Acton Lane Power Station

Acton Lane Power Station
Location of Acton Lane Power Station within Greater London
Country	England, United Kingdom
Location	London Borough of Ealing
Coordinates	51°31′50″N 0°15′21″W / 51.5305°N 0.2559°WCoordinates: 51°31′50″N 0°15′21″W / 51.5305°N 0.2559°W
Status	Demolished
Commission date	1899
Decommission date	1983
Operator(s)	Central Electricity Generating Board
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Coal
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	150 MW

Acton Lane Power Station was a power station in London NW10. The station was located to the south of the Euston to Birmingham railway on a site also bounded by Acton Lane, the Grand Union Canal and the Dudding Hill railway line. In later years the site was extended to the south side of the canal. The entire site is now occupied by Willesden Grid Supply Point buildings.^[1]

History

The first station was built by the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company Limited (METESCo) and commissioned in 1899. It was taken over by the London Power Company Limited in 1924. It was one of four stations (the others being Bow, Deptford East and Grove Road, Saint John's Wood) which continued following the formation of the London and Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority in 1925, which resulted in closure of many smaller stations in central London.^[2]

The later Acton Lane 'B' station had three concrete cooling towers and dominated the eastern end of North Acton trading estate at Park Royal. Work on this began in 1950, initially for 56 MW.^[3] Coal was supplied by rail to sidings from the adjacent railway to the north. Other power stations nearby included Neasden (since demolished) and Taylors Lane.

The station closed on 31 October 1983 with a generating capacity of 150 MW.^[4]

Film set

The disused power station was used as a film set in Aliens (1986) and as the 'Axis Chemical Works' in Batman (1989).

References

1. UK Power Networks - Willesden, LPN Regional Development Plan No.1; Figure 1 - Willesden Site Plan
2. PRE-VESTING UNDERTAKINGS (1882 - 1948), LMA/4278/01 1883 - 2003, National Archives,
3. New Power Stations,Hansard,1950-11-06
4. Mr. Redmond (16 January 1984). "Coal-fired Power Stations". Hansard. Retrieved 1 September 2009.

External links

• Photo on Flickr
• Black-and-white Photo taken in April 1984 showing the cooling towers
• Colour photo of the cooling towers
• 9 July 1939 aerial photograph
• Photo taken in December 1969