L2's are great! Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 12 hours ago, L2's are great! said: Towers ZZA71 and ZZA72 at South Shields Sub. Running from just north of Hartmoor up to Blyth. Quite a few L2 D90's appear up here too! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 Hmm … When I started documenting pylons I made the decision to only use my own photographs. I am not sure I understand why I felt that way, only that I felt quite strongly about it. Since then, I have used a number of Ian’s photos. There is a limit to what I will be able to photograph myself. I did contact Christopher Aldridge both on Flickr (both of his accounts, no idea why he has two) and later on PAS and he never responded. It would be nice to use a handful of his to extend the coverage: he has by far the most extensive coverage of anyone, at least of common types. On Saturday I travelled all the way down to Sindlesham (near Reading) to get some better photos of SWE PL1 D10. I’ve not uploaded any yet, in part because I am still bogged down in the identification mess. It’s one thing sharing photos on Street View, but sadly there is still nothing resembling a coherent record of either the lines or of the towers in proper clear photos, and certainly not one with licence terms that permit re-use — all copyrighted (hence not being able to use Christopher Aldridge’s without permission and since he won’t respond, I can’t compile them together with other photos). There are lots of photos scattered about here, all disorganised and a headache to find. All my pylon photos are public domain, not that it’s worth that much as the quality is so lacklustre (except the small number taken with the new camera). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 30 minutes ago, Daniel Beardsmore said: Hmm … When I started documenting pylons I made the decision to only use my own photographs. I am not sure I understand why I felt that way, only that I felt quite strongly about it. Since then, I have used a number of Ian’s photos. There is a limit to what I will be able to photograph myself. I did contact Christopher Aldridge both on Flickr (both of his accounts, no idea why he has two) and later on PAS and he never responded. It would be nice to use a handful of his to extend the coverage: he has by far the most extensive coverage of anyone, at least of common types. On Saturday I travelled all the way down to Sindlesham (near Reading) to get some better photos of SWE PL1 D10. I’ve not uploaded any yet, in part because I am still bogged down in the identification mess. It’s one thing sharing photos on Street View, but sadly there is still nothing resembling a coherent record of either the lines or of the towers in proper clear photos, and certainly not one with licence terms that permit re-use — all copyrighted (hence not being able to use Christopher Aldridge’s without permission and since he won’t respond, I can’t compile them together with other photos). There are lots of photos scattered about here, all disorganised and a headache to find. All my pylon photos are public domain, not that it’s worth that much as the quality is so lacklustre (except the small number taken with the new camera). For me getting to a lot places isn't very easy due to high costs of travel and not knowing the areas well and for me google maps is the only way for me to track certain lines and towers of interest to share here. Yeah, it is not ideal but I have to work with the best of what I have got. But I can share these that were taken earlier today. Photo 1 - The ZL line crossing the A413 near Missenden looking towards tower 442 heading north Photo 2 - The ZL line heading up towards Amersham Substation looking towards tower 444 up to to 447 Photo 3 - Close up of ZL443's panel sign 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 I don’t mean that any one person should travel everywhere — rather, that our collective coverage could be put to better use. Hm … L2 D10 is certainly one of my favourite designs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 58 minutes ago, Daniel Beardsmore said: I don’t mean that any one person should travel everywhere — rather, that our collective coverage could be put to better use. Hm … L2 D10 is certainly one of my favourite designs. No yeah, dont worry I get that! I was just relaying what is possible for me. Yes I do agree L2 D10's are one of mine too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted August 17, 2023 Share Posted August 17, 2023 Back to Jarrow in Tyne and the ZZA line throws up these 2 river crossing towers which used to have 6 hanging insulators but in recent years they have acquired the deviation insulators on the bottom arm. Strange but interesting find. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 Has anyone else ever looked at the line originating from Lydney Substation, Lydney, Gloucestershire? The line is SWE PL1, but the part leading to the substation is some kind of Blaw Knox design similar to PL4. Seems too short a line to have its own tower suite. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharrc20 Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 1 hour ago, Daniel Beardsmore said: Has anyone else ever looked at the line originating from Lydney Substation, Lydney, Gloucestershire? The line is SWE PL1, but the part leading to the substation is some kind of Blaw Knox design similar to PL4. Seems too short a line to have its own tower suite. Hmm not seen those before with those little earthwire crossarms very unusual looking indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 Photo of the D2 — https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5612379 — the DT is more interesting but that is the only photo I can find. The DT looks like it’s based on a PL4 angle tower. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 Today’s pylon hunt: walk to Hatfield, train to Stevenage, to snap a rare type: Eve DT90. Couple of bonus rail shots thrown in, including one of my favourite class of loco, the 91, still in service! — hard to get enough angle or enough time to set the EV compensation for those! Colour phase plate is from a nearby D10. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 The mighty ZA line running from Elstree Substation up to Staythorpe Power Station, via subs at Sundon and Grendon. Seen here between Grendon and Staythorpe. Further up the line there used to be a tee to Corby power station which was removed back in the 90s. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 Another interesting find just coming out of West Boldon, and there is a diversion of L8's for only 7 ish towers but there is an L12 DJT being used which I wasn't expecting to see. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 (edited) I don’t consider Street View sufficiently permanent. Yes there is a “Share or embed image” option that creates a shorter URL, for example this view of what is almost but not quite PL16 double earthwire (the crossarm bracing does not match what the enhanced tower bible shows): https://goo.gl/maps/NULAjFAqCB4GXtmc8 Compare this “gantry”, really just PL16 single earthwire that matches the enhanced tower bible: https://goo.gl/maps/3Qvd3WuGiHZG6SCV9 (Copying their images is a violation of their copyright; I made one exception for my site for a building that has since been demolished, something that I decided would class as fair use — the remainder of the screenshots I kept to myself.) However, I don’t trust intractable URLs, so for now I just keep all my findings in a text file on my desktop. I don’t log everything, just interesting examples: oddities, rare items, and in some cases a good view of a tower that I may need to use to compare with the drawings. I have yet to decide how exactly to deal with all the findings that I have no photos of. There is no database of discoveries. If I have to link to a location I link to Open Infrastructure Map. Even if that closed down, the URL format is trivial: x, y and zoom. [Edit: location 1 tower 2 is more likely CE PL3 or CE PL4 double earthwire] Edited August 21, 2023 by Daniel Beardsmore Being dumb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 (edited) Just a few oddities from outside Elstree Substation. In the Brechfa Forest Connection document on my sources page, various options are explored for increasing clearance in order to raise the operating temperature. One of the options was raising tower height. What would that look like? How would it work? Well, I came across a strange L3 L30 with a wobbly shape. I realised that it’s been given a height extension: On reviewing my photos I just discovered that the same has been done to a D. The bracing has been rebuilt to accommodate the extra height: I would have zoomed in closer if I had noticed this at the time! This is the closest shot I have: Both were originally M24 minimum-height towers that have been extended at some stage. There is also (and I knew this from Street View before I went) a symmetrical PL16 DD60: This photo has demonstrated that the DD60 diagram on my site is wrong: missing some of the bracing at the top. I was going to call off this walk due to the railway industrial action and the weather, but I had been looking forwards to it all week and went anyway. I don’t get to walk in the rain very much and the trains were running perfectly adequately; just too bad I didn’t get blue skies. And, wow do L3 line towers look like L2 in person … Edited August 26, 2023 by Daniel Beardsmore Messed up the photo selection order 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TheQ Posted August 26, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 26, 2023 How's this for a pylon 350ft tall it's the last remaining chain home transmitter mast, and has been retained by the RAF for teaching aerial riggers... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 17 minutes ago, TheQ said: How's this for a pylon 350ft tall it's the last remaining chain home transmitter mast, and has been retained by the RAF for teaching aerial riggers... There are still a few Chain Home masts about. Here is one still in situ at Little Bromley. The three little arms used to hold 'flyswatter' reflectors for horns mounted lower down the mast from the days before dishes were used for microwave communications:- Marconi moved one from the coast to Great Baddow after the war and that is still around, although I am not sure that it is used for anything now (Picture from Flickr):- 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 View from the M6 just north of Preston where the WCML runs adjacent to the ZX line from Penwortham to Hutton 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted October 24, 2023 Share Posted October 24, 2023 And why not a combo of L2's and canals up in Birmingham as seen here between Ocker Hill sub and the tee connecting this line to the ZF route near Tamworth 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 Still think the L2 D90 is one of my utmost fav designs out there. This one seen just south of Ocker Hill. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 OK, here is a challenge. The oldest-known double earthwire type is that used for Central England (CE) schemes PL3 and PL4; this is a Blaw Knox type dating to around 1936. (CE PL4 was the type chosen for the Wartime Grid Reinforcement starting with the Harker–Galashiels V route, WGR PL1, which is why you see “PL4” outside of the Central England (CE) region.) Then you have the Watshams type used for SEE (South East England) PL7, from around 1938. Now, this is where it gets interesting. The tower drawings for the South West England and South Wales (SWE) PL16 scheme are from 1944, the year that construction was scheduled to begin. The same tower suite (with modifications) was then used in Scotland compliant with specification STL1. The Scottish type included single circuit, and the more lightweight-looking D2 and DD2. However, there is another type in between CE PL4 and SWE PL16, Blaw Knox contract K5735: The K5735 DD2 tower has the separate double earthwire crossarms as used for CE PL4, but the rest of the tower is identical to that used in SWE PL16. I only have the DD2 drawing; I know that double earthwire angle tower drawings also exist, but not whether they resemble PL16. The DD2 drawing is from 1941, making it a little older than PL16. The interesting thing is that at present there is no trace of these towers. They are from “PL7” according to someone National Grid, so I was told, but we don’t know which region of the UK it was. Not SEE PL7 as that was Watshams. It’s possible that this line has since been demolished, but may still exist and simply have never been seen. There is another Blaw Knox type used at Lydney that is similar to the PL4 design but different again, for which no drawings have turned up yet. I only learnt about the Lydney type as I was told that the “Blaw Knox PL7” type was used at Lydney and I had a look on Street View; it was actually not: at Lydney it’s a different type more like CE PL4/WGR. Does anyone recognise K5735? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
L2's are great! Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 (edited) Found this rather fab photo of the M27 motorway under construction. Taken I’m guessing in the early 70s and shows Nursling Substation in the background. To the far left is the L6 line heading down to Fawley Power Station and in the right hand side is the line down to Mannington. Edited October 26, 2023 by L2's are great! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 It’s funny how we can look back at the quaint old lorries and not realise that they didn’t look quaint and old when they were first introduced! 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted November 5, 2023 Share Posted November 5, 2023 Just an L2 D yesterday afternoon, between Steppingley and Flitwick … 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pylon King Posted November 9, 2023 Author Share Posted November 9, 2023 Substation feeders and grass feeders in perfect harmony . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Beardsmore Posted November 9, 2023 Share Posted November 9, 2023 While you’re there, what source material do you use for the dimensions and details of your excellent models? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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