Fiddlers Ferry power station now closed

[eye2eye5]

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/31/fiddlers-ferry-sse-coal-power-station-warrington?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Fiddlers Ferry power station has now officially closed. Something of a landmark on the approach to runway 27 but with overflying to be avoided.

[viscount]

The thermals created downwind of the cooling towers extended far beyond the stream cloud. Would give Mike Papa quite a jolt if whoever was flying strayed a little close - same issue, if not more so with Ince Power Station which was between the Frodsham VRP and the Airport circuit. I'm going back to the '70s and early 80s and experiences in G-ARMP Southport and Merseyside's Cessna 172B.

There were times when Fiddler's Ferry power station in a winter high pressure systems with clear freezing air and a slight easterly drift of wind used to be blamed on creating fog at the 27 end, then moving over the whole airfield as a tide went out and pulled the fog westwards.

[Beemer]

My late brother was employed in the building of the concrete cooling towers back in the 70's when he worked for a company called Hennebiques. I didn't know until many years later what was the significance of the name Hennebiques. François Hennebique was the inventor of moulded reinforced concrete back in the 1890's. I don't know if this company was a descendant of François or just used the name. It is hard to believe that his buildings are, concrete. see the link.

www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-insolite/rue-danton-premier-immeuble-beton-arme-paris

[Beemer]

I would agree with Viscount on the fog problem from Fiddlers. If the wind was blowing to the south, aircraft approaching on r/w 27 would disappear for as much as a mile between Halton castle and the old Runcorn bridge, much to my annoyance.

[Deleted]

I moved to Penketh soon after I got married in 1967. The railway line serving the power station ran at the back of the house and apart from later carrying the coal, there were frequent goods trains and even the occasional passenger train, which I assume were charters, perhaps carrying troops back from Northern Ireland. As the power station began to grow, the trains became more frequent, probably bringing some of the material and the rails for the power station. Some of the residents, despite having been told that the trains would pass three times an hour when the power station was fully operational, began to complain about the noise, especially during the night, but they got short shrift. (One is reminded of people who buy a house near an airport and then complain about the noise!). Having grown up with the Speke marshalling yards (now the retail park) at the front of the house and the airport at the back, and bearing in mind that Airwork were repairing USAF F-86s at the time, Penketh was blissfully quiet by comparison! My local was the Fiddler's Ferry pub, reachable by public footpaths, so we didn't have to drive, but we didn't go often because the landlord would only serve beer in half-pint glasses! I moved away in 1972, just before the power station fully opened, although I seem to remember that part of it was open before then, perhaps for proving purposes. We were told by the developers that the power station would only last for 20 years and then it became 25 as it passed through various hands. Much work has been done on it since - in fact it was a bit like the Forth Bridge in that it seemed always to be having work done on it whenever I passed it in later years.

Yes, the plumes of steam were spectacular, especially when all eight towers were working, usually in the winter and I can imagine, though I never experienced, the effect on light aircraft in certain weather conditions. So no more coal being brought all the way from Colombia via Hunterston in Scotland and being shunted around Arpley sidings, because there was no direct connection to the WCML.

So what of the future? I imagine the council must be salivating at the prospect of being able to put hundreds of houses on the site, which they surely will. There is even a built-in road system and traffic lights at the entrance. The demolition of the towers will be spectacular (sorry Beemer), although it will no doubt take some time to thoroughly de-commission it. I imagine the railway line will be turned into a public footpath, as seems to be the custom nowadays.