Pylons .

[Ian Morgan]

I forgot to post the completed power poles seen earlier during construction, now planted on my 2mmFS layout "Freshwater".

Here is the transformer pole with the tripod pole in the background:

 

 

And a slightly better focused view:

 

 

And a better view of the tripod pole:

 

 

 

[RELIEF SIGNALMAN]

Has anyone on here know what is the average depth of a pylon leg underground?. I know an example on marshy ground that they went down 80 to 100 feet without hitting the bottom, so pipes were hammered to the ground welded together and filled with concrete. 

Edited November 11, 2021 by RELIEF SIGNALMAN
Missed letter

[SM42]

A bit of work going on near Saltley. 

I suspect this might be related to HS2 but I'm just guessing as it is quite close to the route

 

New Tower going up yesterday

 

 

And view today

 

 

Andy

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by SM42

[Pylon King]

Just completed -1:76 scale 132kV Blaw Knox PL16 DD30 which also features two to one earthing wires as found on the St Albans prototype . More pictures to follow when daylight permits.

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by Pylon King

[Pylon King]

A couple more photos.

[L2's are great!]

Hello all, paid a visit to Waltham Cross Sub Station today and i was not disappointed.

 

[L2's are great!]

Also noticed the L6 line that heads to Rye House is slowly having its old quads removed but this L6 BB D tower has escaped any such treatment.

[L2's are great!]

Was following the L2 275kv line running from Blyth Substation south to West Boldon Substation and came across the Tyne Crossing and noticed 2 of these D40ECs with D60 peaks. The only others ive seen are at East Claydon and Lydd. My only guessing is here they are used for extra strength because of the height of the Suspension towers crossing the Tyne. Is there any others of this type around??

Best Wishes, Felix

Edited January 10, 2022 by L2's are great!

[L2's are great!]

Even more of an odd find is this pair of BICC SF60s at Bodelwyddan substation which seem to have been added in creating a small junction on the Pentir-Connahs Quay line which i believe is predominantly Blaw Knox L6. The SF60s link up to an L12 DJT which leads me to assume this is a new junction.

[pharrc20]

48 minutes ago, L2's are great! said:

Even more of an odd find is this pair of BICC SF60s at Bodelwyddan substation which seem to have been added in creating a small junction on the Pentir-Connahs Quay line which i believe is predominantly Blaw Knox L6. The SF60s link up to an L12 DJT which leads me to assume this is a new junction.

Added a few years ago from what I can tell but the google earth imagery has been updated at last. Provides a connection to the Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm substation one side is cabled and the other on the two SF60s as shown.

Cheers Paul

[L2's are great!]

1 minute ago, pharrc20 said:

Added a few years ago from what I can tell but the google earth imagery has been updated at last. Provides a connection to the Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm substation one side is cabled and the other on the two SF60s as shown.

Cheers Paul

Ah i do remember that it was almost impossible to see them via streetview although most of that area has got better imagery thank the lord. Oh yes i do recall seeing the wind farm sub on the map i was using to follow the line from Pentir. Talking of Pentir, i noticed that the 4ZC line to Trawsfynydd is half 132kv and half 400kv. I didnt even know such a combo existed especially on a L6 route. Apart from the fact it has a guest L8 tower featuring over the estuary.

Best Wishes, Felix

 

[pharrc20]

1 minute ago, L2's are great! said:

Ah i do remember that it was almost impossible to see them via streetview although most of that area has got better imagery thank the lord. Oh yes i do recall seeing the wind farm sub on the map i was using to follow the line from Pentir. Talking of Pentir, i noticed that the 4ZC line to Trawsfynydd is half 132kv and half 400kv. I didnt even know such a combo existed especially on a L6 route. Apart from the fact it has a guest L8 tower featuring over the estuary.

Best Wishes, Felix

 

Yes it finally popped up on google so their little camera car must have been busy tootling around in 2020/21 lol.

 

The Pentir to Trawsfynydd line starts off heading south as both circuits on 400kV. Then at Llanrug there is a sealing end compound and the west side circuit terminates. The east side circuit bypasses the tower and continues on towards Porthmadog. The west side line is earthed to the towers and continues south too. Up until recently this was still on quad conductors and insulators - I have a feeling these have been changed now. Further south nearer Porthmadog at a place called Brynkir alongside the A487 near what was The Goat Inn is a D30 tower. Coming from Llanrug the west quad conductors earth onto the tower again and from the tower a link is made to a tower deviation and pole line that runs towards Pwllheli at 132kV. So from Brynkir to Porthmadog (north) at least it is 132kV on west side and 400kV on east side.

 

OpenMaps seems to have these two circuits transposed but does seem to confirm that is is 132/400 all the way to Trawsfynydd via the Glasyn cable section too. The L8 D30 was put up a few years ago to replace a damaged L6 D30 in virtually the same position in the estuary. However this and several other L6 towers are due to come down as part of the Snowdonia V.I.P. scheme and then it will be cable from Llandecwyn to Minffordd instead.

 

If Wylfa 2 had been built then the plan was to reinstate the full double circuits between Pentir and Traws and presumably provide some means of transforming down from 400 to 132 near Porthmadog and provide a new cable maybe link to join the existing line to Pwllheli.

 

Cheers Paul

[L2's are great!]

59 minutes ago, pharrc20 said:

Yes it finally popped up on google so their little camera car must have been busy tootling around in 2020/21 lol.

 

The Pentir to Trawsfynydd line starts off heading south as both circuits on 400kV. Then at Llanrug there is a sealing end compound and the west side circuit terminates. The east side circuit bypasses the tower and continues on towards Porthmadog. The west side line is earthed to the towers and continues south too. Up until recently this was still on quad conductors and insulators - I have a feeling these have been changed now. Further south nearer Porthmadog at a place called Brynkir alongside the A487 near what was The Goat Inn is a D30 tower. Coming from Llanrug the west quad conductors earth onto the tower again and from the tower a link is made to a tower deviation and pole line that runs towards Pwllheli at 132kV. So from Brynkir to Porthmadog (north) at least it is 132kV on west side and 400kV on east side.

 

OpenMaps seems to have these two circuits transposed but does seem to confirm that is is 132/400 all the way to Trawsfynydd via the Glasyn cable section too. The L8 D30 was put up a few years ago to replace a damaged L6 D30 in virtually the same position in the estuary. However this and several other L6 towers are due to come down as part of the Snowdonia V.I.P. scheme and then it will be cable from Llandecwyn to Minffordd instead.

 

If Wylfa 2 had been built then the plan was to reinstate the full double circuits between Pentir and Traws and presumably provide some means of transforming down from 400 to 132 near Porthmadog and provide a new cable maybe link to join the existing line to Pwllheli.

 

Cheers Paul

Oh yes i see what you mean, the west 400kv circuit travels underground to Dinorwig Power Station. When i last checked i believe one half used quad bundles  and the other half was down to twin bundles. I'd imagine it was changed around the time the sole L8 replacement was erected but you never know. Ahh yes, i still find that odd that theres a link between a line of 132kv towers and the L6s. But thats an impressive story behind that line.

 

Oh wow i never knew that D30 had been damaged and on openinframap by the looks of it, between Penmorfa and Minffordd theres an underground section running at 33kv and it seems at this point the east circuit on 400kv switches to the west circuit once it comes above ground with the 132kv switching to the east circuit once at Minffordd. Ah i didnt even know there was a plan for a second power/sub station at Wylfa but yeah that makes sense as to their proposed plans. Its a shame that'll never happen. Thanks again Paul

 

Best Wishes, Felix

Edited January 10, 2022 by L2's are great!

[L2's are great!]

Its interesting it switches to a full 132kv line from the 400kv circuit.

 

[L2's are great!]

2 minutes ago, L2's are great! said:

Its interesting it switches to a full 132kv line from the 400kv circuit.

 

 

[pharrc20]

8 minutes ago, L2's are great! said:

 

Yep that's the one. I think the east side 400 conductors were changed from quads to angled twin conductors sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s, whilst the east side remained untouched except for the section between Pentir and Llanrug sec. A separate 400kV underground cable circuit also runs from Dinorwig to Pentir via a more direct northerly route, whereas the southern 400 circuit runs underneath the Llanberis Lake Railway. You can see the 400kv ducting boxes along the route. And being a hearing aid user the T telephone coil setting on my aids provides confirmation that these under trackbed cables are indeed live n buzzing lol!

 

Not sure when the 132 circuit came into being from Traws to Y Ffor for Pwllheli - maybe from new?

 

There is or was a National Grid video on YouTube showing the work they had to do to replace the damaged tower, remove it, put in new stronger foundations and erect the new L8 tower. Note that the conductors revert to twin on this soon to be replaced section of the line.

 

They might just change their mind about building a second plant at Wylfa once we get a power generation shortage in the next 10-20 years.

 

Cheers Paul

[L2's are great!]

24 minutes ago, pharrc20 said:

Yep that's the one. I think the east side 400 conductors were changed from quads to angled twin conductors sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s, whilst the east side remained untouched except for the section between Pentir and Llanrug sec. A separate 400kV underground cable circuit also runs from Dinorwig to Pentir via a more direct northerly route, whereas the southern 400 circuit runs underneath the Llanberis Lake Railway. You can see the 400kv ducting boxes along the route. And being a hearing aid user the T telephone coil setting on my aids provides confirmation that these under trackbed cables are indeed live n buzzing lol!

 

Not sure when the 132 circuit came into being from Traws to Y Ffor for Pwllheli - maybe from new?

 

There is or was a National Grid video on YouTube showing the work they had to do to replace the damaged tower, remove it, put in new stronger foundations and erect the new L8 tower. Note that the conductors revert to twin on this soon to be replaced section of the line.

 

They might just change their mind about building a second plant at Wylfa once we get a power generation shortage in the next 10-20 years.

 

Cheers Paul

Ah thats interesting because even on the first section just out of Pentir, its half twin, half quad although both carrying 400kv until that rather oddly out of place BICC junction tower. Ah yes just noticed that second underground routing and it seems to pretty much follow the 4ZC line. Oh wow i never knew that those were there but thats amazing that you're able to check if the underground section is live from your hearing aids. I did not even know that was possible to do. 

 

Yeah that 132kv circuit is puzzling seeing as it has lattice and wooden towers as well which i was not expecting.

Oh i must try and hunt that video down because id love to see it, ill try and repost it here if im successful. 

 

Ah i had a feeling that thats when the double twin section commenced, as ive never seen an L8 in any form on quad conductors. It'll be a real shame to lose part of that line.

Wylfa 2 will be an outcome which only time will tell.... i think you could be right though

 

Best Wishes , Felix

 

 

[L2's are great!]

Also just spotted that the Pentir-Connahs Quay line switches from twin to quad at this D60 tower roughly 2/3rds of the way towards Deeside with the towers having there original quad insulators too

Edited January 10, 2022 by L2's are great!

[L2's are great!]

Some of you may have seen this but i'll post it anyway.

Snippet from British Pathe showing L2 construction in 1956 and another clip showing live line working in 1969 on the Fleet-Bramley-Didcot line

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by L2's are great!

[L2's are great!]

More updated google imagery reveals a very interesting crossing between the 4ZP line and the Bradford West-Elland route.

[pharrc20]

This is the NGC video on YouTube about 4ZC 30 and it's replacement. 

It's a short but interesting watch. Once the lines climb onto higher ground that seems to be where the switch to rotated twin conductors takes place where they have been fitted to L2 and L6 lines. Obviously for the new L8 4ZC 30R (i think it would be R coded) then it would have to be twins and you can see the work on changing the insulator bundles on towers 29 and 31 either side too.

 

Cheers Paul

[L2's are great!]

3 hours ago, pharrc20 said:

This is the NGC video on YouTube about 4ZC 30 and it's replacement. 

It's a short but interesting watch. Once the lines climb onto higher ground that seems to be where the switch to rotated twin conductors takes place where they have been fitted to L2 and L6 lines. Obviously for the new L8 4ZC 30R (i think it would be R coded) then it would have to be twins and you can see the work on changing the insulator bundles on towers 29 and 31 either side too.

 

Cheers Paul

Wow thats a fascinating video!! One of the best ive seen. Ahthat makes sense there and yes so them having to change the approaching D60 and D30 in between the replacement L8. I've never seen a controlled demolition of a pylon like that.

 

Best Wishes, Felix

[L2's are great!]

Tower 4ZM 68 on the approach to Pelham Sub. I believe this line is undergoing a slow refurb to new insulators yet still being strung as quad.

[L2's are great!]

The other D2's are still in their original condition on this southern line.

[L2's are great!]

One of only a few L6 Blaw Knox D90s ive seen. At the start of the line to Didcot just leaving Cowley. Any others lurking around which i may have missed?