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Those are a pre-grid design of tower that used to be operated by Stockport Corporation and ran between the small power station at Portwood just to the east of the town centre and the line ran down to Macclesfield to supply power there. I would imagine it was maybe a 33kV line when in operation. Only this short stretch now exists at Hazel Grove and absorbed into the local Norweb 11kV pole network, all the other towers long since gone although there was short stretch in nearby Poynton well into the 1990s truncated from the rest and there was for many years a flattened tower in a farmers field that you could see quite well from the train window not long after Poynton heading to Macclesfield. Quite a quirky design and seemingly a one-off design as I haven't come across any the same locally yet. Cheers Paul

I am not sure how I remember it all..... ahhhhh nooooo smeeeeggggggg.... ittttttt''''ssssss a small off-duty Czechoslovakian policeman.... iiiitttt''''sss the Bolivian navy on manouevres in the South Pacific. Yes I would probably reply in code haha. I just like tracking them all down. Need more OS Maps too lol those are fun to look at especially the old long gone lines. Cheers Paul

I have found the link to my photobucket folder containing some of the photos I took way back in July 2009 actually, how time flies lol Coventry Pylon Photos A mixture of L2, L2C and L6 towers in around Coventry (Hawkesbury) - I followed them out towards Ash Green/St. Giles not far from M6 J3 - I would have gone further but I had a bus and train schedule to keep to get me back home lol Cheers Paul

Are those the ones close to the M6 or further away the big bulky looking ones the L6s? I believe they are finishing off the refurbishment of the L6 4ZWW line to Hams Hall. Cheers Paul

Ok cheers. Must have a big budget lol given the first ad was filmed on that stretch of road in woods where just about every drama car accident seems to have been filmed lol. Cheers Paul

My guess is that the original ZF line from Midlands south to Minety/Melksham (near Chippenham) had a tee added that ran to Walham (Gloucester) and this became route ZFB but when the newer L6 4TE code line from Cowley (Oxford) came in late 60s they modified the junction to what you see now. So the eastern side L2 circuit from Feckenham crosses over via the L2 DT90 as shown; the western ZF turns to head via L8 DT and then mostly L2s down towards Walham except for last towers which were replaced by L6 towers in late 80s I think when Gloucester north bypass or whatever it is called got in way; the southern circuit coming from Walham on same towers dives under at this point - you can just see the low height tower on left of photo. This becomes the north circuit on the L6 4TE to Cowley; and finally the other 4TE circuit is linked from the L6 DT to the L2 DT90 as shown in photo. I quite like working out where and why routes have changed. Lots of weird coding changes too but that's another story... Cheers Paul

Yes me too I once made a day trip all the way to see these towers specially some years ago closeup. Will find the link to my album. Cheers Paul

On topic off topic but has anyone seen the odd looking tower in the background of the current Gocompare tv ad where Gino Compario crashes his car along a safety barrier trying to avoid a deer in the road. You see it at the end in the field behind... looks like the base of an L2 D30 but the top has been chopped or or edited out?? Cheers Paul

This is an L4 DT terminal tower with what seem to be known as 'bucket' termination points where the conductors become underground cables. The L4 has been the tower of choice to replace any of the original 132kV PL designs or used for new tees off from existing PL lines Cheers Paul

Early tower designs tended to have the cross arms stacked almost vertically like the L66 and the beefed up L2s then the slimmer L3 versions. However, in high winds conductor clashing between the bottom or middle, middle or top phase conductors led to a redsign so that the middle cross arm was made wider like on all of the L6 designs and the L8s. And indeed on all designs since about the late 60s from memory. Apart from a few non-standard designs I think all of the PL 132kV designs have a longer crossarms. There is a prototype/hybrid L2 design near Coventry that has longer cross arms. The L3c (c = converted to metric design from imperial) also has long mid x arms. It's a bit like parts of the railway the more you look into something like wagons the more differences you find as you go along. One day I will get a campervan and take a year to go around the UK photographing as many towers as I can find lol... Cheers Paul

Haha its what Felix said it is possible to have both types on the same tower but almost always on D60, D90 or any of the DT or ST terminal towers. The extra vertical hung insulator would always be on the outside of the deviation turn just like you have here, plus it would also stop the loops from being blown out or inwards towards the tower in high winds like today's Storm Ciara lol. There is a nice L2 D60 with them on not far from Northwich that I sometimes pass in car - I will try take a photo of it next time I go past. Cheers Paul

Yes the deviation angle only applies in the horizontal plane i.e. side to side. Though I think there is a maximum and minimum angle that the insulators go up or down in the vertical plane as the metal fittings that attach the insulator strings to the towers have several positions and bolt holes. Cheers Paul

Yep thats it so a D10 can deviate a line a max of 10 degrees so usually 5 degrees either side of the tower. The only variation to that is D20EW and D40EW towers where the line can deviate in two directions away from the tower. So on the incoming side if I've got this right would come in at 20 deg on an D40EW tower but then both circuits could deviate away at 20 deg in opposite directions on the outgoing side of the tower. These towers are often seen at substations where they feed the two circuits to two terminal towers spaced apart. There are others but it gets more complex to explain and put into words without my photos to hand (all on PC at home) Cheers Paul

A lot of the early tower designson the low voltage 11 to 66kV small towers were either locally designed by the power board and so there are a lot of different shaped towers many of which have now gone. Near you there is the remnant of one from Bangor towards the Conwy Valley up on the top of the hills. And you can see part of it up on the hill near B&Q Bangor if it is still there. Once the Electricity supply industry was nationalised then they came up with commissioning a standard design from Milliken Brothers for 132kV operation then later joined by designs from Pirelli, JL Eve, Blaw Knox and Watshams plus some area board designs too. So lots of variations lol Cheers Paul

I think only one 400kV circuit comes in via underground cable from Electric Mountain and for part of it I believe it runs under or near to the Llanberis Lake narrow gauge line. The circuit runs north at present to Pentir where it feeds into the grid from there. Cheers Paul

Yep this L6 line starts at Pentir to east of Bangor up on hill and runs via Porthmadog where it is underground cabled between Tremadog and Miniffordd both ends visible from A487 iirc. This was done to avoid a line of towers running across the Glaslyn estuary landscape. Then it runs across the estuary on the Penryhn-dd side and heads up towards Traws where it terminates. From there it is an L2 line all the way to Deeside at Connah's Quay. Feeding into Traws is an L3 line coming in from Ffestiniog hydro electric power station. Cheers Paul

Type One is one of the deviation type towers D10, D30, D60 or D90 whereas Type Two is a suspension tower generally known as D2 in most of the tower designs. There might be a word or phrase for the loop between the two nearly horizontal insulator strings but if there is one its escaped me right now.. old age lol Cheers Paul

I believe you mean Made in Manchester models - they were at Stafford last weekend with their stand. Cheers Paul

It is possible I've not come across any info on the maximum span lengths are. But this would depend on tower design and loading rating i.e. the downward force exerted by the weight of the metal wire conductors and the vertical or horizontal insulator strings. I think the most I have seen is 8 L2 D2 towers between D10/30/60 deviation towers. L2s generally carry twin conductors. L6s were originally designed to carry a bundle of four or quad conductors though many of these L6 lines have now been refurbished to take twin or triple conductors. L2 and their replacement design L8s can still only take twin conductors. Newer L12 with the upswept cross arms van I believe take 2,3 or 4 conductors. The different types of conductors all have different names and codes from memory but info not to hand - Pylon King might know. Cheers Paul

I suppose a string of pylons sounds about right I've not come across an official phrase for this. Yes the maximum cable length would dictate the distance between the deviation towers in effect. Cheers Paul

Hi Jamie, I recognise these ones... there are two main types of towers, the suspension towers the ones with the vertical hung insulator strings then there are the deviation towers used to turn or deviate the line by a set angle or upto a maximum angle. In theory on the suspension towers they can deviate by 2 degrees i.e. 1 degree either side of the tower. Where there are two three-phase circuits as per these towers these are known as D for double circuit towers i.e. one three phase circuit on each side of the tower. Some designs have single circuit and known as S towers. So the D suspension tower would be known as D2 tower. The design of tower you see here are known as L6 where L stands for Lattice tower type 6. There are 5 known L6 tower designs originally built by Balfour Beatty BB, Blaw Knox BK, British Insulated Callendar Cables BICC and JL Eve JLE. The fifth design was in essence the best of these four and I believe unless mistaken designed in house by the then Central Electricity Generating Board CEGB to a metric design instead of the original imperial standard. So the L6 deviation tower with the peaked top will be a D60 allowing the line to turn upto a maximum angle of 60 i.e. 30 degrees either side. Note the cross arm length is shorter on the inside of the turn and longer on the outside of the turn. The pointed peak towers in the distance will probably be D30 but if a smaller deviation may only be D10s. There are also D90 and terminal towers known as DT towers and lots of variations of plus special versions. At this point unless they have changed things since I was last up that way, only one circuit is live the one on the left or Snowdon /Talysarn side, the west or sea side circuit is in fact a dead circuit between the sealing compound near the end of Llanberis lake near Llanrug and the tower further down the A487 towards Porthmadog where the back road to Criccieth goes off....near The Goat Inn I think. At this point a 132kV from Pwlheli joins and runs to the terminal tower just outside Porthmadog. An 400kV underground cable joins at the Llanrug sealing compound that comes from Dinorwig. This joins the existing 400kV circuit from Trawfynydd. There was a plan to reinstate the second circuit to full 400kV between Pentir substation and Trawsfynydd to tie in with the proposed new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey to provide additional capacity. Cheers Paul

Probably 11kV of some sort where the top trio of lines form a branch that feeds down to the other triple circuit below. The gubbins at the bottom with the grey insulators is some sort of isolating gear, which I think are controlled from the ground with someone holding a big long insulated pole and opening the breakers using the small hooks on the ends... Cheers Paul

Great one Terry, it might just be the thing that makes their visit to Stafford show that little bit more special. Cheers Paul

Hi Jamie, no I never got round to going there but thought given it was in your neck of the woods you might have and you have indeed. The tower is a PL16 design and a DT90, which stands for Deviation Terminal for the standard chunky looking cross-arms then the 90 means it has an extra set of same cross-arms at 90 degrees to the original ones. Thus, allowing the 'outer' circuit to be turned around the tower a full 90d in this case to terminate into the substation. There is a further version of the same tower known as a DDT, which has an extra pair of short stubby cross-arms right on the tower peak where there are two earth wires instead of the usual one earth wire. Cheers Paul

Country Park Models sell these in small zip bags ranging from 50p a pair upto a £1 sometimes £1.50 a pair depending on the size. You will have to do a lot of rooting through the box to find them some are marked up with the model they have come from. They have a stand at Stafford show this weekend but do other shows of course. Plus they do lots of other model spares too. I got a load off them at Liverpool and Burnham last year for spares. Cheers Paul