50s telephone poles

[The Ferroequinologist]

jerryl; Model Railroader has had a number of articles on how to model pole lines correctly.

[markpierce]

Utility poles along Main Street, Small-Town, USA (Sebastopol, CA), date 1948.

 

 

Mark

[jeffhergert]

grizlump9

 on the subject of lineside poles, i remember as a kid riding the Mopac and seeing all the poles along side the track with numbers painted on them to mark the mileage  what other roads did this?  and, did they also use conventional mile posts along with poles?

grizlump

Some railroads attached the plate with the mile number to the pole.  Others used a separate mile post.  I'm sure you could find examples of both practices on the same railroad at different locations.

Many railroads also marked the quarter mile marks on the poles too.  They used rings, either metal bands or painted on the pole for the marks.  A pole with one white ring was the 1/4 mile, 2 rings was the half mile, 3 rings was the 3/4 mile. 

Some railroads used a mile post and pole number for locations (MP 200 Pole 20) instead of a mile post and decimal (MP 200.5).  Many of the spacings would equal about 40 poles to a mile.  In this case the rings could identify the pole number.  One ring was pole 10, two rings was pole 20, and 3 rings was pole 30.

With the demise of pole lines along railroad tracks, signs have been put up for the mile and the quarter counts.  Some places when the poles were removed, the ones with the mile and quarter marks were left up instead of placing new signs.

Jeff 

[Sperandeo]

Hi Jerry,

As others have mentioned, we've covered pole lines in two Model Railroader special issues. How to Build Realistic Layouts, Model the Trackside Scene, in 2006, included Mike Burgett's article, "Stringing details in the sky," about railroad pole lines. How to Build Realistic Layouts, Trackside town and city scenery, in 2008, had Jeff Wilson's story, "Make accurate utility poles and wires," about telephone and power lines. Both special issues are still available on this website.

So long,

Andy 

[cudaken]

  Pole?

 OK, I see some wood

[grizlump9]

 on the subject of lineside poles, i remember as a kid riding the Mopac and seeing all the poles along side the track with numbers painted on them to mark the mileage  what other roads did this?  and, did they also use conventional mile posts along with poles?

grizlump

[tpatrick]

 Q: Who was Alexander Graham Polansky?

Ans: He was the first telephone Pole

[Motley]

BATMAN

 Here's a nice one. Oh and there is also a pic of an old pole.

 

 

 

                                                                  Brent

 

Brent,

Nice Pole!!! Not too bad at all....

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

jerryl

 Need pictures of 50s era telephone poles. I was around at that time , but really wasn't interested then.  Seems they only had 1 cross arm with 3 power lines & 1 telephone line.  does that seem right? thanks

It's not that simple, and it never was that simple.

First, are you aking about poles alone streets that supply power and phone lines to homes and businses? If so the term is Utility Pole - as it carries more than just telephone wires and usually belongs to the power company, not the phone company.

The kind and number of wires depends on a lot of factors - but, pole line practices have not changed much in 60-70 years, at least not in ways that can be observed by the casual viewer.

If you remember poles with less on them then you see today, its only because you now live in a more populous area, requiring more utilities than less populated areas.

But typically - at the top is high voltage, anywhere from 4,160 volts to 13,200 volts, usually 3-4 wires, depending on where you are and what era you are talking about.

Then the next lower wires, which could be wires twisted around a a steel messenger or 3-4 wires on seperate insulators, maybe on a cross arms, or right on the side of the pole, is a lower voltage, which comes into your house. This is typically 120/240 volt, single phase (3 wires total), but may be different in business districts. The power comes from the transformers mounted on the poles at regular intervals has you move along the pole line. Each transformer or group of transformers feeds a small number of homes or businesses. These transformers get their power from the high voltage line at the top.

Then, below that, usually attached directly to the pole with no cross arms, are any telephone and/or cable company wires. Usually larger looking and having large splice covers every so often.

In more populated areas, there will often be more high voltage wires at the top, some of which are thru feeders to other areas of the grid.

Phone companies and power companies do not always share utility poles. In one area they may be shared and right down the street you may fine power on one side of the road and seperate poles on the other side with just phone wires.

This just begins to explain the basics of pole lines. to completely understand all the possiblities you would need to learn more about how power gets to your house fro mthe power company, and how phone system networks are configured.

Pole lines along railroad tracks are railroad equipment. They carry phone and sometimes signal system lines and will have wires and cross arms dependent on the needs of the particular system. could be a lot, could just be a few.

Sheldon

[mobilman44]

Hi!

This subjects been on this Forum and in MR a number of times before, so a search may give to exactly what you are after.  That being said, as I was alive and kicking in the 40s/50s and an avid train watcher, I can speak from experience.....

In my neck of the woods, Chicago & southern Illinois, in the countryside the IC poles were about 150 feet apart (100 may be better for modeling), and on the busy lines and 3 or 4 crossbars, usually with greenish insulators.  On the IC racetrack (which we drove along many times), there were a lot of wires, perhaps 6 to 8 on a crossbar and as I indicated, 4 or 5 crossbars.

On the smaller, less traveled lines, usually there were two crossbars with maybe 6 wires on a bar.  Note that before automatic "this and that", these poles/wires were kept in excellent shape, as they were the basic means of communication/signaling for the RRs.

Traveling the same route today, there are areas where the poles/wires are still up, but they are no longer in use and ravaged by the weather, time, and insulator thieves.

On my previous HO layout, I spaced the poles about 16 to 18 inches apart or so in the countryside, and somewhat closer in "populated areas".  The result was a good representation of the real thing, and when its time to install them on my current under construction layout, I will do the same.

Funny thing... the plastic weathered/painted poles were on the previous 11x15 layout from 1994 until 2008.  I was always concerned that a visitor (or my wife) would snag and break one.  That never happened, and after all those years the only one that was broken was done by me - right before I dismantled it.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44 

[Hamltnblue]

Actually your question has good timing. Cazephyr posted a link to his photobucket pics the other day of 50's train photos.  there are several that have your answer. Some have one cross member, others have several.

http://s806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/Trainsforyou/Fifties%20Steam/?albumview=slideshow

[BATMAN]

 Here's a nice one. Oh and there is also a pic of an old pole.

 

 

 

                                                                  Brent

[Hamltnblue]

Actually in the early 60's I remember dozens of wires on phone poles along railroads. Those would have been installed during the 50's. Phones were mechanically multiplexed and required a lot more lines than they do today. The home page of the link below shows a very populated one.

http://www.sandman.com/telhist.html

[jerryl]

 Need pictures of 50s era telephone poles. I was around at that time , but really wasn't interested then.  Seems they only had 1 cross arm with 3 power lines & 1 telephone line.  does that seem right? thanks