pharrc20

Not many L2 lines with more than one D90 tower - another localish one is the Kearsley to Whitegate 275kV line VJ I think it is (off top of me head) that has two D90s, first is second tower out after leaving Kearsley and the second is further along line next to M60 orbital motorway near Middleton, Manchester. This YYS Runcorn line runs to what is now the INEOS plant. Not sure if the line has ever been altered aside from the 400kV connection into the Rocksavage power plant and extra L8 ST tower that was inserted. Only part of this line appears on the NGC data iirc. Don't forget that a D90 tower is used to deviate lines from 61 upto the full 90 degrees angle, where the turn has to be more than than a D60 can go. Cheers Paul

From what I saw travelling home on the M5 on Wednesday afternoon, the new towers around the Avonmouth area appeared to be L7c terminal towers where the existing 132kV lines have been chopped and changed around to make way for the new L12 part of the new 400kV line. Further south the 132kV line from Weston-super-Mare was built with L3 towers and originally teed into a PL16 line. That PL16 is going I think and a new line using L7c towers will run to the new 400/132kV substation at Sandford from the existing L3 line. Previous tower replacements on this L3 have also been L7c towers as well in the past given the line has twin conductors fitted still. Cheers Paul

New L7c towers are being used on parts of the Hinkley to Seabanks project to divert, terminate and replace parts of the existing PL1 and PL16 tower lines rather than using L4 towers. Main areas are around Seabanks, Portishead and the new Churchill substation. Cheers Paul

Don't forget the steelwork parts for the transmission towers too, they could be loaded onto flat wagons in lengths or as part-built kit form. There is some evidence of trainloads of steel section and part-built tower sections being moved by rail especially in the mid to late 1960s, when the Supergrid was under construction. There were some interesting photos hosted on Flickr I think it was showing a train of bolster wagons loaded with what is thought to be steelwork for towers that were loaded at Hereford and coming from the Painter Brothers factory there. I suspect the original National Grid i.e. up to 132kV used towers made locally to approved standard designs and it may be only when the 275kV Supergrid came along that rail transport was used to move tower parts. Cheers Paul

It seems to be an error in the way RMweb displays on Samsung Internet on my phone... no idea why it has started doing this but most annoying. I've switched to using Google Chrome on phone for this reply. Cheers Paul

I had a set of foam stock inserts delivered today by Evri and typically not long after I had ventured out of the house into town. The notification to say it had been delivered didn't arrive at my gmail email until ten to 3, well over an hour since I had arrived back home with no parcels on the doorstep. Looking at the supplied tracking info on the Evri sight revealed that, yes, the parcel had been left on the doormat. Hmm, so where is it. On a whim I decided to ring next doors doorbell to see if it had been left with them, as the Evri info didn't say anything further about the parcel. Fortunately, my neighbour did have the parcel so panic over. But for all I know the parcel could have been taken. Mind you, they wouldn't have been impressed by the foam contents lol. Not sure what the legal position is about items being delivered and left unattended on doorsteps etc. Cheers Paul

Thanks for confirming, no problem in doing the numbers and wotnot. Had a good look on Flickr and couldn't see any differences between 023 and 013 so thought hmm. Cheers Paul

A quick question from a non-Class 56 expert. Can the CM - 56023 - TGCS model of 023 in Coal livery be renumbered back to 013? I am guessing it can as it is from the same Romanian batch, but not I'm not too well up on the detail differences other than what is described on the Cavalex website and in this thread. 013 was the first 56 that I ever saw passing through Peak Forest in May 1991, when believed to be running light from Earle's Sidings, Hope to Buxton, possibly for refueling as low on fuel. It would have worked in to Earle's with a loaded coal train for the cement and works. Cheers Paul

Hmm an odd one yes, I would guess this and the D tower plus the L2 DT date from when the ZF line was diverted into make Minety substation back in the late 60s or early 70s. Likewise the L2 DT and L8 D60 on the north side of the substation on the same ZF line added at same time to divert the line in. Maybe the original plan was for this odd tower to act like a D40EW to split the two circuits apart on the approach to the substation? But they decided against it as saved on needing two extra towers. Cheers Paul

Afaik, the L9s over the M4 motorway were used here to provide clearance for planes taking off and landing at the former BAE Filton Down airfield and factory nearby, so I would guess these date from when this L2/L8 line was erected. The other L9s that you can see further up the M4 towards London were used to provide a less visually intrusive appearance on the L6 line towards Melksham substation. I haven't come across any diagrams for the L9 or L12 low height towers but will double-check when back in the UK. Cheers Paul

I received this leaflet in the post today regarding the non-barcoded stamps. Note it says on the reverse - Please do not try to exchange your stamps at your Post Office branch, as they will not be able to do this. You can only do this directly with Royal Mail. Cheers Paul

I got the call up papers in February last year with a start date in March. But given all that was going on with covid, my work situation and the fact that the trains from Northwich (where I have been living since the lockdowns commenced) to Manchester were only running every two hours instead of every hour made commuting to court each day a potential nightmare. So I was granted a 6 month exemption. And so in September 2021 I attended the temporary Covid Crown Court setup at hotel in Manchester that had been requisitioned and adapted for court use. Once the initial selection process had taken place including specific questions about places in Greater Manchester, names and companies, I was in a group of 24. Unbeknownst to our group there was another group of 24 in another room and like us all socially distanced. I forget which day it was but our group was called down to the court room and to our suprise the other group of 24 were already stood assembled at the back of the room. Walking in past the judge, counsel and defendents was I'll admit somewhat intimidating. Then the names for the 14 jury members were to be selected pooling both groups together. The court clerk started to read the names out and lucky me I got selected as Number 14 doh! 12 main jurors plus two extra in case of any further juror withdrawals. So that meant for the initial opening statements, preliminary evidence we were all required to sit in the court room. All of the other unselected people were immediately discharged from any further duties. I was some days promoted to juror number 7 as the original lady who was number 7 had to be discharged due to family illness. A few days later once the trial started proper, number 13 was herself discharged too. Some days we were told to ring the juror line to see if we would be needed next day or not. If not I just let my work know and did my usual work from home instead. Face masks or coverings had to be worn from the moment we left our juror room until we left the court room to return back too. In a nutshell it was a drugs offences related case, plenty of those about these days. Having started to hear the evidence, each of us had our own in effect personal juror desk, pens, bundle of evidence all of which had been prepared and sanitised for our use and remained so right the way through. The ushers were doing above and beyond what they might normally expected of them given the extra precautions going on. Yes there was a lot of waiting around, some days we were only in the court room from 10 or 10.30 til about 12 or 1 then back in 2 til 4pm. Our group of 12 was further split on half due to the need to keep distanced and away from other jury groups on other cases. Phones were allowed in the jury room but had to be checked and turned off but airplane mode was permitted so long as no tones or vibration modes on. Ultimately, the trial ended due to illness of the judge, and one of the defence counsel and other delays including a bad smell (not me lol!) in the court room that delayed things so much that the trial was cut-short and ended towards the end of October. So we all trouped in on the Friday morning, ready to resume only to be told by the judge why the trial was ending and that we were all discharged and a new trial would commence with a brand new jury. No idea when that happened or what the outcome was. It ought to have been a rather interesting trial given the methods involved with the drugs. And as a full group we didn't get to do any sort of deliberations either. So it was a rather odd surreal experience for me and a shame didn't get to hear the full trial, that would have been 8-10 weeks but did 6 weeks but only sat 7 days in the end. HTH cheers Paul

Hmm that is an unusual conversion of the D30 but I guess needs must dictate some sort of additional feeds. Is there any new generation or industry nearby that would warrant these alterations? I have seen some L2 and L3 lines with downleads added to D30 towers but not got up close to any to photograph them just yet. Cheers Paul

Yes from about 12 til half 4 with a friend from Knutsford, he drove in his car.

Ah wondered if you had gone today must have been like passing ships in the night... Cheers Paul

Hello Ian, I'm also from the PAS forum as yv47r. Cheers Paul

The tower data I have for the ZPA line describes tower 42 next to the A640 road as shown in the photo link above as being an L2 D60 dated 1961. Unfortunately, tower misuse is rife it seems, there is PL1 D60 used as a D tower not far from the old long gone Agecroft power station north-west of Manchester, once seemingly used to diverge either a PL1 D line from an S line or two S lines. One line is now long but used to run to Whitegate/Chadderton power station and the other is still largely in place and runs towards Kearsley and the former power station there. Cheers Paul

Hmm yes, I had forgotten about this one. I am in two minds whether this ZPA line from the tee from the main ZP line near Lydgate, Littleborough down to the substation at Stalybridge was built as L2 from new and later mostly replaced by L8 later on and some L2 towers re-used as needed. Or it was built new with a mix of mainly L8 and some L2 towers as needed. I would hazard a guess that the reason the L8 towers were used was mainly due to the high ground and potential for poor weather and strong wind conditions during the autumn to spring months as conductor clashing was not uncommon on L2s, hence the wider cross-arms on the L8 towers to try and alleviate this problem. I thought I had mapped this line but cannot put my finger on the file now so will have a look again. To me this looks like a D60 body and tower peak but using the short inside turn cross-arms on both sides of the tower. Interestingly, the towers where the line crosses the M62 were replaced in the late 80s/early 90s and two new L6 D10/30 towers erected in place presumably to give greater clearance over the motorway and also greater anchor spans where the line crosses a deep long valley, just to the south of the motorway, with an L2 D and D10/30 on the other side. What I do know is that the ZP line was completed in 1957 and the ZPA tee in 1962. Cheers Paul

Another variation on the S version of the L4M using alternate crossarms on each side to try and mirror the positioning of the original PL1b S towers. England https://maps.app.goo.gl/6vkQXjpFtDS75AmXA this one is near Wrinehill south of Crewe, one of several replacement towers on this section of the line. I used to live not far from that PL1b ST90? and L7 D90s just to the north of Bolton and did a visit to them one day some years ago. Cheers Paul

There is the 'Elf n Safety place up near Harpur Hill on south side of Buxton that is or was used for explosives testing and other such things.

There used to be a CEGB tower testing station near to Cheddar Gorge that was used to test existing and new tower designs to destruction. Maybe this is the quarry you are thinking of? Yes there is or was an Open University type film made that I saw once online somewhere... will have to find it. Cheers Paul

I am not certain of where the L55 designation originated but will look throigh my info or phone a friend who might just know

I am guessing as time went by in the 1960s the CEGB picked the best of the tower designs from J.L. Eve, B.I.C.C., Balfour Beatty and Blaw Knox and on some lines used them together. A shame they can't be saved but hopefully they might be reused if they are dismantled section by section and taken down rather than just being cut and pulled over to collapse onto the ground.

Thanks Elaine, one place I had planned to visit but alas not going to get there in time. Interesting fact is that when this line was first erected back in the 1960s they put up a temporary line of these L6 towers up over the moors between Dunford Bridge and Woodhead and strung the towers with single insulator strings and twin conductors instead of the usual twin insulators and quad conductor bundles. This remained so until the old railway tunnel bores had been converted one for the 400kV cables, the other as a service access tunnel. Then the towers up on the moors were gradually taken down. Prior to this an L132/L55 towered 132kV ran over the moors from West Melton to Hartshead power station, near Stalybridge. Cheers Paul

I think that L12 DJT is a recent addition, according to Open Infra Maps it is Hedon 275kV but no other links unless it is intended as a future link to one of the offshore windfarms or interconnectors? The L8s continue south for a few more towers until terminating on familar L8 DT towers at Saltend North and South substations. I haven't come across any other diagrams for these L8RD towers other than what Daniel has posted. Cheers Paul