Pylon, pylons, electricity, power, energy, tower, cable, industry, voltage, steel, high, silhouette, national grid, danger, industrial, network, iron

Pylons are designed by the contractor, who then tests and builds them. In the UK, architect Sir Reginald Blomfield chose the pylon design used by the CEGB, in 1928. It has developed since then and you can read more about pylon designs in the illustrated guide to pylon/tower model types. These days, pylons are rarely built, and although the National Grid website reports that various new designs have been commissioned (some are graceful metal poles) and that an appropriate design would be used where pylons are required in the future, there have recently been some continental style pylons erected in Burton-on-Trent by the Petit Jean company, and some more usual pylons built near Middlesborough. The National Grid uses some standard designs I don't think they are wonderfully attractive and that plonking a pylon down anywhere would enhance the landscape without question! But I don't think they are an eyesore, rather an item of curiosity. They remind me of people in form - they have a head and arms and legs - and in that way are something that is vaguely familiar to us. Remember the TV advert from the sale of National Power and PowerGen, when pylons strutted across the land, putting problems right? I also like them up close - the triangle shapes made by the struts - and the size of the insulators. Each insulator weighs several kilos, and there are several insulators in each string, so as I get up close the scale of things makes me stop to think.