Checking the Height of the Catenary Wires With a Sliding Pole

[gmat]

Hope that this is the right place for these photos.

Noted April 30, 2011 where the Odaku Line exits Shinjuku Station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't even notice the chain in the last shot.

 

I took a few more, but these pretty much show all of the details.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[cteno4]

interesting! i wonder if the power is off or the pole is non metallic. looks like a dont do thing! kind of like a friend trying to convince you to put your tongue on the frozen pole!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[gmat]

The crew had to step aside to let the trains pass so the power was definitely on. The pole must be non-metallic.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[Nick_Burman]

interesting! i wonder if the power is off or the pole is non metallic. looks like a dont do thing! kind of like a friend trying to convince you to put your tongue on the frozen pole!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Rather than measuring the height, they are measuring the amount of catenary offset in the curve. If you look carefully you'll notice that the top crossbar is graduated.  

 

The "uppers" on the pole seem to be made of plastic. This is noticeable by the way the pole is flexing while the guy is carrying it around. No way they could do that with the power off during daytime without wreaking complete havoc with the timetable.

 

 

Cheers NB

[cteno4]

the pole is bending when he is walking with it. probably fiberglass.

 

jeff

[westfalen]

They are in indeed checking the alignment of the overhead, I've seen the same thing being done here. I'm pretty sure our rules here in Queensland require a full isolation of the overhead before they do this, but we use 25,000 V AC so that may make a difference, I'm not an electrician. We are not allowed to touch anything that is in contact with the overhead whether it is a conductive material or not, one reason being that it may be wet. I have a photo I took on the Chichibu Railway of C58 363's crew up on the tender trimming the coal pile, that would have the health and safety people running around screaming here and the power shut off quicker than you could say "shut it off", we can't climb any higher than the floor level of a loco or car when it's under overhead wires.

[gmat]

Thank you for the correction. I'll update my photo file.

Best wishes,

Grant