Anyone model BIG power lines/towers ?


M

mikeb2008

Member
I've always had a strange fascination with these things, and am thinking of making maybe a pair of them for the layout some day. Any thoughts? Nutty idea? Materials?

They're 125 feet tall, which would make it 17 inches high in HO scale (wow!). The arms would span about 17 inches too. I got the specs from the Appalachian Power website. I am actually partial to the "sagging arms" one.

These are 765,000 volt "monsters", and you can hear the air crackle overhead on a humid day.

I don't even have any terrain yet, but I'm making a list of features to keep the enthusiasm going enough to get started some day... :)
 
A guy in our club scratch/bashed a whole variety of these for the power company museum up here, let me see if I can dig up some info...
 
There's a few brass ones on the market, and Walthers has a NICE plastic one. The big issue I've found is modeling the wire, its bare aluminum...
 
17" tall and 17" wide sounds a little to big for HO, i dont think anyone makes anything that large of a model for these on the HO market lol. You could scratch build them tho, but im not sure they would look right with the dimensions you provided... just sounds too big, even though these really are monsters! lol

Josh mentioned the Walthers ones, there great, i have a few kits of them and like them alot. Ive wanted to get some brass ones that are out there but the problem is money....

The Walthers ones measure about 9-1/4" tall and the longest arm (middle one) measures about 4-1/4" long. These might be a little small for HO scale, but they still look great and are still large when compared to a train car. They could be a bit taller and wider tho to really get the feel for just how tall they really are. I think it would be better if they were around 12" tall and maybe 7" wide at the longest middle arm....
 
Well I was just going by true scale, 1/87th of 125 feet is 1.4 feet... Yes, they are absolutely gigantic. I think most people have not seen 765kV power lines ;);)

I'd be OK with something a bit smaller, just so it doesn't completely dominate the scene. :)
 
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Hey, in the second photo, did anyone notice how weird the tree on the right looks? The thin branches on the top are growing straight up.
 
These are also called High Tension Power lines. One thing to keep in mind, they almost never follow any road, railway, etc. They go as close to as the bird flies from start to destination as they possibly can. Around here they just seem to randomly go whichever direction lol.
 
Mike, I don't know that I would put them on the layout. You will have to start wearing a lead lined jock strap and a tinfoil hat. :D :D
 
High tension lines, properly called high voltage transmission towers, are a great example of selective compression. The Walthers kit is a little more than half real HO scale but will still look appropriately massive. As has been said, these tend to run in as straight a line as possible and that means up and down hills and other dull looking spaces on the layout. They have a right of way of about 200 feet wide and so they provide a clear cut focus line on an otherwise unremarkable looking hillside.
 
mikeb2008 said:
Hey, in the second photo, did anyone notice how weird the tree on the right looks? The thin branches on the top are growing straight up.
Click to expand...

Mike, they were trimmed at one point, and that's how they grow back in. Look around power lines in your neighborhood, you'll see it everywhere.
 
wheeler1963 said:
Mike, they were trimmed at one point, and that's how they grow back in. Look around power lines in your neighborhood, you'll see it everywhere.
Click to expand...

See that on any trimmed tree. I've got a couple near my house that were done so that they just come out every year like that.

The powerlines mentioned tend to go as straight as possible from source to distribution point. That's where you see the next smallest to those monsters come out from that to the next stage----in N scale they'll just dominate the scene:eek::D:D
 
Are we talking about the same thing? I've seen what you are referring to in many places, the trees trimmed for the wires so they clear them. This is different I think. The tree in the photo is about 75 feet lower than the wire, not even close (I just drove by there). I'm talking about the tree on the right side of the photo. The topmost branches grow straight up, while the rest of the branches look normal. I have not looked too closely at how the branches grow back on other trimmed-for-wire trees, so I'll have to check that out.


By the way, I went ahead and ordered the Walthers power line towers. They're not as menacing as these monsters, but I think they'll do. Thanks for the lead on those - I had not seen them before.
 
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Mike, I tend to agree. I think that tree was either wind damaged or struck by lightning. It would be unusual for the power company to trim a solitary tree like that and leave all the other vegetation growing in the ROW. I'm kind of surprised to see so much growing there in the picture. Most ROW's are regularly cleard to make sure repair equipment has easy access.
 
Zoom in on the 2 areas circled in red. You'll see where the tree limbs were cut off causing the new sprouts to grow upward. Also notice the tree in the center of the picture in on this side of the fence (closer to the photographer). The tree with the upward growing branches is behind the fence (hence it's farther away and a larger tree). It's all a matter of depth perception. :)

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Might be a little off topic, but I used to work clearing trees from power lines.
Did you know that a tree contacting a high voltage line will send "ripples" of current thru the ground just like dropping a pebble in a pond of water?
If the tree makes contact while you're working on it you have to hop away from the tree like a bunny as walking will join two of those ripples together with you acting as the fuse?
Current drained this way costs thousands of dollars in lost energy.
Up here the power company waits till the tree is actually growing right thru the phases before they call you in! :eek:
 
Rico, I've heard the hopping like a bunny story from some of our crews but never knew if they were just kidding or not. Sounds like they weren't! :eek: Jerome, you are probably right about the tree being trimmed now that I look at it again but I still fail to understand why there are trees and all the other understory growing in the ROW. Our crews used to keep it completely cleared so there was never a chance anything could get big enough to touch the cables or block the way for the large equipment they had to use to service the towers.
 
yea, you are relatively safe if you keep all contact close together, but don't touch the tree and the ground at the same time either. You make a better conductor than the tree, and it will mess you up. Hopping like a bunny is what they teach around here as well.
 
up here in new york, con-ed will condem a house if its to close to
those high power lines. fear of a wire hitting a house or people:(
 
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