OXFORD Power Station produced electricity for much longer than expected, due to the effects of the Second World War.

The station, by the Thames at Osney, was in action for 77 years, from 1892 to 1969, despite being declared inefficient in its later years.

The power industry suffered from a severe lack of investment during the war and in the post-war period, and came under pressure as factories installed new electrically-driven machines to replace steam-driven ones and families bought fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances.

Allan Goode, of Abingdon, who has studied the history of the power station, tells me: “The result was that post-war electricity demand increased at between five and 10 per cent per year.

“It was not until the early 1960s that it became possible to consider decommissioning the – by then – inefficient stations built or refurbished in the 1920s. Then we had the very cold winter of 1962-3 which resulted in power cuts.

“The directive went out that no power station was to be taken out of service, no matter how old or inefficient. This led to Oxford, and a number of other similar stations, being converted from coal to oil.”

The advantages of oil-fired boilers were that they complied with clean air legislation and could reach full output more quickly than coal-fired ones. By 1969, with new stations such as Didcot coming on line, Oxford could finally be retired.

As we recalled (Memory Lane, August 17), the opening of Oxford Power Station on Saturday, June 18 1892 was a grand civic and university affair, with dignitaries attending a dinner in the dynamo room to music from Herr Slapoffski’s Band.

The opening was also celebrated with a poem written by Hilaire Belloc, then a 23-year-old undergraduate at Balliol College.

Mr Goode points out that the station had an initial output of 240 kilowatts (not 640 as earlier reported) and that it underwent regular extensions to increase output.

“By the early 1920s, the capacity had risen to 2,290 kilowatts and there was then a major modernisation of the station, between 1923 and 1928, during which all the old machinery was removed to be replaced by six steam turbines giving a total output of 22,500 kilowatts.”

Oxford City Council took over the station from the Oxford Electric Company in 1932 and ran it until the industry was nationalised in 1948. Much of the equipment installed in the 1920s remained in use until the station closed. The building was sold to Oxford University for £77,000 and became part of its engineering faculty. Recently, it has been used as a museum store. The latest plans are for it to become part of the Said Business School.

Ironically, as Mr Goode points out, while Oxford Power Station takes on a new lease of life, the building that took over its role of generating electricity – Didcot Power Station – is facing demolition.