Pylons .

[How about a Dictator Loco Class?]

The tower render is looking good let me m know if you want any morw dimensions. I once suggested making 3d printed towers on here and was pooh poohed shot down by the experts saying it couldn't be done so I look forward to seeing how it comes out and might just have to get one to put on display as L2s are my favourite tower design.

Cheers Paul

 

So far I've found no super detailed 'Pylon Bible' out there. So without a quality guide I'm having to traverse satellite views of motorways and travel up and down roads on google street view.

So if you have any good pictures or data on L2's I'd much appreciate it! Thank you Paul.

 

I hate when people "pooh pooh" things just because they don't have the drive or know how, yet claim to know what they're talking about.

I'm no pylon king, so it's a struggle but I know it will pay off eventually. I'm traversing half the UK's roads on google street view trying to find good pictures at the moment.

 

I'm happy to make any L2's or alternatives you with if you want any.

 

What is the difference between an L2d and other L2's please?

 

A pylon expert I met on Sunday told me, the arms on the side are at a specific optimum angle (which I've sadly forgotten) from the earth cable at the top, to help against lightning strikes. Interesting.

Edited January 21, 2019 by How about a Dictator Loco Class?

[Pylon King]

So far I've found no super detailed 'Pylon Bible' out there. So without a quality guide I'm having to traverse satellite views of motorways and travel up and down roads on google street view.

So if you have any good pictures or data on L2's I'd much appreciate it! Thank you Paul.

 

I hate when people "pooh pooh" things just because they don't have the drive or know how, yet claim to know what they're talking about.

I'm no pylon king, so it's a struggle but I know it will pay off eventually. I'm traversing half the UK's roads on google street view trying to find good pictures at the moment.

 

I'm happy to make any L2's or alternatives you with if you want any.

 

What is the difference between an L2d and other L2's please?

 

A pylon expert I met on Sunday told me, the arms on the side are at a specific optimum angle (which I've sadly forgotten) from the earth cable at the top, to help against lightning strikes. Interesting.

One option you could try is by starting with the engineer drawings . Print out the image , then photocopy up to the desired scale to use as your template. The L2 design latticework work is slightly different left to right than front back. Evergreen/Plastruct products with Plastic-Weld for instant joining , regularly check the geometry using both the cutting board and template .

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by Pylon King

[pharrc20]

So far I've found no super detailed 'Pylon Bible' out there. So without a quality guide I'm having to traverse satellite views of motorways and travel up and down roads on google street view.

So if you have any good pictures or data on L2's I'd much appreciate it! Thank you Paul.

 

I hate when people "pooh pooh" things just because they don't have the drive or know how, yet claim to know what they're talking about.

I'm no pylon king, so it's a struggle but I know it will pay off eventually. I'm traversing half the UK's roads on google street view trying to find good pictures at the moment.

 

I'm happy to make any L2's or alternatives you with if you want any.

 

What is the difference between an L2d and other L2's please?

 

A pylon expert I met on Sunday told me, the arms on the side are at a specific optimum angle (which I've sadly forgotten) from the earth cable at the top, to help against lightning strikes. Interesting.

Yes sadly there is no definitive guide out there to UK pylon designs. I have contemplated doing one... can't be any worse than a book on UK roundabouts or garden shed surely?!

 

If you go to my main photobucket page then into the individual albums you will see more L2 tower photos.

 

L2 D is just a suspension tower with vertical hung insulator strings and in theory can deviate the line upto 2 degrees though I think in practice this was rarely if ever actually done. The D I have always taken to stand for Double circuit.

 

L2 D30 is a deviation tower where pairs or twin insulator strings are attached to each side of the tower cross arms. So either side of the tower can be upto 15 degrees deviation.

 

L2 D60 is a heavier duty tower used to turn from 30 upto 60 degrees and the outside of the deviation has squared end crossarms the inside of the turn has shorter angled cross arms.

 

L2 D90 is even more heavy duty like the D60 but beefed up even more to allow a full deviation turn from 60 upto 90 degrees. These are used sparingly if possible.

 

L2 DT is a terminal tower used to literally terminate the circuits into substation connecting directly from the tower to the busbars. There are several versions of these towers some standard some non-standard.

 

L2 can be used just for a single circuit and so the conductors and insulators would only be strung on one side of the tower. There is one main ST terminal tower plus some variants of.

 

Although the L2s were designed to be the backbone of the original Supergrid operating at 380kV most started at 275kV and later uprated to 400kV with improved twin conductors and insulators. Quite a few L2 routes exist outside of the main 275/400kV National Grid and most of these were originally operated by the local area boards like Norweb and SWEB etc. These passed into ownership of the current 132kV and below operators like Western Power Distribution. Whether this was forward planning by the local boards to uprate from 132 to 275kV I haven't established yet but it would seem to make sense.

 

The Earth wire shielding angle for the L2 D tower is 45 degrees taken from the mid point of the tower peak then projecting down and outwards to the mid point of the base of each insulator string.

 

I will see if I can get some more info when on the pc rather than on phone.

 

Cheers Paul

[How about a Dictator Loco Class?]

Wow. Amazing information Paul! Thank you so much.

You should compile a definitive, ilustrated guide! I had a strong desire to but no knowledge lol

 

I have looked at your pictures. They are a great help thank you. And as Pylon King pointed out, the sides are actually slightly different to the fronts and backs. My L2d needs changing again! It's so hard to draw.

Edited January 22, 2019 by How about a Dictator Loco Class?

[pharrc20]

Wow. Amazing information Paul! Thank you so much.

You should compile a definitive, ilustrated guide! I had a strong desire to but no knowledge lol

 

I have looked at your pictures. They are a great help thank you. And as Pylon King pointed out, the sides are actually slightly different to the fronts and backs. My L2d needs changing again! It's so hard to draw.

If you look back through this thread you will see a photo of a booklet I made on the L2s a few years ago... it was Christmas offer on photo books so I decided to make my own on the L2 lol.

 

Yes there are some differences I would need to sit down and check for you but you should be able to see them on the photos hopefully.

 

Cheers Paul

[pharrc20]

One option you could try is by starting with the engineer drawings . Print out the image , then photocopy up to the disired scale to use as your template. The L2 design latticework work is slightly different left to right than front back. Evergreen/Plastruct products with Plastic-Weld for instant joining , regularly check the geometry using both the cutting board and template .

 

0A000BA3-3097-45F7-8712-2E90B9B797E5.jpeg

You know what... you are right... lol in all the years I have been looking at the L2 D towers the front and sides are different. Amazed I have never noticed that doh!

Paul

[pharrc20]

Something else to bear in mind with the L2 towers is that some have received revised tower bracing around the base depending on the tower height and number of extentions. My local L2 line runs from Macclesfield towards a tee junction at Bredbury just east of Stockport and back in 2010 the Macclesfield to Stalybridge circuit was uprated and was refurbished with new conductors and insulators. At the same time the towers received some additional strengthening steelwork. I don't know how widespread this update work was or even if it is a ongoing programme of upgrades for the L2s. The original steelwork lattice forms a W shape whereas the revised pattern looks like three As but without the horizontal _ bar.

Paul

[Pylon King]

You know what... you are right... lol in all the years I have been looking at the L2 D towers the front and sides are different. Amazed I have never noticed that doh!

Paul

It’s the same story regarding the L3 design too. Edited January 24, 2019 by Pylon King

[pharrc20]

It’s the same story regarding the L3 design too. 750C8FB3-E1E8-4623-89E0-56531071A4E1.jpeg

Hi, yes I thought it might be. I did get up and close with the L3 at Thornbury Leisure Centre where they hold the Bristol Model Railway show in May. I went for the model railways but got side tracked by the L3 outside the front door haha.

Cheers Paul

[Pylon King]

As with pylons, substations have always been fascinating to model . Here are a selection , scratch built ,ready made and from kits. 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Pylon King

[Pylon King]

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Pylon King

[Pylon King]

A couple more.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Pylon King

[SHMD]

I can almost hear the buzzing in that last pic!

 

 

Kev.

[grahame]

Here's one I can add to that collection of model sub-station pics - one I made some time ago now for a long gone N/2mm layout:

 

 

G

[How about a Dictator Loco Class?]

My L2D's are gradually nearing completion. Just a few odd details to add and glitches to sort out. What a nightmare time waste this has been! I'm too silly and stubborn to give in. They're circa £100 cost price to me in OO and can be 3d printed in stainless steel or a strong flexible plastic for a similar price. Steel is about £10 more. In N gauge they only print in the plastic due to finer parts and come out at about £25 each cost price to me. I'd say this design took at leat 40 or 50 hours minimum, including traveling to photo them up close and personal and many nights working till between 3 and 5am! I don't even want a set of pylons though. Just a design addict and pylons look so cool. I'm on with some even more difficult designs atm lol! I did a design that took 3 years and was made up of over 66,000 lines! It's such a stressful use of time.

I'll post pictures of them when I get around to printing some. I won't be surprised if I never sell a single one lol!

 

Thank you so much Paul and Pylon King for all your help!

 

Rob

 

https://www.instagram.com/bobsbitsnbobs/

[Pacific231G]

I apologise if this is a bit OT but it does concern power supply so may be of interest. 

 

I've recently come upon a very curious arrangement from around Blois in the Loire Valley a hundred or so years ago before national or even regional electricity grids had been established. 

 

 

The Tramways Electrique de Loir et Cher, was an early rural electric tramway built just before and immediately after the First World War. It was mostly roadside and supplied with monophase AC power at 6KV 25Hz from its own power plant. However, the company that ran it had an affiliiate that used the same power station to supply electricity to consumers in its area. This was generated at 12kV 50Hz, I assume by separate alternators, and transmitted to local substation transformers using the tramway's power poles wherever possible. You can make out here how the three phase wiring (with a fourth neutral wre) is mounted above the cross bars carying the catenary. The actual wiring is more obvious in this retouched image from an electrical contractor, probably from soon after the line opened given the bow collector rather than pantograph. 

   

 

I assumed at first that the three phase wiring above the catenary supplied the tramway itself with power but it was in fact supplying communities along the line at a different frequency. I don't know what the final supply voltage to consumers was, possibly 220V 50Hz and  I've not been able to find out whether the company was also supplying power to communities away from the tramway's four routes. Services on the tramway didn't normally requre more than one or two trains on each route at any one time so there wouldn't have been a lot of point in using a three phase system to supply it and, so far as I can tell, each line was energised from one end (with an estimated voltage drop of about 10% . By the time the tramways all closed at the end of 1933 I think its electrical supply interests had been absorbed into a large group but I don't know when full scale grids were established in France

 

There have been other electric railways that used their OHE masts to transmit power at higher voltages to the sub-stations actually supplying the catenary. The CF du Midi in S.W. France mostly used a supply voltage of 1500V DC but on some main lines used a taller version of their very distinctive "ogive" arched portals that also supported three phase wiring at 63kV above the catenaries. (This is one of the 1955 world record runs)

 

 

I have not though come across any other examples of traction power infrastructure being used to supply other consumers.  The TELC closed at the end of 1933  by when larger power companies had generally taken over the supply of electricity to consumers but I wondered how unusual this was and did anything like it ever happen in Britain? 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Pacific231G

[Pylon King]

Pylons in the kitchen today in 4mm scale - L3 275kV & L6 400 kV.

 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Pylon King

[pharrc20]

On 13/02/2019 at 01:06, How about a Dictator Loco Class? said:

My L2D's are gradually nearing completion. Just a few odd details to add and glitches to sort out. What a nightmare time waste this has been! I'm too silly and stubborn to give in. They're circa £100 cost price to me in OO and can be 3d printed in stainless steel or a strong flexible plastic for a similar price. Steel is about £10 more. In N gauge they only print in the plastic due to finer parts and come out at about £25 each cost price to me. I'd say this design took at leat 40 or 50 hours minimum, including traveling to photo them up close and personal and many nights working till between 3 and 5am! I don't even want a set of pylons though. Just a design addict and pylons look so cool. I'm on with some even more difficult designs atm lol! I did a design that took 3 years and was made up of over 66,000 lines! It's such a stressful use of time.

I'll post pictures of them when I get around to printing some. I won't be surprised if I never sell a single one lol!

 

Thank you so much Paul and Pylon King for all your help!

 

Rob

 

https://www.instagram.com/bobsbitsnbobs/

Wow 

[Pylon King]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Pylon King

[Pylon King]

Hornby detailed 33kV PL1 pylons .

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Pylon King said:

Hornby detailed 33kV PL1 pylons .

 

If you haven't already in this thread, can you please add a few notes of what you've done to these and how?

 

These Hornby kits are in my (far too large) round tuit collection, I would love to now how to develop them into something as exquisite as yours.

[Pylon King]

On 21/02/2019 at 20:46, Northmoor said:

If you haven't already in this thread, can you please add a few notes of what you've done to these and how?

 

These Hornby kits are in my (far too large) round tuit collection, I would love to now how to develop them into something as exquisite as yours.

Starting every model was the same, once each lower section was completed , warning sign plates , anti climb corners using a donor tower were put together. Curved corner parts and wiring utilised Plastruct , after this was installed the upper tower was added. For both aesthetic and  clearance purposes (terminal , deviation towers) I extended the upper tower sections by about 3mm which involved melting and welding very small sections from the donor kit which also supplied additional arm components.

   Each pylon was then airbrushed using Humbrol steel grey paint , while the leg bases were sprayed separately with Humbrol light grey acrylic. Once dried these bases were added and Sankey Scenics supplied warning signage . Detailing was based around the various 33kV found pylons outside the old Hornby factory at Westwood, Margate. Of note Hornby recommends using paints to add extra realism which eliminates any plastic indication to these kits.

  You will probably require two to three tower kits to produce one detailed version .

When gluing the regular parts use precision poly, Pastic-weld when creating tower /arm extensions.

Hope this information will be helpful .

  

Edited February 23, 2019 by Pylon King

[How about a Dictator Loco Class?]

Wow!!! I love your amazing models Pylon King. Very impressive work. And very accurate!

 

I have designed a taller, extended version of the tower now and both versions now have all the Inner strengthening detail. I'll soon sell fully assembled models via my shapeways account in N and OO in plastic or stainless steel + for those who ask; pylon accessories, spare parts and cheeper rates for multiples. And maybe a weathered, painted version with signage via TMC.

 

The original pylons were certainly designed by a genius! I've learned so much about the wisdom behind the design by building these. They use the minimum material calculated to give the required strength. So the L2d appears to be the cheapest of the L2's to build' requiring less parts (insulators, steel etc) helped by a less wide stance due to it's shallower angle of diversion. There are rules behind where triangles are to be put and what angles they should be at. So you get a formula that shows you exactly the size and angle every triangle will be. The design is full of genius order and mathematics like we see in all nature. But obviously not to de degree seen in nature.

[Pylon King]

On 17/02/2019 at 10:20, pharrc20 said:

 

A couple of Western Power Distribution 1:76 maintenance vehicles .

[SHMD]

..I'm not sure if these are playing noughts&crosses or having a fight!

 

 

 

Kev.