Spondon

At Minffordd Yard
Type	Battery-electric vehicle 4wBE
Home Railway	The Ashover Light Railway
Original Railway	Spondon Power Station
History
Built by	The Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Electric Power Company
Built	1926
Power Station closed in 1972
To Gloddfa Ganol Narrow Gauge Museum
Late 1980s repatriated to Derbyshire
May 2017 to the Ffestiniog Railway for Quirks and Curiosities
Locomotives

Spondon is a battery-electric vehicle built in 1926 by engineers of The Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Electric Power Company for use in their Spondon Power Station. Spondon’s main task, being a 2′ gauge loco, was to remove the ash from within the power station complex via the internal rail network. Spondon Power Station was also employed to supply low pressure steam and power to the adjacent Celenese  Acetate plant. So successful was this ‘bi-product’ of steam that not only did it become one of the most profitable power stations in the network but it actually warmed the near-by waters of the river Derwent thereby allowing the local rascals to swim in it!!

When the Power Station closed in 1972, Spondon’s fate is somewhat nebulous but we do know she spent some time at Gloddfa Ganol Narrow Gauge Museum in North Wales. Sadly, this museum was short lived and in the late 1980’s when Narrow Gauge Railway preservation was enjoying a renaissance, she was repatriated to Derbyshire. During the early part of this century, Spondon underwent a cosmetic restoration and was re-gauged from 2′ to 18″, a considerable re-profiling of her body work undertaken, the 2 main electric motors were re-wound and much enhancement was made to her manual braking system.

In May 2017 Spondon visited the Festiniog Railway to attend the “Quirks and Curiosities” gala.