powerline walking
written 20221218, updated 20241226.
i have, for years at this point, been working on a twine game about the history of canberra. or a city like canberra.
as you wander around the game world you can for some reason stop to look at utilty poles, substations and transmission towers. electricity infrastructure is beautiful in its way, the way something as invisible as electricity is conveyed all over the place by delicate metal armatures and concrete and timber poles. a lot of the timber poles around canberra are listed as conditionally serviceable, which seems to be a euphemism for on the way out. they’re teetering and splintering and rotting. in places where the ground has eroded around them, you can see the concrete infill and thick metal bolts holding them up.
the term electricity grid makes me think of sol lewitt, of a tidy, coherent arrangement of nodes and connectors. but it’s not, of course. it’s forever rotting into the earth in a million places, or being shorted out in one way or another, or unable to cope with the sweaty demands we collectively put on it.
anyway, who knows when or if this game will get finished. i’m fond of these descriptions of transmission towers and would rather they were online.
2023.05.08
95884
the metal armature, 95884, conveys three tiers northnorthwest, each consisting of two sets of paired lines, plus two neutral lines. a small metal sign above its identifier reads:
t 130
ds 35+15
102/66
below this sign, next to the identifier, there are three small silver metal squares. common cassinia, tall sedge and tussock grow beneath the armature, and brittlegum and wattle in the forest around it. like the other ones you can see further up and down the track, this is a tall and narrow variant of the structure. there is a nest of twigs and sticks balanced in the central scaffold of its third tier.
the armature is accompanied by two concrete poles, each conveying their own set of three lines, plus a neutral line, also northnorthwest. both are amongst the shoulder height vegetation and so inaccessible.
95885
the metal armature, 95885, conveys three tiers northnorthwest, each consisting of two sets of paired lines, plus two neutral lines. this is a tall, narrow structure, overshadowing the track and lower slopes of the mountain. the circular, concrete pillars holding it in place are partly exposed. blowfly grass, cauliflower bush, cassinia, golden everlastings and several young brittle gums grow around it.
there is a small metal sign bolted below the identifier, facing away from the track. it is too far away to read.
although it is not the highest point on this track (you can see the transmission lines conveyed to further and higher armatures), this area feels more exposed. there is no cover. the wind seems to be blowing constantly up and around you from the gullies on either side.
off south, past the mountain substation and crossing the lake, you see parliament house and the hills behind it. a little closer, partly obscured by the trees, is the tower at the heavy ion accelerator facility, a brutalist-era building with a wave shaped profile and a giant, reflective sheet of metal bolted around three sides.
2023.05.06
95878
the metal armature, 95878, redirects three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, from eastwest to southwest. the lines are insulated with glossy ceramic coils on both sides, and connected to eachother by cables that resemble a trapeize. the armature is squat and rises nowhere as far from the ground as the other ones you can see further up and down the ridgeline. its base is wider and straddles a dense patch of bentgrass, corkscrew grass, cauliflower bush, daphne heath, ploughshare and red-stemmed wattle, tall sedge and teatree, through which a narrow dirt channel passes.
in its centre there is a shattered tree stump.
a small metal sign below its identifier reads:
t 50
a-10
102/66
the high voltage keep out sign is held in place by three small metal squares coloured blue, red and tan. at each corner of the armature there is a metal ring with eight protruding spikes.
from this low rise, near a corner of the mountain where the eastwest and northsouth highways intersect, you hear the passing traffic, and see the transmission lines conveyed down from the armatures to the east, past which the city and the beacon on mount ainslie are visible.
95879
you walk around this armature searching for its identifer tag, before finding it on the side that was facing the trail after all. the metal armature, 95879, conveys three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, eastwest, evenly balanced across its frame.
the ground around it is open and covered in weeping grass, which is why you were able to so easily circle it. bentgrass, bushy needlewood, cauliflower bush, roo grass, tall sedge and wattle grow in iolated patches.
a small metal sign below its identifier reads:
t 49
s-10
102/66
at least, that’s what you think it reads. the metal is dusty and worn down. the s could just as well be an a and 66 could as easily be 68
a tiny plaque has been stuck on one of the beams, reading, a—–, 1988-2009.
at each corner of the armature there is a metal ring with eight protruding spikes. the usual high voltage keep out sign is here, but the area within the perimeter of the armature is so overgrown that there would be no getting in anyway. you can hear the crickets chirping within it even over the noise of the passing traffic.
95880
the metal armature, 95880, conveys three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, eastwest, evenly balanced across its frame. a small metal sign below its identifer reads:
t-48
s-20
102/66
there are two small metal squares fixed to a low beam, next to the high voltage keep out sign, in blue and unpainted silver.
this is an exposed area of the mountainside with not much cover. the armature rests on a portion of the ridgeline that rises above the fire trail, although the soil has eroded down so that the circular, concrete pillars holding it in place are partly unearthed. clustered and golden everlastings, heath and tussock grow on the bare rise itself. further back, under the armature and receding into the forest, grow cassinia and wattle.
there is a messy nest of twigs way up in the crossbeams of the armature. you attempt to puzzle out what kind of bird might decide to nest here. a magpie, maybe? right now anyway, it seems quite abandoned.
2023.03.11
95887
the metal armature, 95887, conveys three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, evenly balanced across its frame, south-southwest. its lower scaffold is ringed with seven concentric lengths of barbed wire. golden wattles are growing all around it. their dense leaves hang through and over the lower and middle rungs. the trail passes underneath, bordered by centaury and tall sedge.
from here, you can see the lines continuing for several hundred metres across patches of dense forest, several lines of fencing and the highway to the next armature halfway up black mountain. there is no direct route you can take from here to there.
2022.12.18
95888
the metal armature, 95888, conveys three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, evenly balanced across its frame, southsouthwest. its lower scaffold is ringed with seven concentric lengths of barbed wire. also at this level, next to the high voltage keep out sign, there are three small squares fixed to one of the beams in blue, white and tan. the ground beneath it is bare except for a sturdy brown lichen growing among the gravel, but it is surrounded by burgan, centaury, flax lillies, hairgrass, roo grass and wattle.
a small metal sign below its identifier reads:
t 44
s 20
102/66
common butterflies and cabbage moths frequent the area.
95889
the metal armature, 95889, conveys three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, evenly balanced across its frame, southsouthwest. its lower scaffold is ringed with seven concentric lengths of barbed wire. it rests in the marshy saddle between the two ridges, among mustard, roo grass, saint john's wort, umbrella sedge, windmill grass and scattered gums, and it is only by following a spiralling path through all this growth, hopping between the flooded pools, that you can get close enough to see its identifier and an illegible metal sign underneath.
cabbage moths and bees hover in the undergrowth. passing between several gums, you have to duck to avoid the spiderwebs.
95890
the metal armature, 95890, conveys three sets of paired lines, and two neutral lines, evenly balanced across its frame, southsouthwest. its base is overgrown with bentgrass, dandelions, saint john’s wort and several young gums, so that you can only observe the armature from a distance. its lower scaffold is ringed with seven concentric lengths of barbed wire.
a small metal sign below its identifier reads:
t 42
s 10
102/66
there is the sound of traffic from the highway a few metres away.
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