DarloRich
Veteran Member
I am at [stn]mkc[/stn] and all services are suspended due to OHLE problems between Euston and Watford Junction nothing moving and all boards cleared!
1H07 0630 Glasgow-Euston lost a pantograph just south of Wembley I believe.
0630 GLC - EUS lost pan , also damage to xx054 LM train - 3 out of 4 lines affected in the Wembley area..
it does rather seem to me that the people who enthusastically push for electrification of everything usually seem to rather overlook what seems to be the fact that overhead electrification does seem to be rather fragile, and when it comes down everything stops, not just one individual train, as would be the case with other forms of propulsion. Can we be assured that when (for instance) the Great Western line is electrificated, this problem will not occur?
As in the pantograph has been ripped off the train or am I reading too much into 'lost a pan'?
No - of course not! That is like saying can you guarantee that every time you set out in the car you wont have a crash?
I much prefer third rail. Less visual impact on the surroundings, less railside structure to vandalise / go wrong... it's my preferred system.
Could just be me being thick, but how could the whole panto be ripped off ? And what has happened to the train operating 1H07 ?
Unfortunately it cannot realistically provide the power demand for an intensive 125mph railway.
Isn't there also issues with the way the conductor rail and the contact shoes interact at those sorts of speeds?
Not that it really matters because there is no way you're going to run something like the ECML or WCML or even the GWML in anything like its present form with third rail. It is also perhaps telling that NR are seriously looking at converting the existing third rail routes to OHLE.
Not unusual , depending on precise damage and speed , if the OLE parts (or the associated structural equipment such as the hefty insulators and parts of a neutral section come adrift) - a severed contact wire can hook under the pan mountings and literally tear the pan out of the roof based mountings.
I had 3 313 sets damaged in this way in one week - 2 on the West London line on the day it opened for 25kV , and one on the NLL at Acton. (and this was at fairly low speed)
The train will be evacuated in due course , and assisted away - probably suing whatever loco is available locally.
Overground now suspended between Willesden Jct and Watford Jct, so i make it that all lines through Wembley are now closed. How come they have all had to be shut ?