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Millken PL1

Overview

“PL1” appears to denote “Primary Line 1”. The terms “PL1” and “PL1b” have become imprecise and inaccurate descriptions for various UK electricity pylon types. During the construction of the original national grid, each of the CEGB electricity regions had its own 132 kV construction contract. In most cases, the first contract was termed “PL1” and typically used towers designed by Milliken Brothers. The South East England region however split the work into two contracts: PL1(a) using GEC towers and PL1(b) using Callender’s towers; the Mid-East England region also used GEC towers. The SEE region also had a PL2 contract using Milliken towers, while the South West England and South Wales region had a PL1(a)&(b) contract using Callender’s towers of a different design to those of SEE PL1(b). Over time, “PL1b” has mistakenly come to be applied to the Milliken designs but it itself does not refer to anything. The Wartime Grid Reinforcement schemes also started from contract WGR PL1 (Harker–Galashiels), in this case using the same towers as CE PL4.

There are not one but two Milliken tower suites from the PL1 era. The first type is CS PL1, used in Central Scotland, and dated to 1928. This is the type depicted in the CEGB 1928 Annual Report (see Pylons: controversial giants in the landscape). The 1928 type was also used for scheme SEE PL2, suspected to be Bedford to Little Barford.

The second design dates to 1931 and was used for the SS PL1 scheme in South Scotland. This second type was used for most PL1 schemes in Great Britain, including SWE PL1, EE PL1 and NWE PL1.

[Standard Tower Types] uses the descriptions “CS-PL1” and “SS-PL1” for the two types; this would seem to reinforce the idea that these are the schemes where each type was first used, although the dates known so far would seem to place CS PL1 first and SS PL1 last.

The two Milliken types are now placed onto separate pages for simplicity:

Other “PL1” types from the original National Grid schemes: