[asheshouse]

This site http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/EM/elec ... ation.html has pictures of the Exeter power station which was working during WW2. Because the industry wasn't nationalised until 1947 I think that most of the power stations would have been along these lines - fairly small and all different. What we now think of as the classic coal-fired stations, Battersea, Bankside, Shoreham etc were all post-war; with the exception of Battersea of course which was the first of the new breed and only half-finished during the early forties.

Battersea was actually completed in 1939, and was coal fired. -- but I think initially it may only have had 2 chimneys and was extended later. (not sure about that).

The Central Electricity Board in UK was established in 1927 and was principally responsible for developing the major power stations. At one time Barking Power Station was the largest in Europe.
Opened in 1925, it had rail sidings and a 1000ft long jetty with 4 large cranes to unload coal from ships. Capacity of the station was 462500kw. Also in London Bankside Power Station was coal fired. This was the predecessor of the existing building (now Tate Modern) which was oil fired and replaced in the coal fired station after the war.