T pylons

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Nicholas Wheeler 1 on 09/03/2022 12:21:20:

Dave,

'optimised throughout the value chain' is just jargon. It's not even particularly bad jargon, as its meaning is clear and concise.

I beg to differ. "Value chain" means nothing to the average reader. I had to look it up just now on Wikipedia to get a clue:

A value chain is a set of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer.

It sounds like what we used to call work, or the job, before managementspeak had to pump everything up to make managers seem more important, dynamic and innovative while obscuring the fact they were doing the very mundane as usual.

Edited By Hopper on 09/03/2022 22:33:09

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

The National Grid web-site enthusing about using these reckons they are of Dutch (if I recall aright) design… and fabricated in China!

I forget the rhubarb they used to explain why, but it meant "for cheapness".

Ye Gods….

I saw them for the first time a few weeks ago, close to the gap in the Mendip Hills that takes the M5. Not really fair to judge them in that unfinished stage, but I don't recall ever really noticing the lattice towers that they are replacing.

'

Meanwhile closer to my home in South Dorset, contractors are still nominally at work, burying cables to replace the overhead main transmission lines that cross the Ridgeway a few miles form Dorchester. This entailed building a "temporary" concrete road and all sorts across the countryside. Yes, they will have been delayed by the plague, but I think they started in 2018. How many years does it take to build a cut-and-cover culvert of pre-cast concrete sections in Chalk rock under open farmland, and pull a few cables through it?

The road from Winterbourne Abbas to Portesham crosses the duct line, giving access gates in both directions, with temporary traffic-lights at the cross-roads. I drive past the site on some Saturdays, so would not normally expect to see any people or vehicles on the site, but I have noticed that nothing of its appearance has changed in that time.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Bill Dawes on 09/03/2022 19:03:50:

I had hoped that the pandemic would show us the folly of being so reliant on so much being made overseas to say nothing of the latest debacle going on in Europe. I realise that even in our pinnacle of serving the world we needed raw materials from abroad. I had hoped………. but not optimistic that we will just return to the old ways where finnancial services is king.

The T pylons are substantially more noticeable than the old pylons, more of them, closer together, much thicker sections.

Bill D.

Yes they definitely look more obtrusive and lack the refined grace of the traditional latticework pylons.

[Anthony KendallParticipant @anthonykendall53479]

Posted by Hopper on 09/03/2022 10:15:53:

Posted by Samsaranda on 09/03/2022 10:13:35:

Can’t imagine why anyone would need to paint the old style pylons as they are galvanised, ever tried to get paint to adhere to galvanise, it won’t. Dave W

Rub it down with vinegar first to etch the surface. But heck of a lot of vinegar per pylon I reckon.

All broadcast transmitter masts and towers were painted (may still be) using materials from a company called Craig & Rose. Some of the smaller ones, just 175ft, were similar to pylons and also treated in this way. I spent about 40 years in broadcast transmission – I just wish we had been able to recruit Dave W – we could have saved a great deal of money in materials, effort, supervision and outage time!

Edited By Anthony Kendall on 10/03/2022 09:11:04

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Anthony

Point taken, I stand humbled by the fact that the galvanised creations were painted, you learn something new every day, every day is a school day. Dave W

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I have not noticed any paint on the old style pylons which supply Weston Super Mare, I shall have to have a close look some time.

Edited By old mart on 10/03/2022 20:56:09

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