pharrc20

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

There is one like that you pass on the A55 between Llan Jnc and Colwyn Bay and it looks like if you took the old road then turned off and under the A55 it would bring you to that substation next to the lane I think? Cheers Paul

Great show as always have been a visitor and past exhibitor at Stafford for a number of years now. Yes the queue yesterday morning was long almost to the end of the arena paddock but it kept moving. Got a nice bargain off the club sales stand and some bits I needed. The tables and chairs in hall 2 and 3 were nice to see to eat your own lunch at or just have a sit down for a bit. One small observation - would it be acceptable to allow persons with a mobility or disability to be admitted at the door? Rather than make them push if with carer/helper or hand wheel their wheelchair, or walk on crutches all the way to the end of the queue? Have a steward outside the main door who can direct them to join the queue at their say so. Cheers Paul

I've wondered about doing stand up comedy..... memorable for many reasons... like walking up the grass verge of a motorway slip road near Wigan trying to get home to Bolton at the time. Cheers Paul

Hi Jamie, all good here lol. Yes I think this was the ill-fated Bonnybridge with buggered clutch trip.... Yep the chunky looking tower used to be a terminal tower where one circuit, the one nearest track fed into a small substation. When new windfarms came on stream I believe they decided to build a larger substation about half mile away to allow for expansion. And so new towers to the same L8 design were added and the original terminal tower bypassed and further up the route split and diverted to serve the new substation. Cheers Paul

Near Moffat on M74 northbound. That looks like the old substation terminal tower above the rear cab of the voyager, now bypassed as a newer bigger substation was built just further up in the next valley. Cheers Paul

Hi Jamie, you found me you win haha. That dive under is the only place I can think of unless mistaken where a higher voltage line in this case 275kV dives under a lower voltage line in this case 132kV. The 132 line uses L3 type towers whereas the 275 line uses a mix of original L2 and the two low-height towers as shown plus a host of replacement L8 towers where the Black Country road was built in early 1990s and many L2 towers were in the way of the road alignment and so the towers were replaced with new L8 towers. L2s and L3s have the crossarms stacked on top of each other whereas L8s have a longer middle crossarm and taller earth peaks. The L8 is the standard replacement for the 1950s L2 tower. A lot have recently been replaced along the route of HS2 near to the M42 motorway going towards Hams Hall. Cheers Paul

Excellent hmmm so I could do these on my 89-91 set layout along with some 11kV poles. Cheers Paul

Thanks Paul, out of interest when was this design first introduced? There is a line of these that head towards Lostock near Northwich that I pass sometimes in the car. Cheers Paul

Nice work have you any scale dimensions for these? I've been slowly doing some 11kV poles using the S-Kits etches just need to source some insulators. Cheers Paul

Afaik they are supplied with Ez-Mate couplers which I guess are Bachmann's own version of the Kadee couplers, which are much better. @newbryford might be able to advise which Kadee version to use instead. Cheers Paul

I was over in Perth WA for three weeks from the end of November to second week of December visiting relatives. In the time we were over there saw two bushfire smoke plumes on different days far away to the east somewhere along the Darling Scarp or thereabouts. From my observations travelling to and from the north of Perth they were seemingly soon put under control. However, on our final day staying in Yanchep a small town about 50km north of Perth there had been a small bushfire along the Wannaroo Road that had been brought under control by the early morning on the 11th December. Having gone out in the morning and returned back to our relatives house just after noon it was about 2pm when I happened to look out of a window to what looked like a shadow... nope one big bushfire plume and not far away either maybe 2 miles or more in the direction of the Wanneroo Road. We were leaving early anyway that baking hot day to travel down to Hillary's marina on the coast and onto Perth and later onto the airport for our flight to Hong Kong. The nearby Yanchep National Park where we had visited only a few days before had largely been wiped out as had properties along the Yanchep Beach Road too. Very sad end to our holiday but our relatives were ok but it was several days before the Yanchep fires were brought under control not before zig-zagging across the land towards nearby Two Rocks on the coast. It certainly made you realise especially seeing the eerie orange glow from the plane window as we left Perth just after midnight WA time. Paul

IIRC there is an L7 D90 just north of Bolton. I did take some photos of it some years ago from a rather muddy footpath lol. In fact I lie there are two very close to each other. Have a look for Britannia Way, Bolton and Hall i' th' Wood railway station and you will find them. Note also the PL1b ST tower too next to the station. Cheers Paul

Thanks for the mention Mick in the HRA conversion article in the December BRM... only just got to read the mag whilst on my jollys in Perth WA. Cheers Paul

Ok so Bachmann they must be then. I will have to inspect a new packet in the model shop next time I visit one that has some in stock to see what is what. Cheers Paul

Ah that makes sense so maybe a different tool each a different size maybe? Cheers Paul

Will find the digital vernier and measure them up once back home next Monday to find out. Cheers Paul

Hi all, having inherited a mixed bag of the narrow type tension lock couplings that feature a swallow tail end designed to fit into a NEM pocket I am intrigued by the letters and numbers on the underside. So far on the flat i.e. non-cranked type I have ones marked A, B, C and D then 1, 2, 3 and 4. Further sorting of the cranked versions reveals the same A-D and 1-4 markings. Silly question time but do these denote anything? I am guessing different lengths from the straight part of the coupling over the curve front. I am guessing most are Bachmann or even Hornby but I've no sealed new packets to compare with atm. Just wondered cheers Paul

Yep thats the one but I agree it does look that bit different on the tower peak and lower cross bracing too. So may be it is the non diagrammed L3 version? Cheers Paul

I thought these were L2 ST as well but the sheet for L2 towers shows these or something very similar whereas from memory there is no L3 equivalent. I have seen a few of these ST towers including some at Penwortham. Cheers Paul

Hi Suzie, yes these are known about - not sure exactly what they are designated but my money would be on some sort of L2C towers - there is also a known L2C design up in Scotland that was confirmed over on the Fbook Pylon Group the other day by a member who is a linesman and has been working on these Scottish towers recently. Many years ago - maybe 10 years gulp I went to Coventry to take a closer look at these towers and take some photos of my own. It should be noted if you follow this route towards the next substation at Berkswell it reverts to standard L2 towers for the last few towers. Cheers Paul