Over the last few years, I have tried to obtain as many magazine articles and books with information on the Lancaster - Morecambe/Heysham electrification.
In the early 1950s, work was undertaken to convert the system to 6.6kV/50Hz from 6.6kV/25Hz. From what I can ascertain the condition of the units was a factor. The source of electricity for the original electrification was, I think, the power station at Heysham docks which was built to provide electricity for the cranes used there and , possibly, was owned and operated by the railway company. From photgraphs taken from the east end of the platforms at Lancaster Green Ayre station after 1953, it looks like there was an electricity sub station located adjacent to the railway lines from which the power was supplied.
I am unable to say what part the condition of the Heysham power station played in the decision regarding the conversion to 50Hz.
Apologies for the uncertainty in my comments but if anyone know of a comprehensive history of this scheme, I would be most grateful for details.
The link to the Facebook group on #128 will take you to a treasure trove of information about the line, including copies of the original MR drawings for the overhead; scroll through the media and you will find a scan of an article from December 1953's Railway Magazine about the conversion to 50 cycles, why it was done, etc
There used to be a power station till 1976 on the road out towards Caton. Close enough to supply a sub station at Green Ayre. Lancaster Corporation then the nationalised generating board owned it. It was by the canal aqueduct. Stuff on wiki about lancaster power station.
According to the article in the December 1953 issue of Railway Magazine, the substation at Green Ayre was supplied by the North Western Electricity Board (the area distribution side rather than the generator - can't remember if the latter was CEGB by then or still BEA)
The Lancaster, Morecambe & Heysham route needs to be viewed as a double test bed
Back in the early 1900s, the MR was apparently thinking about electrifying the Derby - Manchester line over Peak Forest, and two if its engineers were sent on a grand European tour to see what was happening on the other side of the English Channel; they came back and recommended the 6.6kv single phase 25 cycle system, and the LM&H route was electrified as a test bed. Many of the original OHL drawings still exist, and although they were created for specific locations on that route, they should also be seen as prototypes for MR "standard" structures for future electrification schemes.
Electric trains were built at Derby for the route which were technically very advanced; some had Siemens equipment and one had Westinghouse. By 1950 they were worn out as well as being non standard, and although some LMS suburbans had been through wired for use as trailers, the power car interiors were very dated - as a comparison, think of the downstairs on the Burton & Ashby tram at Statfold!
There withdrawal corresponded with SNCF's 25kv electrification of the line through Annecy, and BR sent a team to look at it; as it was deemed that the overhead on the LM&H still had life in it, it was decided to use it as a test bed for 50 cycle schemes, but the original line voltage of 6.6kv was retained. BR worked with industry, and experimental overhead supports suitable for 25kv were erected westwards from Carlisle Bridge (where the WCML crosses over the River Lune) to the next road overbridge; from memory, at least one was reinforced concrete, but visually it was possible to see how some morphed into those erected by BR in the late 1950s/early 1960s
With hindsight, it's difficult to know if BR saw a long term future for this as an electrified route or not. From the Railway Magazine article, the decision to use refurbished EMUs was deliberate, and the LNWR Siemens sets which had been in store since about 1940 were available and rebuilt at Wolverton for their new role; their refurbished interiors - comfortable 2+2 seating! - would compare favourable with many current trains. These trains were also testbeds; one carried the first Faiveley type pantograph in GB, and another was a world first in having a solid state - Germanium - rectifier.
Photos also exist of the converted LM&H sets being tested at Fenchurch Street; at the time of the testing Fenchurch Street would have been electrified at 1500v DC and so I guess a section must have been isolated and temporarily fed with AC. Anyone know anything more about these tests?
The line closed as a Beeching cut, but if it had stayed open I guess it would probably have been de-electrified. Although the EMUs received new traction equipment when rebuilt at Wolverton in the early 1950s, they were over 50 years old at the line's closure, and much of the overhead must have been nearing its life end too; there were some steel gantries (and the experimental section renewed in the early 1950s), but the bulk was basically two wooden telegraph poles planted in concrete and connected with a steel cross-piece, and each was approaching 60 years of age. I guess the clearances on the metal structures would have been OK for 6.25kv, but not for 25kv (especially not on the graceful curved spans on Greyhound Bridge).
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