RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 Does that mean over 3m apart in 4mm scale? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pylon King Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 (edited) Thanks Pylon King, lovely PL1S indeed. I did a survey of some in the field near Hartford and Stalybridge some years for my project to identify the tower designs as the set of drawings for PL towers is missing the Single circuit tower drawings. I have done many 'fieldtrips' to different places to bag different designs but my favourites have to be L2s. Cheers Paul Favourites - L6s . Edited June 25, 2018 by Pylon King 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Alas ZP 226 the 'Pink Pylon' painted for the film "Among Giants" starring the late Pete Postlethwaite. Not a bad film essentially a love triangle set around a bunch of misfits hired to do a foreigner by painting the towers. At the time this part of the L2 ZP line had been raken out of use from the tee junction near Rochdale and another tee junction further west neae Bromley Cross with the L2 ZQ line. And so was an ideal setting for the film. I never did get to visit this tower before it and all the others were pulled down. Cheers Paul pinkpylon.jpg 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Hi russ p, they were still around on existing lines as are many today but new towers tended to be later PL16 towers first designed around 1948 and built until about 1974 when replaced by the L4 metric design with upswept crossarms from 1975. Cheers Paul Were PL1s still around in the mid 60s? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 23, 2018 And, of course, the source of research material has to be http://www.pylonofthemonth.org/ This website has been going for many years. Aha! Last time I looked for that website it had disappeared, wonderful to find it again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 What is the lifespan of a pylon? Do individual ones have to be replaced due to corrosion or do they replace the entire route? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Here is a photo of the PL1 as it appears in a C.E.G.B. booklet on 132,000 volt transmission towers published in 1974. It compares the PL1 to the PL16 and then new L4 towers. I actually got this direct from the C.E.G.B. along with some other tower related booklets not long before it was privatised. Cheers Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Yes it is a good site good to see it back. The Gorge site by Flash Bristow has also be mentioned but there is PAS The Pylon Appreciation Society as well. I have a load of albums on photobucket still I really need to move them when I get time. Cheers Paul Aha! Last time I looked for that website it had disappeared, wonderful to find it again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Well given that a lot of the original towers from the 1930s 132kV National Grid are still standing and in use today then 80 years or more at present. Some of the lower voltage 66kV pre-grid lines longer still. Cheers Paul What is the lifespan of a pylon? Do individual ones have to be replaced due to corrosion or do they replace the entire route? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 Are the 66kv routes the ones that seem to go to small provincial towns? Do these pylons have a classification or are they older than the national grid and are from the local grid era? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 I meant to add that sometimes older towers are replaced by L4 towers if in poor condition or simply the tower needs resiting or the route alignment gets altered due to developments especially roads and bypasses. Cheers Paul What is the lifespan of a pylon? Do individual ones have to be replaced due to corrosion or do they replace the entire route? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 23, 2018 My tower climbing mate tells this story: Along the back of a council 'sink' estate in the south of the country runs a grid route. During the routine inspections it wasn't unusual to find that odd bits of ironwork would be missing, this was generally replaced without too many questions being asked. About 15 years ago in one of the rounds of high scrap prices they discovered that the three towers running along the back each had over 5 tons of steel missing from them. All the area tower gangs were gathered together, with all the replacement bits of steel, and a few weekends of work was planned. They started at dawn on the Saturday fitting the new bits, and by the end of that day had the first tower back to full weight. They returned on sunday at dawn with cold chisels and lump hammers, and proceeded to flog the threads on every bolt on the tower, so that the nuts could not be run off ever again. It is told that you could hear the noise half a mile away, and they enjoyed watching all the curtains being opened at 5am! The three weekends of this were probably punishment enough for the scrotes that nicked the steel! Andy G 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 (edited) In the towns the towers will mainly be the 132kV PL or L4 type towers but if you see smaller ones say half the size ish then these will be 66kV or below voltages and although they aren't rare yet they have tended to be replaced by pole lines or even underground cables. So I take photos when I see them around when possible. Yes they would have originated mostly from the original Local Area networks and often connected several towns. For example a Stockport Corporation line used to run from near Portwood power station and ran to Macclesfield. To my knowledge the only surviving part of this line is a string of 4 towers in Hazel Grove not far from where I live and now part of the 11kV pole network. Cheers Paul Are the 66kv routes the ones that seem to go to small provincial towns? Do these pylons have a classification or are they older than the national grid and are from the local grid era? Edited June 23, 2018 by pharrc20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 Are these smaller than PL1s and when do they date from? I remember routes like this when I was a child in East Cleveland in the late 60s not sure if they are still there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Yes the standard pre grid towers would be roughly half the height of a PL1 unless fitted with height extentions from the base upwards. I will see if I can post some links to my photos tomorrow for you. Cheers Paul Are these smaller than PL1s and when do they date from? I remember routes like this when I was a child in East Cleveland in the late 60s not sure if they are still there 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 So basically not too much taller than a house Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 Some of these routes in east Cleveland were where the ironstone mines were in the early 20th century and a lot of these got electrified, would the early pylon or tower routes have fed pole routes to the mines? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Not by much no. I'll dig some photos out to show you. Cheers Paul So basically not too much taller than a house Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Yes I guess that would be possible to fed the mines so they were fed from a nearby power station in that area maybe Middlesbrough area? Cheers Paul Some of these routes in east Cleveland were where the ironstone mines were in the early 20th century and a lot of these got electrified, would the early pylon or tower routes have fed pole routes to the mines? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2018 I believe there was a power station in Middlesbrough. Would this have been a DC system back then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pylon King Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 In the towns the towers will mainly be the 132kV PL or L4 type towers but if you see smaller ones say half the size ish then these will be 66kV or below voltages and although they aren't rare yet they have tended to be replaced by pole lines or even underground cables. So I take photos when I see them around when possible. Yes they would have originated mostly from the original Local Area networks and often connected several towns. For example a Stockport Corporation line used to run from near Portwood power station and ran to Macclesfield. To my knowledge the only surviving part of this line is a string of 4 towers in Hazel Grove not far from where I live and now part of the 11kV pole network. Cheers Paul Also many of the smaller PL1s and “polons” would be running at 33kV. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwich station Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 Were PL1s still around in the mid 60s? If you use Google maps, street view, it would appear that its is still outside the old Hornby Factory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pylon King Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 (edited) Ohh droool.... I love the PL1b... and I have been thinking the same if it could be made from the Hornby model, which in itself appears to a mash of two PL1 towers. I have been pondering about how to make my own PL design towers using the drawings that I acquired online some years ago and I asked a question on how best to make models e.g. etching or 3D printed only to be 'slapped down' by some other members. And so the idea remains on my back burner. Please show more photos of any other towers you might have modelled. As you might guess I am quite into my pylons too lol. Cheers Paul . Regarding the single phase PL1 , adapting the Hornby model would be the easiest option . As three towers are in each box there is room to allow for any experimentation. Edited June 24, 2018 by Pylon King 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pylon King Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 If you use Google maps, street view, it would appear that its is still outside the old Hornby Factory. . The 132kV substation nearby feeds this 33kV line which then runs across several fields before ternimating at Reading Street business park . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 Transmission Towers...not pylons, .so I am reliably informed! A friend used to maintain them. The trouble with calling them that is that people could think they get their TV signals from them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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