Pylons .

[jjb1970]

New lines are increasingly sub-surface, getting permission to put up new pylons is increasingly difficult. Another contributory factor to the high infrastructure development costs we have in this country. I was involved in one project for a new power plant where the connection to the grid was via a 30 mile sub-surface line and a couple of projects were shelved as the cost of the connection was just not viable.

[Pacific231G]

I guess we can consider ourselves fortunate that the CEGB actually gave some thought to the aesthetics of pylon design.

 

These taking some of the power from a Centre Nucleaire to the East of Dieppe weren't too bad thouigh clumsier than ours 

 

 

But these monstrosities taking power from the Centre Nucleaire near Gravelines to the east of Calais. Ughh. They're almost American in their industrial brutalism.

 

 

By the way, isn't transmission tower an American usage?  Though Americans also often calle them pylons.  Pylon or Electricity Pylon is surely the accepted British English term and has been adopted in several other languages .pylône électrique in French, pilone dell'elettricità in Italian, pilón de electricidad in Spanish, pilão de eletricidade in Potugese,   elektrik pilon in Turkish.

 

Apparently this  usage of the word pylon was coined in Britain by the classical architect Sir Reginald Blomfield who was engaged by the newly formed Central Electricity Board (later the CEGB) in 1927 to come up with a suitable design for the new national gridiron. The familiar design he adopted was one submitted by the American firm  Milliken Brothers. They were originally going to be called grid towers but Blomfield opted for the classical name of the towers each side of ancient egyptian ceremonial gateways. 

 

Given the ugliness that Blomfield saved us from, this is one British English word that I would not want to see replaced.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Zero Gravitas]

From the car on the way from Shanghai airport to the city centre:

There are a lot of pylons in China...

[grahame]

There are a lot of pylons in China...

 

. . . . and there's an awful lot of coffee in Brazil.

 

In France it's no longer the pylons marching across the countryside that dominate and encroach on sensibilities, but the increasing population of wind generators.

 

G.

[pharrc20]

I wish someone would write a definitive spotters guide to pylons so I can bore people senseless on car and train journeys

I know a few but need to know more

Yep agreed and I would happily do one... not sure how many it would sell mind you... i-Pylon?? Photos of all different types with the much loved tick box to say you have spotted this one?

 

Cheers Paul

[pharrc20]

Related to Paul's (Pharrc20's) photos above of the two D2 towers near Stalybridge, are these.

 

Paul's two D2s drop down another 100m into the site of the former 64MW coal fired Hartshead power station at Heyrod. (Which was demolished in the 80s.)

On this same site, a tower was replaced recently.

 

20161023_111757.jpg

 

In an attempt to sort out the confusion, the old "being replaced" tower is just behind the tower being erected on the temporary base in the immediate foreground.

20161023_111800.jpg

 

20161023_111820.jpg

 

20161023_111847.jpg

 

(..effin' auto rotate! Just shows haw smart "smart" stuff is.)

 

 

Kev.

Thanks for the photo update. New tower *might* be an L4 metric design DT terminal tower.

 

Cheers Paul

[SHMD]

I'll get a picture of the new tower in situ but not today as it's raining that hard that I can't even see the moors oposite.

 

 

Kev.

(Yep, the threat of a hose pipe ban has worked.)

[New Haven Neil]

A now-gone friend who worked in electricity distribution used to have an eppy if you called them pylons - definitely towers, and if it was Sunday, Transmission Towers!  RIP Harry Elliott.

[pharrc20]

I'll get a picture of the new tower in situ but not today as it's raining that hard that I can't even see the moors oposite.

 

 

Kev.

(Yep, the threat of a hose pipe ban has worked.)

Ok cheers Kev.. I could be wrong they don't always build new design L4 towers and sometimes they recycle older PL16 design towers.

 

Cheers Paul

[pharrc20]

A now-gone friend who worked in electricity distribution used to have an eppy if you called them pylons - definitely towers, and if it was Sunday, Transmission Towers! RIP Harry Elliott.

I grew up knowing them as pylons but once I started becoming more interested in the different designs and obtaining information then towers or more formally transmission towers.

 

Cheers Paul

[Enterprisingwestern]

An irrelevant question to actually modelling pylons/TT's, but what wire is which? (live,neutral, Kv rating etc), or if there isn't a definitive answer, a generalisation will do.

 

Mike.

[pharrc20]

An irrelevant question to actually modelling pylons/TT's, but what wire is which? (live,neutral, Kv rating etc), or if there isn't a definitive answer, a generalisation will do.

 

Mike.

Hi Mike, the top wire is the earth wire and is generally on the peak of the tower itself. The other three wires often in a vertical stack take a single phase i.e. three phases total. Most towers are double circuit and so have a three phase circuit on either side of the tower. There are some single circuit designs most notably the 132kV PL1b.

 

Common voltages are 132kV on the PL series of towers and the metric replacement L4 towers. 275kV started on L66 towers then an improved L2 design and these were uprated to take 400kV. For the heavy duty bulk supergrid circuits the L6 towers were introduced on 400kV and these are the large bulky towers you see. Add into the mix L8s intended as replacements for L2 and the L12s as a medium bulk design you end up with a mixture of towers. As with most things in life there are a whole host of single design towers that have only been used on a single route.

 

Examples of such tower designs can be found near Coventry, Hull, Ludlow and the east coast of Scotland these mostly being 275 or 400kV. Again it is possible to see 275/400kV L2 towers in use on 132kV circuits especially in use by former local area boards e.g. Norweb, Manweb etc.

 

Cheers Paul

[SHMD]

..the rain stopped so I nipped out and took these..

 

 

 

 

I noted, at the time the tower was being fabricated on the ground, that the steelwork looked new.

 

 

Kev.

 

 

 

 

[Pacific231G]

A now-gone friend who worked in electricity distribution used to have an eppy if you called them pylons - definitely towers, and if it was Sunday, Transmission Towers!  RIP Harry Elliott.

I wonder if that's a case of specialists in a not particularly high profile field choosing to use a more elaborate term* than perfectly good (and in this case unambigous) everyday English and then telling the rest of use that we're getting it wrong. Why do points and turnouts suddenly come to mind?

 

*Often of American origin and generally involving more syllables.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Pacific231G

[SHMD]

Does anybody know what these things are for and what they are called?

 

 

Even the top earth guard wires have them, although smaller.

 

 

Kev.

 

[pharrc20]

Does anybody know what these things are for and what they are called?

 

20180823_191154a2.jpg

 

Even the top earth guard wires have them, although smaller.

 

 

Kev.

Ah I was wondering when someone might ask this question. These are Stocksbridge dampers and seem to come in single or twin versions depending on the conductor and operating voltage but essentially they act to reduce or elimate vibration in the conductor wire.

 

The other fittings that you can see at either end of the insulator strings are known as arcing horns and as the name suggests they would in fault or overloading conditions allow a flashover.

 

Cheers Paul

[E3109]

What a fascinating thread. I wonder how much of the terminology used for pylons and transmission lines, has in common with terminology used for railway OLE.

 

I remember browsing through a stack of my Grandma's magazines in the mid 1990s, Woman, Woman's Own and that sort of thing.

 

There was an article about one lady who had a phobia about pylons, to the extent that her husband needed to check OS maps before embarking on a car journey. She was absolutely terrified of them!

 

Not funny for her of course, but I was howling with laughter when I read it, and so wish I'd kept the article!

 

Two of the quotes went something like, "eurgh, all those horrible crisis-crossy bits make me ill when I see them" and this one,

"a holiday in Paris or Blackpool would be out of the question."

[Pacific231G]

What a fascinating thread. I wonder how much of the terminology used for pylons and transmission lines, has in common with terminology used for railway OLE.

 

I remember browsing through a stack of my Grandma's magazines in the mid 1990s, Woman, Woman's Own and that sort of thing.

 

There was an article about one lady who had a phobia about pylons, to the extent that her husband needed to check OS maps before embarking on a car journey. She was absolutely terrified of them!

 

Not funny for her of course, but I was howling with laughter when I read it, and so wish I'd kept the article!

 

Two of the quotes went something like, "eurgh, all those horrible crisis-crossy bits make me ill when I see them" and this one,

"a holiday in Paris or Blackpool would be out of the question."

I've just been looking at a French site about the construction of the breathtaking Millau Viaduct and there the piers that rise from the ground to the deck are called piles but the structures that rise above them from which the cable stays run are called pylônes. However, when the whole vertical structure of pile and pylône  is referred to it is usually as a pylône- the tallest of them being taller than the Tour Eiffel  The tall floodlighting towers long used in French yards and loco depots.are also called pylônes

 

 

There does seem tio be some variation in British English usage between tower and pylon when referring to similar bridge structures that rise above the deck . The structures beneath the roadway seem to normally be referred to as piers (as in more traditional bridges and arched viaducts)   but the entire structure seems to be most commonly referred to as a tower.

 

The Severn Road Bridge has Stockbridge dampers fitted to its suspension cables presumably to dampen oscillations in the main cable but I don'ty know how common they are beyond electrical distribution (George H Stockbridge was an engineer working for Southern California Edison who patented his devices in 1928) .

 

In American English. the structures used to transmit radio and television signals seem to almost always be referred to as transmitter towers whether free standing or guyed. Usually in British English. transmitter towers are free standing and transmitter masts are guyed.  In British English, pylon does most often refer to the lattice structures used for electrical distribution and usefully distinguishes them from radio and TV transmitter masts and towers

 

Railway terminology for overhead electrification seems slightly different, the vertical supports are termed masts even though they're not guyed. Americans call them poles (as we generally do for tramways)  or catenary poles.

 

A catenary is the mathematical shape, similar to a parabola, taken up by a fully flexible cable or chain, carrying just its own weight, between supports . Though Network Rail refer to OLE (overhead line electrification equipment)  catenary seems  to have become the generally used term for the whole thing (It's caténaire in French)  even though its only the main support or carrying wire that actually is a catenary. From the support wire the contact wire hangs on droppers either directly of from a secondary support wire That arrangement, rather like a suspension bridge, enables the contact wire to be almost completely flat

 

Curiously French railway engineers also refer to a Caténaire Simplifée or Caténaire Trolley which dispenses with the support wire and just has the contact wire hanging from a support at each masts rather as in a typical tram system (American trolley) Here the contact wire will form a catenary but if speeds are moderate and the  masts not too far apart the variation in height won't produce too much oscilation in the pantographs. They even have a Caténaire Rigide (which should be a contradiction) where, in restricted spaces, the contact cable is replaced by what is effectively an overhead live rail and nothing hangs in a catenary curve .

Edited August 24, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Pylon King]

This thread certainly shows the diverse range of pylons/towers that inhabit this green and pleasant land. The photos show a rather unusual British pylon modelled in 4mm scale . The SF60 M30 quad line carries 400kV (L6 designation)  .Found at several major substations as a “feeder” but also as an underpass tower at L6 junctions , probable designers being either Balfour Beattie or BICC .

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Pylon King

[jukebox]

Hi Mike, the top wire is the earth wire and is generally on the peak of the tower itself. The other three wires often in a vertical stack take a single phase i.e. three phases total. Most towers are double circuit and so have a three phase circuit on either side of the tower. There are some single circuit designs most notably the 132kV PL1b.

 

Common voltages are 132kV on the PL series of towers and the metric replacement L4 towers. 275kV started on L66 towers then an improved L2 design and these were uprated to take 400kV. For the heavy duty bulk supergrid circuits the L6 towers were introduced on 400kV and these are the large bulky towers you see. Add into the mix L8s intended as replacements for L2 and the L12s as a medium bulk design you end up with a mixture of towers. As with most things in life there are a whole host of single design towers that have only been used on a single route.

 

Examples of such tower designs can be found near Coventry, Hull, Ludlow and the east coast of Scotland these mostly being 275 or 400kV. Again it is possible to see 275/400kV L2 towers in use on 132kV circuits especially in use by former local area boards e.g. Norweb, Manweb etc.

 

Cheers Paul

 

 

Here in Oz we even go up as high as 500Kv for transmission lines - but 330kV is more typical.

 

Does anybody know what these things are for and what they are called?

 

20180823_191154a2.jpg

 

Even the top earth guard wires have them, although smaller.

 

 

Kev.

 

and in Oz, these are colloquially know as "Dogbone" dampers.

 

There are also "pigtail" dampers - 1-2m long coils of polycarbonate, that are wrapped around the conductor near towers, to perform the same function.

 

In the photos of lines with multiple conductors off each insulator, you'll see that there are spacers fitted at regular intervals, to stop the wires clashing together in the wind. These are installed by the riggers using wheeled chairs nicknamed "bikes",  after the line is strung.  The trip out is downhill to the middle, up hill to the far side.  On large spans it's quite a hair raising journey.

Edited August 29, 2018 by jukebox

[pharrc20]

This thread certainly shows the diverse range of pylons/towers that inhabit this green and pleasant land. The photos show a rather unusual British pylon modelled in 4mm scale . The SF60 M30 quad line carries 400kV (L6 designation) and is only 60 feet in height , probably the lowest for this power .Found at several major substations as a “feeder” but also as an underpass tower at L6 junctions , probable designers being either Balfour Beattie or BICC .

Wow amazing modelling. What substation is that one in the first photo? I have visited a similar low height at the double tee between the L6 and L8 lines not far from Poulton on the Fylde coast. Photos on pc now but I took a load of photos last year when I visited the area.

Cheers Paul

[Pylon King]

Were PL1s still around in the mid 60s?

. The PL1 first appeared back in the 1930’s and can still be seen today , although many are now being taken down.

[Pylon King]

Wow amazing modelling. What substation is that one in the first photo? I have visited a similar low height at the double tee between the L6 and L8 lines not far from Poulton on the Fylde coast. Photos on pc now but I took a load of photos last year when I visited the area.

Cheers Paul

Thank you . The photo was pulled from Google images but yes it would be most interesting to find the exact location as well as seeing your photos featuring the L6 & L8 junction . Judging by the quality of your Hornby pylon modifications and experience working with plastics/brass , you could easily achieve scratch build scale pylons by using the PL1 series diagrams as templates to create accurate , well proportioned models.

[Tom F]

The area I'm modelling had pylons introduced in an around 1960..... L2s I believe!

 

[Pylon King]

Wow amazing modelling. What substation is that one in the first photo? I have visited a similar low height at the double tee between the L6 and L8 lines not far from Poulton on the Fylde coast. Photos on pc now but I took a load of photos last year when I visited the area.

Cheers Paul

. I’ve just found that junction on Street View at Hambleton Moss Side , the very same design . It’s an SF60 M20 tower , the base being an additional ten feet taller. These towers are rare in the south, with only one spotted so far at Braintree, Essex , it even makes an appearance on a Prodigy video !