page_title: Stella power stations
section_title: Coal transportation
hierarchical_section_title: Stella power stations / Operations / Coal transportation
caption_attribution_description: English: Coals to Newcastle A trainload of coal comes off the northern end of the High Level bridge in Newcastle, presumably coming from the Durham coalfield and heading to one of the Tyne Valley power stations. The photo was taken in colour but the industrial scene appears better in greyscale.
context_page_description: The Stella power stations were a pair of now-demolished coal-fired power stations in the North East of England that were a landmark in the Tyne valley for over 40 years. The stations stood on either side of a bend of the River Tyne: Stella South power station, the larger, near Blaydon in Gateshead, and Stella North power station near Lemington in Newcastle. Their name originated from the nearby Stella Hall, a manor house close to Stella South that by the time of their construction had been demolished and replaced by a housing estate. They operated from shortly after the nationalisation of the British electrical supply industry until two years after the Electricity Act of 1989, when the industry passed into the private sector.
  These sister stations were of similar design and were built, opened, and closed together. Stella South, with a generating capacity of 300 megawatts, was built on the site of the Blaydon Races, and Stella North, with a capacity of 240 MW, on that of the former Lemington Hall. They powered local homes and the many heavy industries of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham. The large buildings, chimneys and cooling towers were visible from afar.
context_section_description: The stations were in the heart of the North East coal field, which at the time of their opening had hundreds of collieries. Coal was delivered straight to the stations by rail. The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway was used for the South station, where 22 railway sidings were built. Trains could only enter the sidings when travelling in a westerly direction.
  The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway (SN&WR) supplied the North station, trains reaching the power station via a junction at Newburn. Despite the SN&WR's closure on 11 March 1968, and the rerouting of the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway through Dunston in 1982, the track between Scotswood and Newburn was retained for supplying the North station, as well as for rail access to the neighbouring Ever Ready battery factory and Anglo Great Lakes Graphite Plant. The tracks outlived the power stations, and were finally lifted when the Ever Ready factory shut down in 1992. Part of the line serving the station is now a well-used section of the Hadrian's Way National Trail.
  A small home fleet of locomotives was used to shunt the coal wagons once they had arrived at the stations. Originally this included Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 0-4-0ST No.20 and No.21, and Sentinel No.25. Engine No.25 was used exclusively at the North station, but was converted to diesel-hydraulic by Thomas Hill of Kilnhurst in 1967, becoming Thomas Hill 188. It returned to the station but was taken out of use in 1983 and scrapped by C F Booth of Rotherham. After the closure of the stations, engine No.21 was sent to be preserved at the Tanfield Railway site, near Sunniside in Gateshead. During the 1970s the steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives. These included a Fowler 0-6-0 and CEGB No. 24 Vanguard 0-4-0  CEGB No. 24 has since been sent to Statfold Barn Railway for preservation.
  The stations were picketed during the UK miners' strike of 1972, stopping coal deliveries to them.
caption: A coal train from the Durham coal fields en route to the North station, viewed on Newcastle's High Level Bridge in 1982
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