Industrial History Online
Burns Street electricity substation
Key Words :- electricity substation tramway MIDESCO
Viewing the Site :- Viewable from either road.
Address :- 48-50 Loscoe Road, Heanor, Derbyshire, DE75 7FH
Grid Ref :- SK 4293 4692
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.017865 , Long -1.361508
Local Authority :- Amber Valley Borough Council
Pre 1974 County :- Derbyshire
Site Status :- Site extant - No Protection
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to residential housing
Site Dates :- 1913 -
Description and History of Site :-
A two-storey brick building with long and short stone quoins and stone coping stones on the gable. It has an oval stone plaque with MIDESCO in a gable, and is slate roofed.
It was built as a rotary converter substation in 1913 to feed power to the trams of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramway Company that ran between Ripley and Nottingham. This was where high voltage alternating current from the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Electric Power Company electricity generating station in Ilkeston was converted to the low voltage direct current used by the trams. It also served an a substation distributing electricity to homes and businesses in the area. It subsequently powered trolleybuses from 1932 to 1953. When AC to DC conversion was no longer required most of the building was reused for industrial purposes. By 2026 substation electrical equipment had been relocated to behind the building and it was in the process of conversion to housing.
The name MIDESCO on the plaque refers to the Midland Counties Electrical Supply Company which was the owner of both the tramway and the electric power companies. This was originally registered by Balfour Beattie and Company in 1912 as the Tramways Light and Power Company and was renamed as MIDESCO in 1921. This means the plaque must have been added to the building after this date.
The 18km of tramway between Ripley and the Nottingham Corporation boundary required two feeder stations. The second one on James Street in Kimberley has been demolished.
Further Reading and References :-
Fowkes D. (ed.), Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology: A Gazetteer of Sites, Part III, Borough of Amber Valley (second edition), Derbyshire Archaeological Society, 2011
Bett W.H., Gillham J.C., Tramways of the North Midlands, Light Rail Transport League, 1974
Balfour Beattie : Fifty Years, 1959
The Ripley Rattlers, Nottinghamshire County Council, 1986
https://her.derbyshire.gov.uk/Monument/MDR14320
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Grid Ref :- SK 4293 4692
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.017865 , Long -1.361508
Local Authority :- Amber Valley Borough Council
Pre 1974 County :- Derbyshire
Site Status :- Site extant - No Protection
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to residential housing
Site Dates :- 1913 -
A two-storey brick building with long and short stone quoins and stone coping stones on the gable. It has an oval stone plaque with MIDESCO in a gable, and is slate roofed.
It was built as a rotary converter substation in 1913 to feed power to the trams of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramway Company that ran between Ripley and Nottingham. This was where high voltage alternating current from the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Electric Power Company electricity generating station in Ilkeston was converted to the low voltage direct current used by the trams. It also served an a substation distributing electricity to homes and businesses in the area. It subsequently powered trolleybuses from 1932 to 1953. When AC to DC conversion was no longer required most of the building was reused for industrial purposes. By 2026 substation electrical equipment had been relocated to behind the building and it was in the process of conversion to housing.
The name MIDESCO on the plaque refers to the Midland Counties Electrical Supply Company which was the owner of both the tramway and the electric power companies. This was originally registered by Balfour Beattie and Company in 1912 as the Tramways Light and Power Company and was renamed as MIDESCO in 1921. This means the plaque must have been added to the building after this date.
The 18km of tramway between Ripley and the Nottingham Corporation boundary required two feeder stations. The second one on James Street in Kimberley has been demolished.
Fowkes D. (ed.), Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology: A Gazetteer of Sites, Part III, Borough of Amber Valley (second edition), Derbyshire Archaeological Society, 2011
Bett W.H., Gillham J.C., Tramways of the North Midlands, Light Rail Transport League, 1974
Balfour Beattie : Fifty Years, 1959
The Ripley Rattlers, Nottinghamshire County Council, 1986
https://her.derbyshire.gov.uk/Monument/MDR14320
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Contributor :- Ian Mitchell - 19 September 2026
Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Ian Mitchell
Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Ian Mitchell