Plant to serve 60 cycle power to this district well advanced

Construction is reported to be well advanced at Hydro's new transformer station at Armitage, south of Newmarket. The station is scheduled to be completed in time to tie in with the frequency conversation program planned for next year in the areas directly north of Toronto between Thornhill and Sutton.

As conversion proceeds, according to Hydro Chairman Robert H. Saunders, the Armitage station will serve each changed-over area southward from Sutton and Island Grove through Keswick, Sharon, Newmarket, Pottageville, Aurora, Oak Ridges and Richmond Hill to Thornhill with 60-cycle power. When the final objective is reached, the entire district will be provided with greatly improved and augmented electrical service at the new frequency.

Up to the present, the districts between Thornhill and Sutton, contiguous to Yonge Street, have been supplied with 25-cycle power from the Fairbank transformer station in the Toronto area. As the 60-cycle power sweeps southward in the wake of conversion, the 25-cycle power will become available for use in districts in Southern Ontario still awaiting conversion.

The Armitage station is "spotted" on the route of the 110,000-volt transmission line which carries power at 60 cycles from the Scaborough frequency changer station to Barrie for distribution in the Georgian Bay Division. It will tap this line, passing on power, stepped down to approximately 26,000 volts, over short feeder lines to existing circuits, as they are clear of 25-cycle current.

To facilitate the conversion program, a temporary feeder line will be built directly across country to Newmarket — no great distance — where a new, permanent 2,000 kva substation will be erected. The construction of this station will more than double transformer resources in the Newmarket area, since the present 25-cycle substation located there will continue to operate at 60 cycles after conversion.

Provides for future

Two banks of transformers will be placed in service at Armitage. Equipment will be three-phase with an original total capacity of 22,400 kva for 60-cycle power. One of the transformer units is of dual frequency type so that its 8,000 kva capacity for 25-cycle will be increased to 14,400 kva when handling power at 60 cycles. The other is 8,000 kva, 60-cycle equipment, which, it is understood, may be replaced by a 15,000 kva unit as frequency conversion proceeds throughout Southern Ontario. If the change is carried out, the total capacity of the Armitage would be brought up to 29,400 kva, regarded as ample transformer provision to meet any increase in power load demand in the area for some time to come.

Construction of the Armitage station was begun last May. During the early part of the summer the site was graded and the railway siding was put in. Since then the concrete footings for the transformer equipment have been placed and the construction of the storehouse and the two houses for the operating staff nearly completed. Work on the footings for the high and low tension equipment is reported to be now under way. The erection fo the steel structures and the installation of the transformers, together with associated tasks, are expected to be carried out during the fall and early winter months. The cost of the new station has been estimated at approximately $454,000.

Railways: C.N.Rys.