Penrith - electric railway pylons

[robin]

Driving down the M6 a few years ago, I noticed what appeared to be a pre-grid pylon right at the side of the embankment just before the big Domino's Pizza building at Penrith. A look at the ordnance survey map shows it to be the start of a short run between a substation (the same one the single circuit line fron Lancaster goes to, and a couple of genuine pre-grid lines) and the west coast main line. This is the tower at the side of the motorway. I couldn't get any closer due to the height of the nettles (both jaggy AND stingy!) though interestingly someone had clearly tramped through them earlier as there was a visible trail right up to the tower-
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The line runs through an area of parkland round a lake which looks like a reservoir. There are houses nearby but on the other side of the railway so there were only a couple of dog walkers around. All the intermediate towers are suspension towers, the line being dead straight. They look like custom made towers-
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They're not particularly high, the bottom two wires look like they are insulated.

At the railway end, there's a tower the same as the first one but without the cage-
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One thing I noticed was what good condition they are in. They look brand new, the railways must have a better system of maintenence than the electricity companies. I took a fair few pictures in Cumbria this year, more to follow!

[robin]

Just noticed looking back at the pictures that the bottom two wires don't have any weights on them. On the last picture you can clearly see that they are flat, insulated cables.

[yv47r]

Hi Robin, I have seen these a few times passing Penrith on the train and wondered as to their origins?

Seeing how they feed into the WCML overheads it is likely that they were erected when the line was electrified in the mid 1970s. I would say having seen your photos that the bottom pair of conductors are acting as earth wires. The middle pair are live but at what voltage given they only have a single insulator disc and are connected to the terminal at both ends. Maybe this is 11kV? The top pair are live too and have three insulator discs and so may be 33kV? Or a direct feed of 25kV which is what the railway line is electrified at. Do you have any photos showing the tower plates as this will confirm the max operating voltages.

Cheers Paul

[robin]

Sorry, I've been through them all and I can't see any. However, if I zoom in on the picture of the terminal tower at the railway end, the sign on the fence appears to say "Danger 25,000 Volts", but it's a bit faded. I'll try to get back next year as my good lady wife just treated me to a better camera.

They are indeed very strange seeing as how further north the line seems to be fed by "normal" PL16s, all be it with no bottom arms.

[yv47r]

Hi Robin, the 25kV would be the right voltage in the compound it would be interesting to see if the towers take the same voltage. I wonder if they could be custom built by BR and the then local area board Norweb?
Cheers Paul