Drove past Mendlesham the other day and thought at the time "that's a tall bu**er" Now I know why !
The comment about washing the insulators reminds me of when I worked in the CCTV division of Marconi, as a mere 20 year old, I had to visit an electricity pylon near the Dartford tunnel, the cables from which spanned the Thames from Essex to Kent. The pylon was next to the now defunct cement works and the insulators had to be washed by remotely controlled high pressure distilled water nozzles. Marconi supplied remotely controlled CCTV cameras to allow the operators to see where to direct the water, but over a period of months the CCTV camera housings got covered in cement dust as well. So guess who had to go up to clean them !! First 350 foot was in a lift driven up a toothed shaft with a two stroke engine that was very unreliable. After that you had to climb up rung ladders to the 400ft, 500ft and 600ft levels where the cameras were located. As you went higher so did the amount of concrete dust that rained down on you !! On a wet day it was very eerie, as the insulators had the high voltage out of the power station (430kv ??) and made a very loud din. No safety harnesses, just a hard hat !! IIRC I was paid 1p a foot danger money over 300ft !! The electricity towers are still in use, so if you go past the Dartford Tunnel take a look towards the river.
John
The comment about washing the insulators reminds me of when I worked in the CCTV division of Marconi, as a mere 20 year old, I had to visit an electricity pylon near the Dartford tunnel, the cables from which spanned the Thames from Essex to Kent. The pylon was next to the now defunct cement works and the insulators had to be washed by remotely controlled high pressure distilled water nozzles. Marconi supplied remotely controlled CCTV cameras to allow the operators to see where to direct the water, but over a period of months the CCTV camera housings got covered in cement dust as well. So guess who had to go up to clean them !! First 350 foot was in a lift driven up a toothed shaft with a two stroke engine that was very unreliable. After that you had to climb up rung ladders to the 400ft, 500ft and 600ft levels where the cameras were located. As you went higher so did the amount of concrete dust that rained down on you !! On a wet day it was very eerie, as the insulators had the high voltage out of the power station (430kv ??) and made a very loud din. No safety harnesses, just a hard hat !! IIRC I was paid 1p a foot danger money over 300ft !! The electricity towers are still in use, so if you go past the Dartford Tunnel take a look towards the river.
John
