Bizarre L12 variant

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Anyone ever seen this before?

www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/national-grid-seeks-new-designs-for-electricity-pylons

It’s a bodice-and-skirt re-imagining of the L12, with what look like suspension tower crossarms on a tension tower, and an extra-tall earthwire peak. Even more bizarrely, triple conductor bundles (L12 was designed for twin AAAC).

It looks like an actual photograph, rather than a mock-up image. The towers in the distance look to be regular L12 line towers, so this may be a special tower somewhere. Sadly the article is too old for the owners of the site to be able to provide the photo source.

[yv47r]

I don't recall that one but I am guessing this was the competition that eventually resulted in the T-pylon design winning. I think there was one lattice design entered and this may well have been the one. I have heard mention of an L13 design that follows on from the L12 but allows for use with triple conductors maybe quads, something that a standard L12 cannot support. Would need to nail down some proof for L13 though to be sure but have a look at the replacement line up near Lackenby that replaced a section of the original L2 ZZA line not so long ago.

Cheers Paul

[Daniel Beardsmore]

L13 was definitely designed (by Babocks, who acquired Eve, so I am told) but apparently no L13 line was built, and it requires steel bar dimensions no longer available.

The appearance is also uncertain. National Grid depict some kind of bloated, malformed tower. Bystrup however depict it as a more heavy-duty Eve L6, which makes sense considering its Eve heritage.

See: telcontar.net/Power/pylons/L13

Regarding that competition page: the picture in question looks too detailed to be a mock-up, but I cannot be certain, hence the question.