RRspatch wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:15 am
scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 7:14 pm
Used to be fed from only Landover?
This has changed?
Long story on how Washington Terminal and Ivy City were fed from Landover.
Back when the PRR electrified the line into Washington the transmission lines ran a roundabout route from Landover to Union Station. From Landover they ran along the freight bypass to the Virginia Avenue tunnel. There they entered into a conduit that ran along the tunnel wall and onto the Virginia Avenue substation on the southside of the tunnel. From this substation they ran in an underground tunnel to the substation located next to the REA building. About 10 or 15 years ago Amtrak built a high voltage transmission line from Landover to Ivy City yard along side the Magruder branch (Landover to CP Avenue). This was done for two reasons -
1) CSXT wanted to rebuild the Virginia Avenue tunnel for double stacks and wanted the high voltage lines out of the tunnel.
2) PEPCO wanted to close the Bennings power plant and with it the 25Hz generator that fed the south-end. Today the south-end is fed from a 60Hz to 25Hz solid state step down transformer at Jericho Park where PEPCO's high voltage lines crossover the tracks.
Today if you follow the line from Landover to Ivy City on Google maps you can see the new transmission towers on the westside of the tracks. A new substation was built at the very north-end of Ivy City yard to feed Ivy City and Union Station. I'm not sure if the old substation next to the old REA building is still used.
As far as I know, Union Switching (Sub 25A, according to Wikipedia) is still very much in use and contains all of the section switches, breakers and monitoring equipment for the entire Union Station complex.
Was the 138kV substation off Virginia Avenue in the District always called by that name? Every reference I’ve read elsewhere says that it was called Capitol Sub, and that it fed Union Switching via a set of 12kV insulated feeders through the First Street Tunnel and another switching station in Potomac Yard via the 12kV catenary.
Also, was PEPCO actually the operator of the Benning Road frequency converter? Wikipedia claims that BGE was the operator, and is the operator of the Jericho Park cycloconverters today, but we all know how accurate Wikipedia sometimes isn’t…
I’d love to know if any leftover artifacts of the electrification were found in the Virginia Avenue tunnel when CSX rebuilt it again for double track.
RRspatch wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:15 am
Interesting side note - the catenary sectionalizing switches at Ivy City were located at Landover Tower. I still remember that breaker (25Y) tripping at least once a week during my Landover days. Never could figure out why that breaker wasn't in K Tower. Damn that power board bell was LOUD.
Completely random guess: Landover Tower was controlled and staffed solely by the PRR, while K Tower was controlled and staffed by a pool of employees supplied to/by the Washington Terminal Company, and the latter didn’t want to be responsible for one of its constitutent’s dedicated infrastructure.
RRspatch wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 2:04 am
TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Mon Dec 20, 2021 4:09 pm
You wouldn’t need a new substation, but you would need a new switching station and additional 13kV feeders from North Point and Chase Substations.
One of the reasons why the HHP-8s were so unreliable is because the switching station at Union Station used to only be fed from Landover Sub, and the breakers at said switching station kept getting tripped.
I remember reading someplace of plans to electrify the MARC yard at Martins as well as install a power switch and signals at the yard. Powering the relatively small yard could be done with a tap off of the catenary on "A" track and a sectionalizing switch. This would be controlled by the power director at Wilmington CETC on his SCADA screen. No need to get too fancy.
How many tracks does Martins have/regularly use? Could you electrify more than two tracks with one tap and one sectionalizing switch?
RRspatch wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 2:04 am
As to how Union Station is fed from Landover see my reply above. I left Amtrak before the HHP's showed up so I don't know how bad they were on power draw at Union Station. Anything starting off from the lower level probably sucks down a lot of amps.
This AREMA conference paper (paywalled/blocked) describes in detail the HHP-8’s effects on the electrification and how badly they were affected prior to the completion of Ivy City Sub and the 138kV transmission line.
