Railway electrification - ongoing (sometimes very!) technical discussion

[whole diary]

[John R]

Don't be so negative.

[trainer]

Those responsible for this battery of puns need to be charged.

[Western Pathfinder]

Anyone would think that we had no Ohm's to go to !....

[hoover50]

Resistance is futile.

[hoover50]

Those responsible for this battery of puns need to be charged.

That reminds me of a case where some bloke was arrested for stealing a battery and a firework. The police didn't know whether to charge him or let him off.

[paul7575]

It is with some reluctance that I join this discussion.   Some of you must have nothing better to do at ohm, you contribute with such frequency...   

Paul

[TonyK]

That reminds me of a case where some bloke was arrested for stealing a battery and a firework. The police didn't know whether to charge him or let him off.

The bouncer wouldn't let me into the club because I wasn't wearing a tie. None of my friends had a spare, and the nearest we found was a pair of jump leads. I tied them in a Windsor and went back to the door, where the bouncer looked me up and down suspiciously.
"Alright," he said at last. "You can go in. But don't start anything, okay?"

[chuffed]

I think this is a natural progression from 'GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) electrification is a joke !'

[ellendune]

I notice that Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) is now running 100% on wind power - according to the Guardian

Aside: Don't they have any Diesel Trains?  Or do they make that with wind power. 

[didcotdean]

I notice that Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) is now running 100% on wind power - according to the Guardian

Aside: Don't they have any Diesel Trains?  Or do they make that with wind power. 

There are some DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) in the Netherlands but these are mainly (possibly entirely now from the above claim) operated by others such as Arriva and Veolia. Freight companies also operate diesels.

[Bmblbzzz]

I notice that Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) is now running 100% on wind power - according to the Guardian

Aside: Don't they have any Diesel Trains?  Or do they make that with wind power. 

There are some DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) in the Netherlands but these are mainly (possibly entirely now from the above claim) operated by others such as Arriva and Veolia. Freight companies also operate diesels.

That's just accounting really. More interesting was the idea of connecting solar farms directly to rail:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/10/solar-panel-research-power-trains-imperial-college-london-1010
They claim:

“What is particularly galling is that peak generation from solar and peak demand from the trains more or less match but we can’t connect the two,” explained 10:10’s Leo Murray, who is leading the project. “I actually believe this represents a real opportunity for some innovative thinking.”

So trains don't run at night?

[stuving]

They claim:

“What is particularly galling is that peak generation from solar and peak demand from the trains more or less match but we can’t connect the two,” explained 10:10’s Leo Murray, who is leading the project. “I actually believe this represents a real opportunity for some innovative thinking.”

So trains don't run at night?

Isn't it rather: "doesn't the travel peak ever happen in darkness?" Answer yes, even in London, in the winter.

[Bmblbzzz]

I suppose he means in seasonal terms; there is more travel in summer. But that's rather a vague sort of "peak".

[ellendune]

I suppose he means in seasonal terms; there is more travel in summer. But that's rather a vague sort of "peak".

I was assuming he meant there was more demand during the day.

[TonyK]

I notice that Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) is now running 100% on wind power - according to the Guardian

That is a bit of typical windmill spin (beg pardon). Rail company buys n units of power from "green" company, which produces around n units of power from sub-leased wind turbines intermittently and unreliably, and pumps it into the national grid. Along with gas fired, coal-fired, oil-fired or nuclear powered generators. So rail company can claim green credentials. We had similar with the "poo-powered" bus in Bristol "number 2 route, obviously". Bus is converted to run on natural gas. Bus company makes contract for gas with company that makes gas from sewage. Said gas goes into national supply, from which bus is fuelled, possibly with actual molecules imported from Qatar, but it makes for clever advertising with lots of toilet puns. It has since gone down the pan.
The cleverest was a French bottler of sparkling water that boasted about its product's "natural" gaseousness. As it was tricky to transport fizzy water over long distances, the natural gas was discharged to the atmosphere, then the resulting still water, after a long tanker trip, was re-fizzed when being bottled using gas recovered from the same atmosphere. Which makes it naturally sparkling. I believe they were told this was not on, eventually.