I've seen a few places here where a disconnect has an operating rod and handle lower down the pole.

Underground distribution is certainly becoming more common here, and virtually all new housing estates seem to be built with all services underground now.

Even ignoring the latest projects, one really noticeable difference between an average American town and an average British town is in the amount of cabling one sees overhead. British towns seem to be lacking in overhead cables (or American towns seem to have a lot, depending upon your point of origin! [Linked Image]).

Scott35,
Good points you raise there (Don't think I'll vote for the last one though! [Linked Image]), but this appears to be just a regular distribution xfmr. It might not be completely visible in the photo, but the 11kV lines are just looped from one side of the pole to the other with the HV bushings on the xfmr connected straight across. The 240V lines leaving the pole below the HV and going off to the right are actually the service drop to a house on the opposite side of the road.

Trumpy,
Not sure of the actual rating of that xfmr above, but this one is 100kVa:
[Linked Image]
It has the same type fuses as above, but you can see them a little more clearly here;
[Linked Image]
They're a cartridge fuse, though I'm not sure of the rating.

By the way, for anyone who wasn't with us, these photos were originally posted this thread , along with some others of local distribution equipment.

On the wooden vs. metal poles argument, wood wins here on all the local 11 and 33kV lines. Metal lattice towers become the norm here for transmission at 132kV and above.

DJK,
Cable TV has a rather obscure history in the U.K. There were a few cable systems installed way back in the 1950s, mostly as communal antenna systems operating over very small areas (e.g. a single block) in towns which had poor reception. But they were rare, and generally only carried the regular free-to-air signals (which at the time meant one BBC channel and one ITA channel, with maybe BBC2 added when it started in the sixties).

It's really only in the last few years that cable TV has become more widespread, and still only in large cities. As such, the cabling has followed the modern trends, so cable TV line strung up as you see them in America, or as you describe in parts of Ireland just don't exist.

BJ,
Yes, I've been following the thread with the 95-year-old General Electric xfmr. Fascinating!

{Edited for moved images}


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 06-09-2003).]