clad buildings, decorated with stained glass and panelling.
In the station's boiler house were eight
Lancashire boiler
A shell or flued boiler is an early and relatively simple form of boiler used to make steam, usually for the purpose of driving a steam engine. The design marked a transitional stage in boiler development, between the early haystack boilers and t ...
s, each long and in diameter. They were fitted with economisers and natural draught, working at a pressure of 160 psi. Flue gasses from the boilers were discharged through a tall brick built chimney.
In the station's engine house were three
marine-type reciprocating steam engines, fitted with
Corliss valves,
surface condenser
A surface condenser is a water-cooled shell and tube heat exchanger installed to condense exhaust steam from a steam turbine in thermal power stations. These condensers are heat exchangers which convert steam from its gaseous to its liquid state ...
s and Edward air pumps. Two of the engines had a rating of 1,000 horsepower (HP), while the third had a rating of 2,000 HP. Each engine was directly connected to a
DC dynamo
file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, )
A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...
, which produced electricity at a pressure of 500
Volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
Defi ...
s (V). From here electricity was provided for the Newcastle Corporation Tramways system via a large switch board at the station. The same switchboard also fed power to the
arc lighting in the city.
The technology being used at the station was considered to be obsolete at the time of opening and the original prime movers were replaced in 1908 by four
Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
turbo generator
A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a steam turbine or gas turbine for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used b ...
s.
Post-closure and present
The station was used as an
air-raid shelter
Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
After cessation of its electrical function for the Corporation's trolleybus system in October 1966, the City Lighting department continued to use the building as a maintenance centre. The high
turbine hall was stripped of its electrical plant and was used as an indoor
car park
A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surfac ...
.
During the construction of the city's
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
system in the 1970s, a full size mock up Metro station was constructed in the turbine hall for training purposes. The building then passed into the ownership of
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
, who used it as their regional headquarters. The building was then bought by
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
group City Church. It has been used as a meeting place by the group since October 1997, and has been renamed The CastleGate.
The renovation began in May 2000, and was completed 18 months later, with the inaugural service on 3 November 2001. A
overhead crane
An overhead crane, commonly called a bridge crane, is a type of crane found in industrial environments. An overhead crane consists of two parallel rails seated on longitudinal I-beams attached to opposite steel columns by means of brackets. ...
, capable of lifting up to , is still in place in the turbine hall. As well as this, old tiles, metal galleries where workers kept check on the turbines, and old stained glass windows depicting trams, have all been kept. The building was extended in 2002, with the construction of the Generator Studios office space.
This was further expanded with the construction of Generator2. Construction work began in March 2008, with completion expected for 2009.
References
{{North East Power Stations
Power stations in North East England
Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne
Former power stations in England
Grade II listed buildings in Tyne and Wear
Grade II listed industrial buildings