River Aire east of Castleford; Ferrybridge C, Eggborough and Drax. Drax takes its cooling water from the Ouse, but both Ferrybridge and Eggborough draw their water from the Aire. Both of these plants stopped generating in 2016, with Eggborough being a stand-by for capacity problems until March 2017. A hydroelectric power station was installed on the Brotherton Weir at Knottingley in November 2017. The £7.5 million project is expected to deliver 500 kilowatts per year and be operational for 100 years. Due to the Aire flowing through the former industrial landscape of West Yorkshire, it had a reputation as being heavily polluted.
Drax, North Yorkshire born at Darlton, Notts. and became a wealthy shipper in Kingston upon Hull. Two years later, Read's will endowed the school at Drax and founded further grammar schools at Tuxford in Notts. and Corby Glen in Lincolnshire. Read also funded the building of six almshouses in Drax for elderly people, stipulating that they should be for three men and three women. Drax had two railway stations: both are now closed. Drax Hales railway station was on the North Eastern Railway's (NER) Selby to Goole Line: British Railways closed it in 1964. Drax Abbey was on the Hull and Barnsley Railway