Tramway and Light Railway Atlas 1996: Germany - Tramway, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Trolleybus
Schwandl's Tram Atlas Deutschland: Detailed Maps of All German Tram, Light Rail and Underground Networks (English and German Edition)
Modern trams use lightweight catenary.
Classic Southern Region conductor rail - cheap but dangerous!
Heavier style main line catenary - here used on a roadside line in Switzerland.
Anna-Jayne has just found this article which could provide the ideal power system for the New S&D - buried electric supply meaning that the system is totally safe (unlike conductor rails), cheap (no expensive masts) and aestetically pleasing (no external presence). This gets easier as each week passes!
Bombardier to test wireless trams in Augsburg
26 May 2010
GERMANY: The Primove induction-based catenary-free electrification system developed by Bombardier Transportation is to be piloted on the tram network in Augsburg, the manufacturer announced on May 26.
Formally unveiled at Bombardier's Bautzen factory in January 2009, Primove uses cable buried beneath the track to produce a magnetic fields which induces electric current for traction power in pick-up coils mounted underneath the vehicle.
It will be installed on a 0·8 km branch from Augsburg Line 3 which serves the city's exhibition centre. This will enable Bombardier to demonstrate the technical capabilities and electromagnetic compatibility of Primove, which is a potential competitor for Alstom's APS ground-level power supply in locations where overhead electrification is considered undesirable.
'Our expectation for the Primove pilot project is to gain further insights into new developments in energy management and energy savings in tramway operations', said Stadtwerke Augsburg Verkehrs Managing Director Norbert Walter. 'We will also co-operate with the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences'.
Bombardier is currently supplying Augsburg with 27 Flexity Outlook trams. The first arrived last year and deliveries will run to the end of this year.
Source
4 comments:
I think that when the S&D re-opens it should use the "Southern" third rail system. This is for several reasons. A, it has a less damaging effect asthetically on the line. It will make it more enjoyable for enthusiasts and look better than pylons that damage the look of our countryside. B, its cheaper. Cheap is good in these economically challenging times. And, for nostaligia, C, the LSWR/Southern was responsible for the track, stations and infrastructure on the old S&D so it is likely that if the line survived the Beching Axe it would have been electrified in this way OR just operated be diesels which is no longer a viable option.
Third rail is a tricky one, as there is every reason to believe that the powers that be would not (for safety reasons, presumably) sanction a "new" third rail line running so far outside SR territory. The preferred option for new electrification schemes is OHL, which is of course a bit of a visual pollutant (albeit a highly efficient one operationally). It also goes without saying that third rail and volunteers (of which there are many on the S&D amongst the various groups) do not play at all nicely together.
For local traffic, systems such as the PPM or the induction based system described in the blog post could well be very practical alternatives, of course. Another interesting one is the Alstom APS system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-level_power_supply) which is a third rail system which only energises short sections of rail as a train approaches. This strikes me as a novel (but still not entirely ideal from a safety perspective) approach to the safety problem, albeit with the drawback of greatly increased complexity (and hence cost) on the control side.
One thing is certain: technological advances such as the PPM, APS and induction technology now offer options which quite simply weren't available when the S&D was closed in the 1960s. Given that it is likely to be a significant amount of time before the first stretches of the S&D re-open on a commercial (as opposed to purely heritage) basis, this is not a decision we need to make yet. By the time we do, it is likely that there will be options available to us which we can't even begin to think about.
Third rail is only dangerous if you step on it and earth yourself at the same time....
For the southern section of the S&D it would be perfect for feeding into the Southern Railway as it no doubt will once again become?
The World Heritage section from Evercreech to Bath can be wire and third rail free, to be used by wood burners, hybrid PPM's and hopefully a bit of heritage diesel thrash, until it all runs out of course! Not to mention some heritage coal fired steam....
Are those thoughts allowed?
Not only allowed but welcomed. :)
For commercial services from Blandford southwards, third rail is not only practical but (at least today) probably the obvious choice, given the existing network it would feed into.
However, once you start approaching Shillingstone, third rail obviously starts looking less attractive as the line would be shared with volunteers, so it's worth being open to other options.
However, that's all for the future. The important thing is to plan to get the rails back first, I feel.
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