Drax, North Yorkshire (H&BR): the London and North Eastern Railway closed it in 1932. In 1974 British Rail reopened about of the H&BR from Gowdall Junction and a short length of the NER through Drax as a freight-only branch line to supply coal to Drax power station. The former Central Electricity Generating Board commissioned Drax power station, located in the neighbouring civil parish of Long Drax, in two phases in 1974 and 1986. It is the largest power station in the United Kingdom, producing around 8% of Britain's electricity, and is the second-largest coal-fired plant in Europe. It has a potential consumption of
Hugo Drax the Drax of the novel, he is implied to be French (as he was portrayed by French actor Michael Lonsdale), although this is never explicitly mentioned. Though Drax lives in California, he resides in a fully imported French château for which "every stone [was] brought from France" – Drax also supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but wasn't allowed to export it from France in a similar manner because the French government wouldn't issue him an export permit for it. Drax portrays himself as an accomplished pianist, as evidenced by his recital of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D-flat major (op. 28)