La Placa de Ponferrada: Apogeo y ocaso del nodo minero-ferroviario de RENFE en El Bierzo

Résumé

The RENFE’s facilities in Ponferrada, known as “the workshops of La Placa”, played a pivotal role in the industrial development of the city, in association with the mining company Minero Siderúrgica de Ponferrada (MSP), and the National Company of Electricity (ENDESA). These facilities show the RENFE interest in taking advantage of the coal and electricity generated in the Sil basin and the efforts to guarantee the supply of coal in the Spain autarky scenario. The paper describes the origin and development of new railway station in Ponferrada, which until now have hardly been reflected in the scientific literature and highlights the relevance of one of the most important poles of mining-rail activity in the country during the second half of the 20th century. At the spot known as Cemba de Cuatrovientos, RENFE provided a local steam locomotive repair workshop (roundhouse), planned to support the coal trains, a marshalling yard to organize the convoys, as well as an electrical power substation aimed at electrifying the railroad linked to the mountain pass. These complementary facilities were along with a set of modern loading docks loaders, used for the mining companies to dump the coal in order to be transported through the state network.