ECML Power Supply Upgrade

[GraphitProjekt]

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense, a 1 to 1 swap for Neville Hill TSC. Next step is to figure out where that new substation is

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Sep 2025 ==

Here's something interesting I found on the PWI video for Hambleton Junction.
The original plan for ECML PSU as it was first envisaged in the early 2010s (or before?) with a very similar philosophy to GWEP.

The slide with this picture said there were to be ATS substations every 11km.
Funny to see that little old Ardsley would live on through all that.

 

[GraphitProjekt]

Google Car has been past North Muskham which shows it now referred to as a Feeder Station. I heard that the powerline to the former Newark FS has been extended in a trough route to North Muskham so that's now a permanent feature. Is this supply in normal use at North Muskham or are the lines normally fed from the surrounding Grantham and Retford FSs?

 

[studophile]

Hi all, had a query I hoped to answer by doing a search/retrospective review of this (excellently detailed!) thread, but had no success (sorry if I've missed something).

Is there a summary available anywhere that gives a detailed breakdown of exactly what has been done everywhere (including any sites left half finished) vs. 'original' project scope (at the time Phase 1 formally started), and what remains to be completed (if it ever is!) across all phases?

Thanks!

 

[GraphitProjekt]

Not really, the last detailed list of actions I'm aware of is post #182 which can be roughly compared to #1. To my knowledge (not especially reliable!) all of that was completed except for Marshall Meadows which was mothballed. Also I think Corey's Mill still might not be feeding in AT yet, and an uprating of Little Barford FS is still being worked on. I have bookmarked messages for the posts about the commissioning of some of the sites (mainly phase 2) but I regret not that many.
- replacement Grantham FS (24/03/25)
- Doncaster (mp)TSC (01/10/24)
- Stannington, Shillbottle, Ulgham FS (modification),
- Tursdale TSC (12/05/24) (forgot about the existence of this s/s oops)
- Biggleswade MPTSC (22/04/24)
- Northallerton TSC (09/04/24)
- Dalton TSC (04/24)
- removal of Tallington (12/23)
- replacement Ulgham FS (12/23)
- Essendine (02/21)
I had a go at showing an overview of the change in Normal feeding in #337 (phase 1) and #389 (phase 2), although both need an update which I'm working on at the moment

 

[59CosG95]

Not really, the last detailed list of actions I'm aware of is post #182 which can be roughly compared to #1. To my knowledge (not especially reliable!) all of that was completed except for Marshall Meadows which was mothballed. Also I think Corey's Mill still might not be feeding in AT yet, and an uprating of Little Barford FS is still being worked on. I have bookmarked messages for the posts about the commissioning of some of the sites (mainly phase 2) but I regret not that many.
- replacement Grantham FS (24/03/25)
- Doncaster (mp)TSC (01/10/24)
- Stannington, Shillbottle, Ulgham FS (modification),
- Tursdale TSC (12/05/24) (forgot about the existence of this s/s oops)
- Biggleswade MPTSC (22/04/24)
- Northallerton TSC (09/04/24)
- Dalton TSC (04/24)
- removal of Tallington (12/23)
- replacement Ulgham FS (12/23)
- Essendine (02/21)
I had a go at showing an overview of the change in Normal feeding in #337 (phase 1) and #389 (phase 2), although both need an update which I'm working on at the moment

AFAIK, most of the old sites in Phase 2 haven't yet been removed, along with some from Phase 1.

Phase 1 (legacy buildings outstanding):

• Wood Green FS
• Welwyn 'A' FS - still feeding
• Langley Jn FS
• Little Barford FS - still feeding
• Nene FS - still feeding
• Bretton FS
• Tallington TSC
• Bytham FS (descoped if I remember)
• Grantham North FS - as far as I know
• Retford FS - may still be feeding

Phase 2 (legacy buildings outstanding):

• Doncaster (MP)TSC
• Hambleton Jn TSC
• Tollerton TSC
• Dalton TSC
• Northallerton TSC
• Darlington TSC
• Aycliffe TSC
• Tursdale Jn TSC
• Durham FS
• King Edward Jn TSC
• Benton FS
• Stannington MPTSC
• Ulgham FS
• and, of course, Marshall Meadows FS

 

[GraphitProjekt]

AFAIK, most of the old sites in Phase 2 haven't yet been removed, along with some from Phase 1.

Phase 1 (legacy buildings outstanding):

• Wood Green FS
• Welwyn 'A' FS - still feeding
• Langley Jn FS
• Little Barford FS - still feeding
• Nene FS - still feeding
• Bretton FS
• Tallington TSC
• Bytham FS (descoped if I remember)
• Grantham North FS - as far as I know
• Retford FS - may still be feeding

Wow, i didn't know how far we're still in transition between the old and new setup, even for phase 1

Wasn't there some cable laid between Nene and Bretton? I understood it as diverting/extending Nene's grid connection (from Peterborough central 132kV) further to Bretton so that Bretton FS had 2 grid supplies to use.

If Bretton is descoped, does this mean the final feeding arrangement will actually be the same as before PSU with both Nene and Bretton still as seperate grid connections?

 

[59CosG95]

Wow, i didn't know how far we're still in transition between the old and new setup, even for phase 1

Wasn't there some cable laid between Nene and Bretton? I understood it as diverting/extending Nene's grid connection (from Peterborough central 132kV) further to Bretton so that Bretton FS had 2 grid supplies to use.

If Bretton is descoped, does this mean the final feeding arrangement will actually be the same as before PSU with both Nene and Bretton still as seperate grid connections?

Cables have indeed been laid between Nene & Bretton. The new Bretton has actually gone live, but the work to connect the new Nene feed to it hasn't concluded yet.
For all I mentioned in my previous post, most of the Phase 1 TSCs/FSs have been replaced, with the old buildings dismantled/removed/demolished (insert silimar verb here).
As an example, Wood Green FS is now feeding from the new ASG (Air-insulated switch gear) building installed as part of PSU1, but the old "tin hut" building is still there, albeit shorn of all traction power connections.
Further north, Huntingdon TSC is now feeding from its new ASG building, and the old "tin hut" has been removed.

 

[PeteK]

I sometimes hear vague mentions of a Willesden ECR. Was extending Rugby to take over that area also part of railtrack's project?

So that was NCL's power station until ~1920. LUL would have been producing 11-22kV AC at scale back then so perhaps they just incorporated into their own network at that point?

While I was googling you might be interested in this article written by someone who was commissioned to install Hornsey ECR's field telephone system in 1976 and in replacing the tunnel telephones on NCL some 30 years later: https://janfordsworld.blogspot.com/2018/01/northern-city-line.html. She has this picture of Queensland Road TSS!

Somewhat late in response but better than never! Coming across this picture (Queensland Road NCL SS) of Jan Ford's jolted me a bit as I have worked there many times up to 1989 from the start of the BR NCL project. Interesting that (so far) I can find no references to the serious fire that destroyed the DC switchboard either on the forums or the wider internet searches. A picture is attached for interest. The 11kV switchboard at Poole St was fed from City Road and Whiston Road and fed in the 11kV ring to Finsbury Circus (Moorgate) and Queensland Road (Drayton Park).

 

[Elecman]

Somewhat late in response but better than never! Coming across this picture (Queensland Road NCL SS) of Jan Ford's jolted me a bit as I have worked there many times up to 1989 from the start of the BR NCL project. Interesting that (so far) I can find no references to the serious fire that destroyed the DC switchboard either on the forums or the wider internet searches. A picture is attached for interest. The 11kV switchboard at Poole St was fed from City Road and Whiston Road and fed in the 11kV ring to Finsbury Circus (Moorgate) and Queensland Road (Drayton Park).

That breaker certainly failed to clear the fault !!!

 

[GraphitProjekt]

Somewhat late in response but better than never! Coming across this picture (Queensland Road NCL SS) of Jan Ford's jolted me a bit as I have worked there many times up to 1989 from the start of the BR NCL project. Interesting that (so far) I can find no references to the serious fire that destroyed the DC switchboard either on the forums or the wider internet searches.

Thankyou for your insights as always. The history of rail electrification is not as well recorded compared to other topics so I think a lot of interesting events live on only with those who were there. A lot of these kinds of stories and also even base level technical details are likely to just get forgotten; the old system in GE and LTS I think is a prime example of something quite strange and unique that is almost entirely undocumented on the usual Internet sources.
Additionally, I heard quite an interesting anecdote in a lecture by Peter Dearman that briefly mentioned a rather large power cut started by a fire in Tottenham 275kV that somehow lead to lost supplies on GEML, Lea Valley, ECML and MML, sometime in the mid 1980s.

The 11kV switchboard at Poole St was fed from City Road and Whiston Road

I had guessed that City Road was involved because it's so close but makes sense to have separate power sources. From what I can see City Road "A" is only a 400/132kV site (probably the main supply for all of the City) but it's 132/11kV substations are the "B" and "C" sites some distance away. The only map I have of this area is from 2010 should still be generally right.

3 of the 4 33kV circuits to Whiston Road come all the way from Barking so the two sources are quite independent of each other. (Also of note the is 132/22kV London Underground supply at Mansell Street)

and fed in the 11kV ring to Finsbury Circus (Moorgate) and Queensland Road (Drayton Park).

So by "ring" does this mean one cable from Poole Street to Queensland Road, one from Queensland Road to Finsbury Circus, and a last one from Finsbury Circus back to Poole Road.

 

[thecrofter]

When I worked on the ECML SCADA Project in the early 2000's, Queensland Road was the source of the supply (x 2) for the Northern City Line 11kV ring. When visting Poole Street TPH it was located in the bowels (track level) of what was the former Gainsborough Film Studios which was repurposed from a former Power Station. I seem to recall there was some redundant switchgear at street level so that may well have been the source of the incoming supply back when NCL was part of London Underground - I'm only surmising mind.

The site was undergoing conversion into luxury apartments at that time with access to the underground TPH from within the demarcated location via what I can only describe as a sewer! It was not possible to deliver any equipment via that route so the SCADA equipment was brought in by train through the personnel access in the tunnel.

 

[swt_passenger]

When I worked on the ECML SCADA Project in the early 2000's, Queensland Road was the source of the supply (x 2) for the Northern City Line 11kV ring. When visting Poole Street TPH it was located in the bowels (track level) of what was the former Gainsborough Film Studios which was repurposed from a former Power Station. I seem to recall there was some redundant switchgear at street level so that may well have been the source of the incoming supply back when NCL was part of London Underground - I'm only surmising mind.

The site was undergoing conversion into luxury apartments at that time with access to the underground TPH from within the demarcated location via what I can only describe as a sewer! It was not possible to deliver any equipment via that route so the SCADA equipment was brought in by train through the personnel access in the tunnel.

You might find this short thread from last month interesting, if not already seen:

Lit passageway between Essex Road and Old Street

Every time I travel southbound from Essex Road and Old Street, I can't help but notice a little lit passageway equidistant between the stations on the left in direction of travel. Does anyone know what this is? The trains typically travel quite slow but even so, it's really difficult to get...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[m0ffy]

When I worked on the ECML SCADA Project in the early 2000's, Queensland Road was the source of the supply (x 2) for the Northern City Line 11kV ring. When visting Poole Street TPH it was located in the bowels (track level) of what was the former Gainsborough Film Studios which was repurposed from a former Power Station. I seem to recall there was some redundant switchgear at street level so that may well have been the source of the incoming supply back when NCL was part of London Underground - I'm only surmising mind.

The site was undergoing conversion into luxury apartments at that time with access to the underground TPH from within the demarcated location via what I can only describe as a sewer! It was not possible to deliver any equipment via that route so the SCADA equipment was brought in by train through the personnel access in the tunnel.

What SCADA equipment were you using at the time? Ferranti Mk3 was pretty popular in the DNO world back then.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Iirc, the fire at Queensland Road occurred in the early 1980’s when they were doing some DC training on the training track just outside and when the short circuiting bar was applied, the breaker didn’t blow.

The current tracked across the yard and blew a hole in the signal air pipe, it took out some of the station 240v, some of the tunnel lighting and even blew a few of the mains circuits as far down the NCL as Essex Road station.

 

[PeteK]

Iirc, the fire at Queensland Road occurred in the early 1980’s when they were doing some DC training on the training track just outside and when the short circuiting bar was applied, the breaker didn’t blow.

The current tracked across the yard and blew a hole in the signal air pipe, it took out some of the station 240v, some of the tunnel lighting and even blew a few of the mains circuits as far down the NCL as Essex Road station.

From 1975 there was a large number of drivers, other operating staff, maintenance staff, civils etc that were required to be trained on all aspects of the NCL. This included the ability to put down a short circuit bar on a live rail. The noise and sparks put "the fear of god" in some and they refused to do it. The wear and tear on the MM74 HSCB feeding the test track was great and it required regular replacement of the Arclex plates which were placed either side of the main contacts in the arc chute. After the fire and after inspection of the HSCB by Whipp & Bourne engineers it was surmised that one of the Arclex plates had disintegrated and jammed the contact mechanism preventing them fully opening and extinguishing the arc. Much of the five panel switchboard was consumed by the resulting fire. Luckily there was no damage to the 11kV circuit breakers mounted on the mezzanine floor above the DC switchboard. After repairs had been made to the signalling and other equipment a "light" train service was introduced with power supplied from Finsbury Circus SS.

A four panel DC switchboard was borrowed from Southern Region and all test track training temporarily moved to Willesden (I recall). With a new switchboard supplied the test track was reinstated. I cannot recall all the measures that were introduced to limit the fault current (eg. switching out one or both rectifiers during training) but one was the building of a resistor from elements of DC EMU traction resistors which was connected in series with the positive cable to the test track.

I wonder if the test track is still in use. Last time I travelled through Drayton Park I did not think to look.

 

[PeteK]

Thankyou for your insights as always. The history of rail electrification is not as well recorded compared to other topics so I think a lot of interesting events live on only with those who were there. A lot of these kinds of stories and also even base level technical details are likely to just get forgotten; the old system in GE and LTS I think is a prime example of something quite strange and unique that is almost entirely undocumented on the usual Internet sources.
Additionally, I heard quite an interesting anecdote in a lecture by Peter Dearman that briefly mentioned a rather large power cut started by a fire in Tottenham 275kV that somehow lead to lost supplies on GEML, Lea Valley, ECML and MML, sometime in the mid 1980s.

I had guessed that City Road was involved because it's so close but makes sense to have separate power sources. From what I can see City Road "A" is only a 400/132kV site (probably the main supply for all of the City) but it's 132/11kV substations are the "B" and "C" sites some distance away. The only map I have of this area is from 2010 should still be generally right.
View attachment 198783
3 of the 4 33kV circuits to Whiston Road come all the way from Barking so the two sources are quite independent of each other. (Also of note the is 132/22kV London Underground supply at Mansell Street)

So by "ring" does this mean one cable from Poole Street to Queensland Road, one from Queensland Road to Finsbury Circus, and a last one from Finsbury Circus back to Poole Road.

Poole Street was a five panel 11kV switchboard (two incomers, two outgoing and a bus section). One outgoing to Finsbury Circus and other to Queensland Road. The ring was completed with a cable from Queensland Road to Finsbury Circus. All cables were run in the down line tunnel.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Feb 2026 ==

You might find this short thread from last month interesting, if not already seen:

Lit passageway between Essex Road and Old Street

Every time I travel southbound from Essex Road and Old Street, I can't help but notice a little lit passageway equidistant between the stations on the left in direction of travel. Does anyone know what this is? The trains typically travel quite slow but even so, it's really difficult to get...

www.railforums.co.uk

Great shot from Streetview. This must be the AC substation and access to the DC substation at track level. All a bit different from my time there. There is a vertical shaft at the rear of the AC substation with ladders down to track level. At the bottom a tunnel (about 50m) leads to the up line tunnel. Being so close to the canal there was a lot of leakage into the tunnels and a sump is located below track level. Three pumps take it it turn to pump the water back up vertical shaft to return to the canal. In the horizontal tunnel there is also a fan for tunnel ventilation and, close to the running tunnels the DC substation. I assume that this all still exists as I knew it in 1988.

 

[Elecman]

From 1975 there was a large number of drivers, other operating staff, maintenance staff, civils etc that were required to be trained on all aspects of the NCL. This included the ability to put down a short circuit bar on a live rail. The noise and sparks put "the fear of god" in some and they refused to do it. The wear and tear on the MM74 HSCB feeding the test track was great and it required regular replacement of the Arclex plates which were placed either side of the main contacts in the arc chute. After the fire and after inspection of the HSCB by Whipp & Bourne engineers it was surmised that one of the Arclex plates had disintegrated and jammed the contact mechanism preventing them fully opening and extinguishing the arc. Much of the five panel switchboard was consumed by the resulting fire. Luckily there was no damage to the 11kV circuit breakers mounted on the mezzanine floor above the DC switchboard. After repairs had been made to the signalling and other equipment a "light" train service was introduced with power supplied from Finsbury Circus SS.

A four panel DC switchboard was borrowed from Southern Region and all test track training temporarily moved to Willesden (I recall). With a new switchboard supplied the test track was reinstated. I cannot recall all the measures that were introduced to limit the fault current (eg. switching out one or both rectifiers during training) but one was the building of a resistor from elements of DC EMU traction resistors which was connected in series with the positive cable to the test track.

I wonder if the test track is still in use. Last time I travelled through Drayton Park I did not think to look.

Hall Road in Liverpool had a “Live” Test track but that had long gone

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

What SCADA equipment were you using at the time? Ferranti Mk3 was pretty popular in the DNO world back then.

Transmitton had a monopoly on rail SCADA in the 80's

 

[thecrofter]

Transmitton had a monopoly on rail SCADA in the 80's

West Coast Main Line chose to source from another supplier (Foxboro, later taken over by Westinghouse) when upgrading from their old ATE (CM&EE owned) system in order to diversify much like BR did with traction providers Brush and EE so as to not have all their eggs in one basket so to say. Rather ironic now given that Siemens later aquired both Westinghouse and Transmitton.