Huge transformer is on the move through region
A huge 225-ton transformer flanked by police outriders is coming through Staffordshire and the Black Country this weekend.
Traffic lights, road signs, bollards and a lamppost will be temporarily removed to allow for the 190ft-long electricity transformer to be transported. It is being carried on a trailer to a National Grid sub-station in Painswick Close, on the border of Walsall and Sandwell, tomorrow.
It was initially built 5,500 miles away in South Korea and will arrive by ship in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, before being lifted onto a low-loader for the final 100-mile leg. The trailer, flanked by police outriders and supported by a specialist haulage transport team, will travel at about 12mph.
Its route through the region will take in Penkridge, the M6 and Wednesbury before heading towards the Yew Tree estate. The journey from Ellesmere Port started on Thursday.
National Grid said residents had been informed of the 'exceptional delivery' and its route, and have asked people not to park along the roads affected. If parked vehicles are stopping progress, they will be towed aside by the police.