Was out on my usual five mile walk the other day and although it was fine and dry, there was a very cold wind blowing down from Iceland, and I spotted these guys painting the pylons.
With a brush and a tin of paint in their grasp they were abseiling up and down the pylons.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures, but I only had my phone in my pocket and it’s the cheapest most basic phone I could find. I only keep it to tell Mrs Fox I’m still alive and will soon be home for my dinner…
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It never occurred to me that pylons had to be painted, Foxy, thank you!
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I think they are all professional climbers Tabby, and get paid for each pylon they can complete in a day. They don’t hang about (if you pardon the pun) and paint goes everywhere, I understand that they throw all their clothes away after completing a pylon…
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Might have been cheaper in the long run to use galvanized steel.
Electricity can be dangerous
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Foxy, I’m an electrical engineer but I had no idea about that. I appreciate your post!
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And I used to think I had it tough when I couldn’t get a tea break.
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What if they need a toilet 
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Aim well away from the power cables.
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Interesting pics.
I knew they had to scrape off fungus and re-paint pylons every so often but I’ve never actually seen anyone doing it.
There was a film made about Pylon Painters - about 20 years ago.
Pete Postlethwaite and a small gang of workers were painting all the pylons across the Yorkshire Moors - it was more about the story of the characters than about painting pylons but that’s how I learned pylons had to be painted.
It was called Among Giants
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Why shouldn’t I believe them? Very courageous guys. Reminds me of that famous photo showing workers having lunch atop a NY skyscraper in the 30s.
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Wow, I’ve never heard of that before! What an amazing job.
If I’d thought about it at all I would have thought they got made out of something that didn’t need painting
I did a Google and came up with this
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Thanks for that video @Dachs. Of course, we all know the photo and where it was taken, what building it was etc, but I’ve never seen that video before - fascinating stuff.
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Well spotted @OldGreyFox! Must admit it had never occurred to me that these things would need painting. Crikey, they must have nerves of steel!
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Thanks everyone for your replies and videos, there is some very interesting stuff.
I don’t know why they don’t use galvanised @Ray_Cathode I wonder if it’s down to the cost.
I enjoyed the helicopter ride, those guys must be so skilled to work as quickly as they do.
Thanks @Besoeker I find anything electrical related fascinating… 
Ha Ha Yes Smithy, I don’t suppose they climb all the way down for a cup of tea and a sarny… 
If they need the toilet Minx, don’t stand underneath… 
I think I can remember that film @Boot I thought Pete Postlewaite was a brilliant actor, loved him in 'Brassed Off…
Awesome Photo and clip of film @Dachs, and unlike those blokes painting the pylons, they didn’t seem to be wearing any safety gear… 
A nice find @Maree it’s one of those jobs that doesn’t get much recognition…
Thanks @Bathsheba, I’m always thinking about the forum while I’m out and about, it was just a pity I didn’t take a leaf out of @d00d 's book and always carry my camera…
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Better still would be the use of COR-TEN Steel, but for some reason it has not caught on with the specifiers over here.
@LongDriver Maybe these pylons are pre-corten LD? Probably
are galvanised but need to be de-mossed occasionally to
stop the chance of the current tracking through the moss
when wet !!
These guys were probably using fungacide, hence the need to
to dump their overalls after a shift ?
Donkeyman! 
I don’t know if anyone has seen it, but I read only the other day a report that the government are considering replacing some of the electricity supply infrastructure on pylons with underground cables.
Yes, underground cables for electricity supply is commonplace in cities and built-up areas, but surely not in the countryside. The cost would be enormous, to say nothing of the disruption.
I thought they were made from galvanised steel.
The underground cables are not the EHT of the super-grid pylons. The cost of cable construction/insulation + cooling to run 400kv, 275kv. 132kv and 66kv cables underground would be totally prohibitive and that’s disregarding the cooling needed plus radiation effect of the buried cables. This is why London is served by 22kv cables and smaller locations by 11kv to 6kv.