L34
Contents
Overview
L34 is a single-circuit 275 kV UK electricity pylon (steel lattice transmission tower) series. L34 towers take twin conductor bundles of unknown specification.
L34 appears to have only ever been used on a single line, route XE. It has been reported on the Pylon Appreciation Society that this line was built in (depending on which members-only post you read) 1950 or 1952, which matches National Grid data that claims (depending on which part of the line you look at) 1952 and 1962 (although that itself may have been the source of the claim of 1952); another post claims that Balfour Beatty were awarded the contract in March 1950. No definitive sources of information were provided. XE is said to pre-date the Supergrid proper. This line presently runs between High Marnham substation (around 7 miles west of Lincoln) and a tee point between XE, XEA and YYL between Braithwell and Old Ravenfield, east of Rotherham. The original route again varies on whose post you read.
| Contractor | Blaw Knox |
|---|---|
| Found | |
| Height (straight line tower) | 85′–0″ (25.9 m) |
| Voltage | 275 kV |
| Dates back to | Early 1950s |
| Conductors | Twin |
Tower forms
Pylon King posted incomplete L34 plans to page 34 of the RMweb topic Pylons back in 2019. The series name is not shown on the plans, but the design matches the depiction of L34 on the 400 kV – specific cases page of National Grid’s EMFs.info site. There was only enough plan data to draw S1; the designation “S1” was recovered from National Grid GIS data as the bottom of that chart was omitted. The top of S30 is taken from the chart, but most of the tower had to be reconstructed from Street View imagery. S10 and S60 were also built entirely from Street View depictions, and all three are scaled to the same vertical dimensions due to lack of data.
The following diagrams are shown to scale at 12 pixels per metre:
Tower details
The exact range of tower types within L34 is not known. Visually confirmed types (all very distinct) are S1, S10, S30 and S60. An ST and STX exist at High Marnham substation, but the STX appears to be L2. The ST is too far away to see clearly but it looks like an S10. National Grid also list a D type, but this appears to be erroneous data.
Crossarm width is the total width across the widest arms.
| Type | Source | Height | Base width | Crossarm width |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L34 S1 | Blaw-Knox drawing | 85′–0″ (25.9 m) | ||
| L34 S10 | ||||
| L34 S30 | Blaw-Knox drawing | 83′–0″ (25.3 m) | ||
| L34 S60 |
The base width for the straight line type will be in the discarded part of the chart. The S30 chart omits the entire tower base.
Examples
There are no known L34 towers within travel distance, and thus no photographs here.
See also
- XE western termination near Ravenfield (Flickr album)