NWE PL2
Contents
Overview
NWE PL2 was a 132 kV grid contract from the 1930s. Assigned Milliken Brothers contract number E111, it is contemporary with NWE PL1 and appears to contain all the special towers for NWE PL1, contract number E112.
Map analysis indicates that the River Weaver/Weaver Canal crossing (now demolished) was on a secondary line, and although no such crossing has yet been identified, the River Dee crossing would likely also have been a secondary line crossing. Details of this remains scarce as the voltages are not given on the drawing schedule, these drawings are not recovered, and the towers are all gone.
| Found | |
|---|---|
| Designed for | CEB |
| Design contract | Milliken Brothers E111 |
| Voltage | 132 kV, … |
| Dates back to | 1930–31 (drawings) |
| Conductors | Single |
| Drawing ranges | E111 / LT630 |
Scope
Going by the drawing schedule, NWE PL2 covers:
- Penwortham custom terminal towers (single and double circuit)
- River Ribble crossings (single and double circuit)
- River Weaver and Weaver Canal crossing(s) (secondary line)
- River Dee crossing (secondary line)
- Manchester Ship Canal crossing
The two terminal towers remain at Ribble Grid Supply Point substation in Penwortham (53.757° N 2.732° W): one double circuit (originally tower 75) and one single circuit (originally tower F3).
Route information from Tom Gloag’s research in conjunction with the limited details on the drawing schedule for NWE SL2. Where the height is omitted, the drawing has not been recovered. All angles listed are as per the drawing schedule. The height of towers F4 and F5 may be a fraction of an inch taller: the drawing quality is too poor to read the overall tower height, so the figure given is summed from the readable dimensions.
The tower numbers largely omitted the route letter prefixes. Tower H43 was listed as both “H43” and “43”. F3, F4 and F5 were listed as such, but the next two were named simply “6” and “7”. Missing prefixes have been added below where known. Tower “J3J4” is verbatim; the meaning of this designation is not known.
| Tower | Type | Height | Angle | Line | Location | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H43 | Crossing (angle) | 140′–0″ (42.7 m) | 36½° | H: Warrington–Trafford via Carrington (132 kV double circuit) |
Warburton | Manchester Ship Canal crossing |
| H44 | Crossing (suspension) | 152′–0″ (46.3 m) | 0° | |||
| 2 | ? | 179′–0″ (55.6 m) | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 3 | ? | ? | 47° | ? | ||
| B15 | Crossing | ? | ? | B: Warrington–Percival Lane (Runcorn) (132 kV double circuit) |
Morley Common, Warrington | Manchester Ship Canal crossing |
| B16 | ? | ? | ||||
| F3 | Terminal | 94′–6″ (28.8 m) | F: Preston–Kendal via Lancaster (132 kV single circuit) |
Penwortham, Preston | Ribble Grid Supply Point termination | |
| F4 | S10 suspension | 135′–1″ (41.2 m) | 6.5° | Being very tall | ||
| F5 | S10 suspension | 0° | Being very tall | |||
| F6 | Crossing (angle) | ? | 72° | River Ribble crossing | ||
| F7 | Crossing (suspension) | ? | ? | |||
| D75 | Terminal | 161′–0″ (49.0 m) | D: Preston–Southport (132 kV double circuit) |
Penwortham, Preston | Ribble Grid Supply Point termination | |
| D74 | Suspension | 169′–0″ (51.5 m) | 5½° | Being very tall | ||
| D73 | Suspension | 142′–2″ (43.3 m) | 0° | Being very tall | ||
| 16 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | River Weaver and Weaver Canal crossing |
| 18 | ? | ? | ? | |||
| 19 | ? | ? | ? | |||
| 20 | ? | ? | ? | |||
| 112 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | River Weaver and Weaver Canal crossing |
| 113 | ? | ? | ? | |||
| 112 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | River Dee crossing |
| 113 | ? | ? | ? | |||
| 114 | Terminal | ? | ? | |||
| 217 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| “J3J4” | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Tower forms
The two terminal towers at Ribble GSP use non-standard crossarm arrangements that would not be repeated in later tower suites.
The following diagrams are shown to scale at 12 pixels per metre.
Single circuit
Terminal tower F3 is unusual (and possibly unique for the UK) in having swept-back crossarms. Terminal tower D75 (under double circuit below) is also unusual in having a single fishtail auxiliary crossarm instead of the more common long top crossarms. Both top phases use it to route the conductors to the cable sealing ends.
Double circuit
Tower D74 is the same as tower D73 except 28 feet taller. The upper portions of towers 2, H44, D73 and D74 are custom: they are very similar in appearance to standard Milliken PL1 D2 towers but are not identical.
The topmost platforms were omitted from the drawings for towers 2 and H44 for clarity; a placeholder is shown instead.
See also
- Pylons at Penwortham, Preston (Flickr)
- Pylons alongside the Ribble (Geograph), with what appears to be towers 73 and F5 visible
- Ribble Grid Supply Point (Geograph), showing terminal towers 75 and F3