Telephone Pole Spacing

[Anonymous]

I'm setting up an HO layout modeling the D&RGW and need to know the spacing in feet between telephone poles on a main line right-of-way. Can anyone help?

[Anonymous]

In my neighborhood, which is zoned agriculture, its 330'.

[SSW9389]

In railroading it was usually 36 poles to the mile. That is under 150 feet between each pole.

[dehusman]

Telegraph pole spacing varies wildly between railroads and locations. Different parts of the same railroad can have different spacings. Generally there are between 24 and 36 poles per mile.

Dave H.

[mvlandsw]

I have seen 52 poles/mile and also 42 poles/mile in the east.

[Anonymous]

It also depends on what it's carrying and the era you want to depict. The spacing I mentioned. supplies residential power (4 more houses beyond me) on a dead end road (another 1mile to the end). Power from the road to houses and out buildings has been increasingly put under ground over the last 20 years. All the phone lines in my area are underground.

[IRONROOSTER]

Spacing the poles closer together than prototypical will make it look longer.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

mstein,

Thank you for your reply. It's very interesting.

[Anonymous]

ssw9389,

Thank you for your response. Judging from what I see in my Pentrex VCR tape on the Rio Grande mainline operation from Salt Lake City to Denver during the diesel era (GPs and SDs) and your input, it looks like the poles could be spaced between 120 and 150 feet. I'll have to see if I can narrow that down by viewing the tape again.

[Anonymous]

dehusman,

Thank you for your response. Your info is also very interesting.

[Anonymous]

mvlandsw,

Thank you for your input. Good food for thought.

[Anonymous]

ironrooster,

Good point. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

If we're being specific, one issue is what type of "telephone pole" is meant. mstein's response was for power distribution poles. Down country roads and across fields, span lengths are typically 250'-400' (400 is very long, though!). In town, power poles will be 150-250' apart. Telephone poles will be the same, or somewhat less, on average. Railroad telegraph poles will be right in the range you mention, 100-200' .

Happy modeling!

Randy

[bwisch]

Signal poles on the MoPac in the 50's were 132' or 40 per mile. I was a signal maintainer.

[Anonymous]

Due to the off times rough terrain of the D&RGW, the pole line spacing varied quite a bit especially in the mountains. 38+ or - poles to the mile was not uncommon.

[Anonymous]

harperx,

Thank you for your info. I found it very interesting as I'm sure other modelers will also.

[Anonymous]

bwisch,

Thank you for your input. I am modeling in the 50's.

[Anonymous]

dslchuck,

Thank you for your info. I really appreciate knowing this.

[Anonymous]

As a former lineman on the New Haven I think the spacing was 100' to 150"depending on load. Most of the crossarms were 10 pin. Meaning 10 wires and there were 2 crossarms per pole.

[Anonymous]

The companion question is how tall? There is probably a minimum height for the wires and minimum distance between cross arms. Again, era and service would be added variables. I suspect minimum height for wires for 1910 is different than 1940 simply because of automobiles and trucks.

[Anonymous]

You'd need to survey some -
In my town, even the residential streets vary widely... nominally 250' in current construction - but my street (circa 1955) has up to 400' between, depending on slope, curvature, streets...
A railroad is not much different, but I noticed the DL&W used about 250' on the nearby ROW - (poles are mostly gone now), and they are all short and have 4-6 crossbars.
In modelling, 250' to 400' would be very sparse (especially when turning a curve), so the way YOU are going to use that data makes it a bit irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Trub,

Very interesting. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

mstein,

Thanks for the info on how tall.

[Anonymous]

peter-f,

Interesting. Thank you.