As promised some months ago, here’s a start on a little collection of photos of these in the Philadelphia area. I grew up seeing them fairly often, so I thought it was no big deal - evidently it is unusual, though.
First - ‘‘The King of All Towers’’, from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48838227@N02/4474002591/
A view from the other direction, at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48838227@N02/4478085864/sizes/l/
Paul,
Great shots! Fascinating to see this type of construction. Thanks for sharing.
I saw a similar photo recently, with an Amtrak(?) passenger train running down the track. I wondered what happens if the
train derails and hits one of those towers? How do you erect a tower like that over an active rail line?
I wondered the same things. I don’t think I’d want to be around one of those if that happened (derailment).
The prospect of having that electrical line come down on you in a derailment does seem a bit ominous. Maybe there is an automatic system to shut the power off if a tower begins to topple. Those towers would surely come down fast in the case of any contact with derailing cars. And when trains derail, they tend to slide cars out over a substantial area adjacent to the track.
I am thinking about this electric line / freight train coexistence extending for hundreds and hundreds of miles out west on the BNSF, as has been proposed. The longer the train and the electric line run next to each other, the greater the odds of a conflict between the two. It is quite possible that high voltage lines could drop onto a train without jeopardizing the crew, but there are all manner of possible scenarios where the lines could kill.
I believe it would be possible to run such a high voltage line along a rail corridor with the use of crash walls to protect it from derailing trains, but I don’t see that kind of protection in the photos above. Power line derailment protection would cost a lot over the long distances.
Who has the “say” in the rights above and below grade? Would the RR be the entity that could sell or rent that right to the utility?
Wind is not the answer. Currently, wind generated electricity is about 35% efficient. We have a lot of “wind farms” (read: boondoggles) out here in Montana. Those in Toole County sell all of the power to San Diego (CA) Electric & Gas at exorbitant prices. 8% of the power is lost during transmission to California. Another 6-8% is lost at sub-stations and transformers. Not a good deal at all! We do like the local taxes it generates… Underground transmission of AC power is not technically feasable for long distances. There may be some hope for buried High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC). It is an emerging technology, subject to the whims of Bubba on the backhoe. I hope to hear more about this topic.
Hays – source: Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association
BNSF Watcher,
I have heard about the belowground alternative as being D.C. I imagine that this is a really complex issue of electrical transmission with lots of tradeoffs. It would be interesting to learn more about HVDC power transmission.
CNW 6000,
The actual rights to a corridor is an interesting question, especially when you consider that there is volume of the corridor both below and above the surface plat.
My assumption would be that the railroad companies are in the driver’s seat for calling the shots in any offer to split off special rights to utilities to run power lines on those rail corridors. However, this idea has “public good” written all over it. Private railroad companies may therefore feel an unusual pressure to acquiesce to the addition of power lines to their corridors. I should think that private railroad companies would feel rather defensive about the possibility of their corrido
I don’t think you will see to much of power lines along the right of way unless its very straight or provides power to the RR. Unlike track, power lines are usually run in a straight line for as long as possible, not feasible along most rights of way.
[EDIT on Friday, 92:0 AM - tried to fix/ insert paragraph breaks - PDN]
Thanks for the comments and compliments ! To respond to some of the questions and concerns:
Derailments is one of those things that seems to be commonly mentioned, but doesn’t occur very often, and when it has, does not result in a catastrophe.
For example, during or just after World War II, the PRR’s Congressional derailed at speed from a hotbox just past the North Philadelphia passenger station, resulting in something like 47 fatalities and extensive damage. Photos that I’ve seen of the aftermath show that a couple of the tower poles bent quite a bit, but everything remained standing, and there was no mention of deaths or damage from electrocution.
As a slight contrast, when the Amtrak Colonial collided with the 3 errant ConRail locomotives at the GUNPOW interlocking at Chase, Maryland in January 1987, one of the poles was broken off just above the base. An ex-PRR, then Amtrak, power official said that was the only time in his long career - something like 30 years - that he saw that happen. The result was that both the signal and traction power lines were instantly shorted out or were grounded, and the high-speed circuit breakers performed as intended - the effect was that both systems at that end of the railroad went ‘dark’ and the train and power dispatchers knew immediately that something was seriously wrong. But again, I’m not aware that the power lines injured anyone or caused any more damage.
Note that both of these instances involved the PRR’s electrification and overbuild, which is different and ‘lighter’ in construction in that it is essentially single steel H-section columns/ poles on each side of the tracks, connected by a cross-member to carry the catenary wires; the power lines are up much higher on ver
I read a thingie, somewhere, about the Norwegians (“Uff da!”) having some success with HVDC transmission from/to North Sea oil/gas rigs. I’ll look it up, during our “spring break” this weekend. Ha en fin dag!
Hays
While I agree that you will not see much in the way of HV Transmission power line laid out on existing railroad rights of way…I suspect that if we ever get a High Speed passenger rail network, it will be laid out along existing HV Transmission rights of way, simply because such a HSR network will most likely be electrically powered and will most likely utilize the most direct routes between destinations…routes which HV Transmission rights of way presently follow. HSR, because of the overpowered nature of their trains doesn’t have grade as the overriding design factor as does freight transportation, curvature and the lack thereof is the overriding design factor. Following existing directly routed HV Transmission rights of way would be the most expeditious way of implementing HSR from both the right of way and access to power viewpoints.
Here are a few more:
Also from Manayunk, but on the former PRR’s electrified line to Norristown, which parallelled the Reading’s - and SEPTA /ConRail kept only the latter, from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48838227@N02/4477438085/sizes/l/in/set-72157623738170256/ Although the catenary wires are long gone - like 20 years now ? - the several sets of higher wires are still live. Some may be PECo’s 60 Hz. commercial AC circuit ‘overbuild’, but I believe that several are also Amtrak’s ‘‘22’’ (?) and/ or ‘‘38’’ (
How many years did the North Shore operate the high-speed Skokie Valley line with adjacent-integral power transmission towers and never had the describe problem?
The situation with the North Shore Line and similarly with the South Shore Line on the East Chicago bypass was that the railroad and Commonwealth Edison or NIPSCO did not actually share a right of way but had parallel rights of way.
[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]
Here are a few more:
Also from Manayunk, but on the former PRR’s electrified line to Norristown, which parallelled the Reading’s - and SEPTA /ConRail kept only the latter, from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48838227@N02/4477438085/sizes/l/in/set-72157623738170256/ Although the catenary wires are long gone - like 20 years now ? - the several sets of higher wires are still live. Some may be PECo’s 60 Hz. commercial AC circuit ‘overbuild’, but I believe that several are also Amtrak’s ‘‘22’’ (?) and/ or ‘‘38’’ (
Great Pictures!
Paul (or anyone else that wants to tackle this),
If I understand matters correctly, wouldn’t the incentive for BNSF to give a power utility overhead power line rights on the ex-Santa Fe Transcon be an agreement that the railroad could get all the juice it wanted to for FREE to power its electric locomotives?
K.P.
I would find that to be highly unlikely, especially considering the amount of electricity which would be consumed by the railroad. Since electric utilities are still regulated, there may also be legal restrictions to such an arrangement.
The CNS&M as a portion of Insull’s utility empire utilized this philosophy for the Skokie Valley Route, in the days prior to the Supreme Court divestiture ruling separating power generation from transit, which I always thought was a stupid idea insuring that the taxpayer solely gets clipped for public transit.If the railroads, utilities and the government triangulated their mutual interests perhaps we could move off the mark , help the environment, reduce costs and shared the cost since peak oil is about 2-4 years away. But that would be a smart thing to do IMO, so maybe they will burn paperwork to fuel the railroads instead.