Olympic pylons takedown

[Flash Bristow]

Photos here: gorge.org/images/olympic-pylons/

(note, no "www")

If anyone has anything specific that they want snapped, I'll do my best. You can see how close I can get; some are in the Eurostar compound and I can't get near, but one (which has a wire attached to a winch on the ground) appears to be on common ground so I could in theory walk right up to it.

I thought it was interesting how with one of them there are bits of metal sticking out near the earth peak; guess one end of each piece has been unfastened, for some reason.

No time to say more but hope you like the photos! The olympic takedown is all over the local press at the moment. For some reason people think it's a good thing. The expense and the fact that some of the pylons coming down and being scrapped are only a year old has passed them by. I think it's really sad to see my local pylons standing naked without conductors, and being chopped up into scrap, but there we are.

[rillington]

Amazing that they'd only been up for a single year.

The question is is how are they planning to transport the electricity following the removal of these towers.

[poyks]

Good photos. Thanks.

[Flash Bristow]

Rillington - undergrounding. Read the national grid poster that I snapped.

[rillington]

Logical answer in truth. Need to engage my brain before posting comments sometimes!

Mind you, still a lot of expence when they could have built the line underground originally or alternatively found another route so they wouldn't have had to remove the towers after only a year. However, they may have not known that the towers would have been in the way.

[Flash Bristow]

I have a feeling (but don't know) that they had to put the line up as a temporary route while they did the undergrounding nearby, and now the underground lines are ready they can take down the towers. Or something. I agree - it's wasteful.

Oh, I hate the word "undergrounding". I hate "verbing". Like at the Olympics when people talk about "medalling" or how they might "medal". But I'm just an old stickler.

[rillington]

ah right. That would explain the towers' very short lifespan but, as you say, seems like a massive waste of money. Mind you, ekeps linesmen in work I guess.