River Crossing Pylons (PL1b?), Easter Rhynd near Perth.

[robin]

First of all sorry for not being on here for ages. I've got a fair few pictures to post on various themes. Also sorry to Les C who I'm sure got here first, but owing to the fact I've got a 9 year old son our computer has psycho security settings and won't let me view your pictures. Also it had been wet and I trudged through ankle deep mud to get these pics so they're getting posted no matter what.

Also, I'm working my way through some beer I had in the fridge so if I start blabbering, sorry in advance.

This line goes from Abernethy to Dundee. Just after Abernethy it crosses the River Earn to a sort of peninsula on the Perth side for four pylons before crossing the River Tay to St Madoes, where upon it makes its way to Dundee. It runs off the edge of my map about Inchture but I know there's a substation with PL1s coming away from it at Charleston on the Perth side of Dundee.

The reason I wanted to get close to these pylons (OK I really want to get close to them all!) is because from a distance they look like huge transposition towers which seemed strange, as if they'd mess about with extra wires and insulators at that height. But then if you got closer, like the cafe at Jamesfield farm right beside Abernethy sub station, you could see there were no wires on the bottom arms and two sets on the middle ones...

Anyway, to the pictures. Walking down the (very) muddy track from the farm at Easter Rhynd, you come to this substantially elevated suspension tower-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/875_zpsfmuuxn2b.jpg.html?sort=3&o=21
(you actually come to a supergrid line first but I want to concentrate on the PL1s for now, sorry)
Close up of bottom of tower-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/878_zps4q9rgnxt.jpg.html?sort=3&o=18
and top of tower-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/877_zps8jbbtluy.jpg.html?sort=3&o=19
and the other impressively tall tower on the Abernethy side-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/879_zpsi6hz8vet.jpg.html?sort=3&o=17

After crossing the River Earn, the line goes down on to a D30-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/876_zps4mvsz8jk.jpg.html?sort=3&o=20
with one of the river crossing pylons in the background.
It then goes to a D90. On the map, this is full on 90 degrees. This is one I would love to get closer to and phtotgraph from different angles, but what you can't see from the picture is that it is really close to the farm house. It's a big land-owner kind of house, the kind of house someone might come running out of with big dogs and a shotgun if you go wandering about in the field. I'm a bit paranoid about these things, but I intend to go back there sometime-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/890_zpsdc493p9x.jpg.html?sort=3&o=11
I love it. Three insulators on each arm on the outside angle and little or no arms on the inside. Anyway, moving on..

Trudging along the muddy path getting ever closer-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/883_zps6nmxs3pa.jpg.html?sort=3&o=15
That's the one on the other side.

I couldn't resist putting this picture in. It reminds me of the Salvador Dali picture where the rocks are reflected as elephants. No elephants, but the grassy bit in the middle looks a bit like a big hand picking something up-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/881_zps9dqtgvek.jpg.html?sort=3&o=16
Anyway, I digress...

Getting closer-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/884_zpsy9eln00f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=14

Closer still-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/888_zpsd1aklyyd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13

Across the water-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/889_zpshlrobaa7.jpg.html?sort=3&o=12
This is the best picture so far to see these pylons. Basically what looked like the bottom arms are gantries complete with fences. I don't know if they're beautiful in a classic sort of a way or damn ugly and a bit scary. There's sometimes a fine line between the two. Where was I?

Oh yes. Across the water the lines go down to what looks like a D60. Could be wrong but I'm going to go to the other side one day and get close to these ones-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/891_zpsna6snvfg.jpg.html?sort=3&o=10

Getting really close now. Bottom-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/893_zpsjuwtxjkh.jpg.html?sort=3&o=9

Middle-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/894_zpsty0og3v2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8

And top-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/895_zpsloybjfxy.jpg.html?sort=3&o=7

No row of bolts to make ladder rungs up the outside of these babies. They have real ladders built in-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/896_zpsnxu3oaex.jpg.html?sort=3&o=6
How cool is that?

I'd love to model these. A bit simpler than the Kincardine Bridge pylons but still wouldn't be sure where to start-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/897_zpsn3xm8j34.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/898_zpsjtultsvq.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/899_zpsioejnwxe.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

Dalzell Steel, apparently-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/900_zpsus1acekx.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

Pretty impressive anchor points (probably called something else, but you know what I mean!)-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/901_zps9wstnhve.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

Lastly, an unintentionally artistic shot-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/902_zpssuhx3bfi.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

If you've made it through to this point thanks for looking. Sometime this year I will photograph the Abernethy side and the St Madoes side (where the other big one is). I also have pictures of the A9 PL1S pylons which are disappearing fast. I will start another thread soon.

[caldridge]

Nice pictures, some unusual looking pylons if you ask me and the ones next to them look like L8.

i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a618/batman19711/876_zps4mvsz8jk.jpg

In this picture, that suspension tower on the right is it an L8 or an L2C?

i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a618/batman19711/891_zpsna6snvfg.jpg

It is quite common to see ladders on a river pylon I've seen some on the river pylons in the ZG route on the River Parrett.

Cheers

Christopher

[robin]

Thanks. I'm going to show my ignorance here, but I'm pretty sure they're L8. From memory the line starts at the back of Leslie in Fife and runs across Falkland Hill, past Falkland and Auchtermuchty then down past Abernethy, over the rivers and out towards Dundee. It doesn't actually go to Dundee, but heads north. On that side of the river, the suspension towers are the same (L8), but the angle towers look like L2 and have doubled up brown insulators. There's also a D90 in front of the farm that has the PL1 D90 at the back but I ran out of memory so I'm going to have to go back.

[robin]

I was saving these pictures until I had been back there, but here's the first picture I actually took that day, a nice D60-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/873_zpsxds7v0vy.jpg.html

And the river crossing pylon on the south bank-
s1286.photobucket.com/user/batman19711/media/892_zpsxyw4dxsl.jpg.html
It has ganties built into it too, about two thirds of the way up then one level with each set of arms.

[lesc]

Never ventured down that road to the River Earn.. that L2CDS set needs a closer look - is also very visible from the A90. 275kv on twin 0.4". Watch this space.

The PL1 sets around here are amongst the 1st ever erected the Abernethy to Errochty 'Buchanty' set are documented in 'The Secret Life of the National Grid'. And in here.

There's another thread that shows the start of this string where the spotter has id'd them as L2D30, L2D10, L2CDS at Tealing..

Beware SHETL they have oddities galore!

Les