Over the past 20 years the Central Electricity Generating Board's output capacity has increased four-fold from 13,200 megawatts to well over 53,000 megawatts. In two decades generating and transmission plant has grown dramatically in size and in the sheer complexity of its technology.

        The 60-megawatt generators of the early 1950's have today given way to 500 megawatt machines - just one of them can meet the peek electricity demands of Nottingham and Derby put together.

        Supergrid transmission lines operate at 275,00 volts and 400,000 volts - one 400,000-volt line can do the work of eighteen 132,000-volt lines, once the mainstay of the national grid.

        This country has many millions of pounds invested in its electricity supply industry, nearly £900 millions in capital assets in the CEGB's Midlands Region alone. One 2,000-megawatt power station - there are three in the Midlands - costs about £85 millions. And that works out at something like £150,00 worth of plant for every man who works there.

        But plant and money are only part of the story of the modern power industry. There is another vital component - people. They are the men and women who run the power stations, operate the transmission system and staff offices.

        Working in a highly capital intensive industry, they have in their care plant and equipment, not only costing vast sums, but ranking among the most technically sophisticated in this country.

        To do their jobs they have to be trained, often to very advanced levels. And that is why the CEGB itself every year trains hundreds of men and women, providing them with the skills to work in its power stations, transmission districts and administrative establishments.

        This booklet is about a new and significant development in the CEGB's own extensive training programme - the plant training centre at Drakelow, near Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, set up by the Midlands Region to give instruction to craft and student apprentices, adult craftsmen and junior engineers in the three disciplines - electrical, mechanical and instrument - of power station maintenance.

        The centre, developed and administered by the Region's education and training department, provides training and has equipment and facilities that stand comparison with the very best in British industry. This has to be so because of the CEGB's need for staff of the highest quality to operate its complex plant and equipment.

        The trainees who pass through the Drakelow centre will form the backbone of the staff responsible for maintaining 36 Midlands power stations. The contribution that skilled maintenance staff can make to keep these power stations, some of them among the most modern in Britain, running at peak efficiency and at their highest possible output, is immense - every improvement in the performance of the CEGB's most modern plant is of direct benefit to the electricity consumer.