Train Musem Earthing

[Edd]

Hi guys, and the few Girls
I do the Electrical instalation work for this site,

Welcome to Electric Railway Museum

When the DNO connected their supply (to a small green box down the end of the field) they supplyed it with TNCS!

Anyway there was no way I was using that and have installed TT and a three phase board in there.
From there Ive taken a 4 core 25mm SWA off to another area and TTed that seprately and then again off to other places all with their own Stakes.

The trouble is they are starting to fire up the auxilarys on the trains and are taking stuff fed from one area to another.

My Idea is now to Tie all the track together and all the stakes and insert other stakes to make the whole area one Earth zone. Any Ideas or Thoughts.

Thanks
Eddie

 

[Darkwood]

May i ask why you seem to have refused to use the DNO earthing provided?

 

[kingeri]

Why not use the TNCS?

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry darkwood, must have been typing those at the same time!

 

[Engineer54]

No problem with that, the more linked rods in the ground the better, so long as they aren't these thin twigs and all sitting at around 200 ohms, ...lol!!!

EDIT.....

Wouldn't say you have a problem with a PME supply for the main building and any out-buildings per say, but you could where you have introduced an electrical supply to the carriages and engines on the outside tracks. There i would say you have a very similar situation to a caravan installation....

 

[Edd]

Sry the mains supply is not a building more an old BT green box 5ft by 4ft high sitting in a field. My thinking would be if the Neutral went High Res then with multible exported PME points there could be potential diffrences everywhere, totally out of my control, and its all open field work.

Thx

 

[Engineer54]

How come your doing all the electrics on for this museum in Coventry and your located in Essex?? That's a hell of a field trip if, or when anything goes wrong up there...lol!!!

 

[Edd]

Also as its a charity, yep i do it all for nothing I was thinking 20ft scaffold poles as stakes. im using 8ft normal at the moment but that geting pricey..

 

[Edd]

How come your doing all the electrics on for this museum in Coventry and your located in Essex?? That's a hell of a field trip if, or when anything goes wrong up there...lol!!!

Paul the main Tec guy up there is a good friend and its only 2 and a half hrs drive.. and after playing trains theres always BEER!!!! ok I work for beer and theres nothing like waking up in the morning on an old 1970's train with a hang over

 

[Edd]

Oh and I get to design stuff,, the old nucular power plant shunter on the first page top white with 1 on it was donated but the charger didnt work, so i designed and built a 400 V charger its good fun putting all the theroy you learn about motors capacitors etc to real practice..

 

[spark 68]

Hi,
Railways are outside the scope of BS7671 (110.2 (ii)), I know this is a museum, but the exclusion given still applies to rolling stock and signal equipment.

I have no idea what is involved with the railway regs, but I would have to agree with E54, and err on the side of caution and treat it as you would a caravan pitch/marina/livestock shed install (TT), as it is still an outdoors install. This may also ease any bonding requirements.
I only mention the above install types as these are the most onerous in the requirements as far as PME is concerned.

It may be an idea to ask someone involved with railways what else is required, it could for example have lower 25V touch voltage requirements ? (I honestly don't know).

This is a hard one, as you have seperate regs (outside of BS7671) for the signal and rolling stock equipment, and also BS7671 requirements because it is a museum and is open to the general public.
Also the general public may have access to parts that they would not normally have wrt the railway regs, and so you would have to apply the most stringent regs from either set of regs, with the most onerous of both taking precedent.

 

[Engineer54]

Wish you luck driving in 20 foot scaffold poles ...lol!!! 8 Foot rods are not so pricey when you consider this is an area that is open to the public. They and their safety come first. Any instance where a member of the public makes a proven successful claim against this museum, will result in driving up the insurance premium costs, or even making the museum un-insurable until such times as an independent assessor has deemed the installation safe and fit for purpose....

Going down the cheap path on such installations will generally, sooner or later end -up in grief for both the owners and an unfortunate paying customer/client...

 

[Edd]

Wish you luck driving in 20 foot scaffold poles ...lol!!! 8 Foot rods are not so pricey when you consider this is an area that is open to the public. They and their safety come first. Any instance where a member of the public makes a proven successful claim against this museum, will result in driving up the insurance premium costs, or even making the museum un-insurable until such times as an independent assessor has deemed the installation safe and fit for purpose....

Going down the cheap path on such installations will generally, sooner or later end -up in grief for both the owners and an unfortunate paying customer/client...

Very Good point..

 

[Edd]

Snip
.

Thanks, The museam is not linked to or part of or never has been part of the railway network, but i do take notice of what you say.. I think I need to look into how the site should be classed. theres no HV pressent and the rolling stock is all battery ran and 99% are static displays.