J L Eve 0.175

Contents

• Overview
  • General data
• Can be confused with
• Lines
  • All Eve towers
  • Joint Eve/Blaw Knox lines
• Tower forms
  • Crossarm plans
  • Strengthening
  • Examples
• Tower details
• Eve 0.175 and PL16
• Examples
  • Hemel Hempstead
• See also

Overview

“J L Eve 0.175” is a 132 kV UK electricity pylon (steel lattice transmission tower) series. The straight line towers are visually almost identical to those of L16 but at 85′–8″ (26.1 m) tall they are 3′–2″ (1 m) shorter than L16 line towers at 88′–10″ (27.1 m). The larger L16 towers take 0.4^□″ SCA (ACSR) conductors, while Eve 0.175 towers were designed for the more conventional 0.175^□″ SCA. Eve 0.175 is confirmed to have fulfilled specifications STL1 (the same type as PL16) and CEB L132 and PL16 and Eve 0.125 were intermixed on some lines in Scotland, typically using Eve line towers and Blaw Knox angle and terminal towers.

There is no known formal designation for these towers. Colloquially the type is also referred to as “3-X”, from the number of “X” bracing sections below the bottom crossarm; there are four of them in L16 D2 (called “4-X”), and only three in the 0.175 D2:

General data

Can be confused with

• L16

Lines

All Eve towers

All-Eve lines confirmed so far:

• Route PEB (Hemel Hempstead–Chesham, England): Hemel Hempstead Substation in Piccotts End (51.774° N 0.484° W) to Lye Green Grid near Chesham (51.723° N 0.59° W). From Hemel Hempstead to the tee-off point at Redbourn, PL16 is used, and from Lye Green to Watford, L16 is used. The terminal towers are DT (Piccotts End) and DT90 (Lye Green).
• Route PPB (Rickinghall Junction–Thetford, England): Rickinghall Junction (52.308° N 0.982° W) to Thetford Grid station (52.386° N 0.738° W)
• Route PKF (Rickinghall Junction–Diss, England): Rickinghall Junction (52.308° N 0.982° W) to Diss substation (52.372° N 1.107° W)
• Nairn to Keith in Scotland; this is part of the line from Beauly to Keith reported by SSEN to have been constructed in 1955. Beauly to Nairn is PL16. The whole line was reconductored and strengthened by Balfour Beatty on behalf of SSEN between 2018 and 2021.
• Macduff (57.664° N 2.498° W) to Keith in north Scotland, by way of a DT at Lintmill substation (57.673° N 2.813° W). Originally the line terminated on an Eve 0.175 DT at Keith substation (57.540° N 2.938° W), but it now terminates short of the substation on an L4(m) DT in a nearby field (57.545° N 2.935° W). The terminal towers are all DT, with “variant 2” used at Macduff and Lintmill.
• Eve 0.175 is used on the line between Kinlochleven and Fort Augustus, Scotland. Kinlochleven to Blar a’ Chaorainn is single circuit Trident. Blar a’ Chaorainn to where the line meets the (now split) Invergarry to Quoich line is Eve 0.175, with some interspersed super-strength L4(m) D towers. Between Blar a’ Chaorainn and Fort William, the line is dual voltage 132/33 kV; from Fort William it is double circuit 132 kV.

Three more lines originate at Coolkeeragh Power Station, Derry, Northern Ireland (55.043° N 7.246° W).

Route PNE, Stowmarket–Rickinghall Junction, is Eve 0.4; the line splits into PPB and PKF that are each Eve 0.175.

Joint Eve/Blaw Knox lines

Joint Eve/Blaw Knox lines—lines with Eve line towers and Blaw Knox angle towers—confirmed so far:

• Rannoch to Abernethy between Errochty switching station and an unidentified location between Amulree and Buchanty. This is a diversion of the original line.
• Errochty switching station to Clunie substation (north-west of Pitlochry) (not fully confirmed due to lack of accessible views)

Tower forms

The following diagrams are shown to scale at 12 pixels per metre:

The DT drawing represents the most common type. Variant two represents the type used at Macduff and Lintmill, with extra front rakers on the top crossarm and no wider face to the bottom crossarm. Eve terminal towers are designed to be customisable and other variations may exist.

Uplift versions of D2, D10, D30 and D60 exist. For D2 the front and rear faces of the crossarms are braced instead of open. For D10 and D60 the crossarms appear to be strengthened but visually identical in design; D30 is likely going to be the same. Uplift towers accommodate for large changes in elevation between towers.

Crossarm plans

DT crossarm arrangement 1 is found at Macduff and Lintmill substations. Arrangement 2 is found at Piccotts End substation and formerly (before tower removal and line re-termination) Keith substation and appear to be what is used at Coolkeeragh Power Station.

Strengthening

The line between Beauly and Keith was reinforced by Balfour Beatty between 2018 and 2021. This project included reconductoring (replacement of the original 1955 conductors and fittings), foundation upgrades and tower strengthening. Both the PL16 (Beauly–Nairn) and Eve (Nairn–Keith) received additional steelwork. The diagrams below depict the result of the strengthening. They are not exact, but strengthening steelwork itself never seems to be exact.

Examples

Tower details

Crossarm width is the total width across the widest crossarm. Base width for

Eve 0.175 and PL16

In some instances, Eve 0.175 D2 and DD2 are used on PL16 lines; for this reason they were originally taken to be a variation on PL16. The photographs below show lines using Eve line towers and PL16 angle and terminal towers.

Examples

Hemel Hempstead

The following photos are from farmland just past Hemel Hempstead to the northwest, halfway between Hemel Hempstead and Potten End; they were all taken on 9th September 2023. This is the line between Piccotts End (just north of Hemel Hempstead) and Lye Green to the southwest, outside of Chesham. The identification plates for PEB10 and PEB9 were clearly visible and are counted from the terminal tower at Piccotts End.

See also

• Eve 0.175 towers, Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Lintmill to Macduff line) (Flickr)