Tag: overhead

April 22nd – An electrical mystery I really have no clue about. An overhead three-phase line runs across the Carterfield Lane junction at the bottom of Sandhills, Shire Oak, supplying farms and homes with electricity. Recently, secondary poles have been installed at seemingly random intervals, actually between the conductors, and a little higher then them, whit a protruding object from the top. 

The tops of the poles are sheathed in plastic, and they support nothing.

The only thing I can think is they’re lightning conductors. Does anyone know what they are for? Installing them between the lines like that must have been a very tricky job.

A real head-scratcher.

August 8th – In contrast to recent days, it was dark and overcast with a very threatening atmosphere for most of the day. Racing home, I could smell rain on the wind, and it felt ominous. 

A bit of rain is welcome; it’s needed. But we haven’t had weather like this for any length of time for a long period, and this felt dramatic and alien.

As I rode down Mill Lane in Stonnall, I noticed a flock of starlings had settled on the field, hedgerow and overhead lines. Perhaps it’s just the Hitchcock thing, but even those little birds in silhouette felt menacing…

July 11th – If you fancy a free, breathtaking aerial entertainment display, get your backside down to the Tame Valley Canal, and just look up.

High tension lines run along the canal from a control compound at Ocker Hill to another at Ray Hall, and this interlink is currently undergoing service. Huge scaffold towers and nets span roads, canals and railways, to support lowered lines; engineers scramble and dangle high above from the steel lattice-work, oblivious to the toe-curling peril they appear to be in.

They work quickly and with precision amongst a baffling array of hawsers, catenaries, safety lines and fall arresters, materials and tools being hoisted ip in a sack via a block and tackle hoist. 

And below? I watch, open mouthed at these confident, sure-footed and highly skilled engineers. Whatever they’re paid, it can’t possibly be enough.

August 27th – Is it late summer or early autumn? My dilemma over the seasons continues. I guess we’re in the interregnum now. Cycling back through the lanes of Stonnall this evening, It was hazy and warm, with a light, barely perceptible mist the sun had been unable to burn off. The fields looked gorgeous, and I was fascinated by the impromptu parliament on the overhead lines.

Who cares what season it is? It’s beautiful.

March 8th – It’s been a varied week; today I found myself visiting Great Bridge. I was in a hurry to get there, and went straight through Walsall and Wednesbury along the main roads. On my return, it seemed like a decent afternoon, so with time to spare I hopped on the canal at Brickhouse Lane and headed along the Tame Valley Canal. At Toll End, I passed the rear of the old MEB headquarters – now owned, I believe, by Central Networks. One of the many things they do here is train overhead linesmen, and to do that you need a forest of poles with an assortment of equipment. I’ve passed this spot when there have been ten or so trainee engineers working up in the air. An odd spectacle.