This Is What I Call A MOAB
Jamestown is a small Australian town of a few over fourteen hundred souls, probably home to several million flies and some of the most venomous spiders and snakes known to man.
I have never visited the town, but I must have flown nearly over it, when I flew a Piper Arrow around Australia with C.
Just to the North of the town is the Hornsdale Wind Farm, which consists of 99 wind turbines with a generating capacity of 315 MW.
But this is not what brought the wind farm to my attention in an article in today’s Times under a headline of Biggest Ever Battery Plugs City’s Energy Gap.
This is said.
The battery array was built after a high-stakes bet by Elon Musk, 46, the US technology billionaire behind Tesla electric cars, that he could meet a 100-day building deadline or he would give the system away.
Wikipedia has a section on this battery.
This is said.
South Australia received 90 proposals and considered 5 projects. Tesla, Inc. is building the world’s most powerful lithium ion battery adjacent to the wind farm. It has two sections; a 70 MW running for 10 minutes, and a 30 MW with a 3 hour capacity. Samsung 21700-size cells are used.
It will be operated by Tesla and provide a total of 129 megawatt-hours (460 GJ) of storage capable of discharge at 100 megawatts (130,000 hp) into the power grid. This will help prevent load-shedding blackouts and provide stability to the grid (grid services) while other generators can be started in the event of sudden drops in wind or other network issues. It is intended to be built in 100 days counting from 29 September 2017, when a grid connection agreement was signed with Electranet, and some units were operational. The battery construction was completed and testing began on 25 November 2017. It is owned by Neoen and Tesla, with the government having the ability to call on the stored power under certain circumstances.
It certainly seems to be the Mother-Of-All-Batteries! Hence MOAB!
The Times is reporting that the battery system has cost £30 million.
This works out at about £233,000 to store each Megawatt-Hour stored.
When you consider that we have five offshore that are bigger than the Hornsdale Wind Farm, surely it is only a matter of time before we add a battery to one.
These MOABs are an intriguing concept!
Successful Trial Means Tube On Track For 4G Coverage By 2019
The title of this post is the same as this article on Rail Technology Magazine. This is said.
The Tube network will see 4G connectivity arrive in 2019, TfL has confirmed, meaning mayor Sadiq Khan’s original ambitions will be able to go ahead.
The news comes following a successful trial of the technology on the Waterloo & City line, where 4G technology was tested in tunnels and stations along the line in the summer.
I wonder how long it will be before all trains, trams and buses have 4G connectivity.
In some ways, I think providing 4G connectivity outside stations, bus stops and other important places is more important.
Suppose you are stuck in an area with no signal and perhaps you have fallen over and seriously cut your leg and need help or just a lift home.
Wouldn’t it be so much better, if you could find somewhere, where you know you could summon assistance or a lift?
I have two questions.
- Will 4G connectivity be added to the Overground?
- Will 4G connectivity be switch on station-by-station and line-by-line or in one go in 2019?
In some posts about this, it is suggested that a driving force behind the connectivity, is that the emeergency services are moving to mobile phone technology. So if that is the case, then the answers to these questions must be in the affirmative!
Development Of Knightsbridge Station
Knightsbridge station is an important station on the Piccadilly Line.
It is unusual in that it is one of the few double-ended tube stations, with one entrance at Sloane Street by Harvey Nicholls and the other along the Brompton Road at Harrods.
I took these pictures on a Sunday morning as I walked around the station.
The existing building over the Sloane Street entrance is being redeveloped. Wikipedia gives these details.
The residential development of One Hyde Park opposite the station features an entrance to the station which is the diverted closed off exit. It re-opened in December 2010.
In 2017, a developer will refurbish the block above the station and close exits 3 and 4 that lead to Brompton Road and Sloane Street. When this work is complete, there will be a new entrance in Brompton Road, the two exits having been blocked permanently. The station will also feature Step Free Access available from a new entrance in Hooper’s Court, where the original station first opened, with lifts in the original lift shaft that will lead to the Piccadilly platforms.
This page on the TfL web site gives more details. This is said.
Knightsbridge Tube station will have step-free access in 2020, reached by a new entrance at Hooper’s Court.
Two new lifts will serve the Piccadilly line platforms, making the station step-free from street level to the trains.
A second new entrance will open at 15 Brompton Road in 2019, replacing the former entrance on the corner of Sloane Street and Brompton Road. The pavement on Brompton Road and Sloane Street will be widened, making more room for pedestrians.
Note that the new entrance at 15 Brompton Road will be about halfway between the corner and the LK Bennett store, which is at 39-41.
Conclusion
It looks as if Knightsbridge tube station will be very much improved.
But!
- Cutting the traffic through the area would help.
- I can’t say that I’m impressed with the new entrance to the station on the North side of Knightsbridge.
At least the entrance by Harrods, is much more in keeping with the area.
Two Units Of Adnams Beer
This picture shows eight bottles of Marks and Spencer’s 0.5% Southwold Pale Ale, which is brewed by Adnams.
Astonishingly, there are just 2 units of alcohol, which cost just £12.80 in total.
But even more astonishingly, the beer has a good taste for a low-alcohol beer.
Bond Street Station Gets A New Entrance
The new entrance to Bond Street tub station has now opened on the North side of Oxford Street.
This makes it easier to enter and exit the station on the department store side of the street.
Transport for London have produced a video called Bond Street station redevelopment for 2017 – virtual tour walk-through – Tube improvements.
It illustrates several features of the enlarged station.
Steaming Along The Overground
According to this article on Ian Visits, the North London Line will have an unusual visitor on Saturday, December the 2nd.
A passenger steam train will be passing through on its way from Southend to Alton.
Useful timing are.
- 09:58 – Barking
- 10:03 – Woodgrange Park
- 10:08 – Forest Gate
- 10:14 – Stratford
- 10:26 – Canonbury
- 10:31 – Camden Road
- 10:48 – South Hampstead
- 10:54 – Kensal Green
- 11:07 – Acton Central
On December 2nd, 2012, I posted Tornado At Canonbury Station.
Boosting The Cross-Border Economy
The title of this post, is the same as this article on the BBC. It starts like this.
If they wanted a name-check in the budget, then they got it.
But there was little more detail – for the time being at least – about the growth deal for the Borderlands.
The chancellor announced the UK government would “begin negotiations” on it and work with local partners and the Scottish government.
I feel very strongly, that boosting this Borderlands could be of real value to both countries and obviously this is behind the Government’s thinking.
The article attempts to answer the questions it poses and proposes various transport upgrades.
I would do the following to the railways.
- Complete the Borders Railway to Carlisle.
- Create a rail link from Carlisle to Belfast with a bridge between Stanraer and Larne.
- Improve the Carlisle to Newcastle rail line.
- Electrify the Glasgow to Carlisle rail line via Dumfries.
- Improve operating speeds on both the West and East Coast Main Lines.
The BBC also suggests some roads for improvement.
This is an area to watch.
Northern Opens £23m Blackburn Depot As Part Of Great North Rail Project
The title of this post is the same as this article in Rail Technology Magazine. This is said.
Northern and Network Rail have spent £23m on a new train maintenance depot in Blackburn, opened by rail minister Paul Maynard last week.
The facility has been built with a range of modern equipment and will be used to maintain as many as 30 diesel trains.
In addition to the new King Street Depot, Northern will also open a new operations building opposite Blackburn station. The two facilities are part of NR’s Great North Rail Project, which is expected to invest more than £1bn in improvements by 2022.
It certainly looks like Network Rail and Northern are preparing well for more services in the North West.
I took this picture as I passed on my way to Manchester Victoria, soon after I left Blackburn station.
This Google Map shows the location of the depot with respect to Blackburn station.
Note.
- Blackburn station is in the North-East corner of the map.
- Burnley is to the North-East and Preston to the South West.
- The traincare depot was being built, when this map was taken and is to the right of the red arrow on the map.
From the picture, it would appear that trains have to go into and out of the depot in the Blackburn direction.
But if most trains start and finish their journeys at the station, that probably isn’t a problem.
Good points include.
- At least though the depot is probably within walking distance of the busy station and trains won’t have to go long distances to be services and refuelled.
- There would appear to be plenty of space.
- The depot is ready for Northern‘s new Class 195 diesel multiple units.
Will the depot be used to refuel thew Class 769 trains, if they work through Blackburn?
Good News For Southern Rail Users
In the December 2017 Edition of Modern Railways, there is an article entitled Thameslink Improvements – Coming In Stages.
The sarticle details how the Thameslink services will be introduced and finishes with a section entitled Southern Too, which gives a summary of complimentary changes on Southern.
Chris Gibb told Modern Railways this in an apparently chipper mood.
Whilst the Thameslink changes have caught the spotlight, changes on Southern in May 2018 are of an equally momentous nature. Next year will see the biggest change to the Southern timetable since privatisation, with operations simplified on the Metro network by minimising frequency changes and avoiding conflicts at flat junctions.
The idea is that longer, fixed formation trains will work on the same route all day with the same frequency at peak and off peak.
It certainly would cut out some of the long waits I’ve had on Southern.
I very much believe that in a station that serves say 50,000 residents, that to wait more than thirty minutes is a good reason to not go back again.
Will we see a frequency of four trains per hour, as favoured by Merseyrail and the London Overground?
The article also says that most of Chris Gibbs recommendations for Southern have been accepted!
So should we expect more changes?
- Ashford-Hastings to new Southeastern franchise
- Cambridge depot for Thameslink
- East Croydon to Milton Keynes to London Overground
- Gatwick Airport Station To Gatwick Airport
- Hoo Junction Depot
- Innovative electrification on the Uckfield Line
- Moorgate services to the Overground
- More station shelters
- Some little-used stations have too many services
- Too many off peak services
The Moorgate services have already been turned down, but that line generally needs a kick-up-the-backside and at least a good clean.
The Anonymous Widower 