String Lining

[tree68]

I always figured that the permanent steps were higher up as a security device of sorts - at least the casual climber wouldn't be able to get there.  They, too could bring a ladder, of course.  Never considered the box van issue - but I've lived in rural areas most of my life.

Nowadays it's rare to see anyone climbing a pole, or even evidence of same - everyone works out of a bucket truck.

As for spikes - I've seen video of lumberjacks coming down trees in great bounds - almost like what you'd see of someone rappelling.  All they had was their spikes and waist belt - a miss would not have been a pleasant experience.

Back on the box vans - NYC rescue trucks are built with a rub rail placed so they can get down narrow, uneven streets lined with box vans.  Saves scratching up the paint (on the fire truck, anyhow)

[SD70Dude]

Safety first, indeed!  I'll bet all that working at heights was without proper fall protection too, by today's standards anyway.

And here's something for NDG, an open-air observation car all shined up and ready to roll, with a matching F-unit:

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42373

[blue streak 1]

NDG  That g-- awfull lead cable .  Did you have to add the gas pressure tanks on some of the cables ?  We still have a few in our neighborhood.

[Paul of Covington]

   NDG, that makes sense.  Put them high enough to not cause damage or get bent.

   And, Balt, I've also noticed them using ladders to get to the first steps.   I'm not sure, but I think I only remember seeing the wood steps many years ago.

[NDG]

 

Pole Steps.

 

I worked for The Bell lightyears ago.

 

( These illuminated globes are collectible! )

 

http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/32541/28028704_1.jpg?v=8D508641D49F090

 

City poles were stepped so the Installer/Repairman did not have to carry climbers around if they did not have a truck. In the Depression and the War, Trucks were not always available and men sometimes went job to job by streetcar, depending on the Service Orders ( As in Apartment Visits where the Terminal was in the Basement or Boiler Room ) carrying some tri-way wire in a carton, wire tacks,  hammer and one telephone instrument. Some of old tri-way wire came in white or brown, and had Red/Green/Yellow Silk Identifier inside for Ring/Tip/Gnd. Later wire had None/One/Two ridges on outside of each wire.

 

In the Fifties JKTN three, then four way wire came in, the new wire being Black, all wires in a Sheath, and a staples used.

 

Blah, Blah, Blah.

 

Portable pole steps could be carried, they fitting on a special attachment driven into pole, as here, the step carried inside body belt bag w hammer, drive hooks, drop wire clamps and so on.  ( Story later. )

 

https://www.macleanpower.com/products/item.asp?ITEM_ID=2197

 

These were better in some ways. Nothing protruded from pole at alleys where trucks turned in and out, the metal steps up higher driven in were often bent right around by trucks, and those that did not bend tore the HELL out of a van box.

 

With no wedge steps, it was much harder for kids or vandals to climb the pole and show off or cut drops to residences or put up Clothes Lines, rope and pulleys, Monday, was wash day, from poles to Residences were a problem, impeded SAFE climbing and were tolerated by Co. but, always a fight w clothesline owners.

 

In tenement districts a pole could have 20 TWENTY pulleys on hooks screwed in.

 

Rule Number One re pulleys was the POLE pulley ALWAYS Screeched and was annoying on hot summer days.

 

Another story some other time re Pole Pulleys in the Bell.

 

In older districts from 1800s, pole lines were often on street at the curb and the Installer climbed them on steps to access Terminal in Lead Cable, or Later PIC. Ideally two steps were driven, one on each side of pole, about 5 feet down from working height on Terminal so Installer had level footing. After a half-hour or more on one pole step awaiting Test Center or Frame a foot got really sore if only one step at right height.  The terminal three feet from pole along strand as new pole put in, was awful!!

 

Anyway.

 

I was up this pole in a tough neighbourhood working in a lead terminal and I had to lean over a bit, sidewalk and parked cars below.

 

I saw this man walking along the sidewalk and I looked to see where the Linesman Hammer was in my belt.  Safety First, here, too.

 

YES! It was just tipping out of the Canvas Bag and was on it's way down, head first!

 

Quick arithmetic calculated he would walk past and it would JUST miss his head.

 

If I yelled, he would stop, and look up and get it in the face.

 

IT MISSED!! less than 2 inches and went CLACK, CLACK on the sidewalk.

 

He turned and saw hammer jumping around, and looked up.

 

He said many bad things as my cheeks burned.

 

Could have hit the window on a Packard or a Cadillac, tho'?

 

He could have thrown the hammer back, or kept it.

 

Mais, C'est Ca!

 

Back when Step was following Steam into history.

 

FWIW

 

Poles were stepped as climbers put downward holes into wood of pole. This tore up pole if climbed frequently, and allowed rain to get in beyond treatment and cause rot. Poles were to be tested with screwdriver if ANY doubt as to their integrity before climbing.

 

Safety First!!

 

Thank You.

 

[BaltACD]

Paul of Covington

 

NDG

Note first three pole steps are wedges of wood before changing to driven-in metal version located above heads of people passing by. 

    Ah, yes, I remember that the lower few steps were wood.  I always wondered why.  The only thing I can come up with now that I realize that they screwed in is to discourage people from removing the steel ones.   (???)

Most of the poles I have seen that have 'steps' in them - the metal 'steps' begin well above normal human height and reach - linemen use their climbing spurs to climb to the level where the 'steps' can be used.

[Paul of Covington]

NDG

Note first three pole steps are wedges of wood before changing to driven-in metal version located above heads of people passing by.

    Ah, yes, I remember that the lower few steps were wood.  I always wondered why.  The only thing I can come up with now that I realize that they screwed in is to discourage people from removing the steel ones.   (???)

[blue streak 1]

BaltACD

Was joy riding with my Triumph TR-7 convertible a week or so ago and ran through a rural hamlet with this kind of street lights.

 

Yes we had them in our home town also.  I remember a few years ago that saw the same type light shade and incandescent bulb hanging from canopy on an Amtrak platform .  It may have been SAS but not sure. ?

[tree68]

NDG

Thank You, Sir. for posting the photo of the old light w the enameled shade.   They used to be EVERYWHERE in rural towns. 

We had them in Milford (MI) as well.  Used to notice them in the early hours of the morning whilst delivering the Detroit Free Press.

Never had any control of the street lights, but I did know where the switch was for the Christmas lights, which the police turned on and off each night.  Turned them on (and back off!) a few times on my morning rounds.

[NDG]

 

Streetlight.

 

Thank You, Sir. for posting the photo of the old light w the enameled shade.

 

They used to be EVERYWHERE in rural towns.  Lamps with houses close by could have part of the shade/reflector bent down @ 90 degrees to keep direct bulb illumination out of bedroom windows.

 

Ah Yes.

 

Memories.

FYI.

 

Another streetlamp of type mentioned.

 

http://www.jumpingfrog.com/images/photo34/pix0021.jpg

 

Note first three pole steps are wedges of wood before changing to driven-in metal version located above heads of people passing by.

 

The metal version was threaded so it could be ' backed out ' when being removed on changing pole.

 

Ones here stamped ' BTCo ' on them.

 

http://alliedboltinc.com/productimages/Spike%20Head%20Pole%20Step%201.jpg

 

Thank You.

[Deggesty]

BaltACD

Was joy riding with my Triumph TR-7 convertible a week or so ago and ran through a rural hamlet with this kind of street lights.

 

When I was growing up, this was the style of the street lights in my home town--they were generally hung over the middle of the street intersections.

When one of my middle brothers (9 /12 years older than I) was in high school, he carried the morning paper--and turned the streetlights off in the morning. He also worked in a general store (in turn, my brother next to me and I worked in the same store. Because those two had red hair, the storekeeper called each one "Red"--and called me the same even though my hair was brown.

[tree68]

BaltACD

Was joy riding with my Triumph TR-7 convertible a week or so ago and ran through a rural hamlet with this kind of street lights.

A common practice in Michigan seems to be to suspend a light (probably still mercury vapor, or not) over the middle of an intersection.  A good many are of the style generally used for residential or farm yard lights...

[BaltACD]

Was joy riding with my Triumph TR-7 convertible a week or so ago and ran through a rural hamlet with this kind of street lights.

[tree68]

blue streak 1

Tree.   Did not know those jackleg sodium vapor salesmen invaded the north.  Most of the small towns around here that suffered thru the orange glow have gotten rid of them with LEDs now the norm. Cannot believe you still have them ?

Doesn't seem like that long ago we still had mercury vapor...

Most commercial concerns are changing over to LEDs in earnest.  Some streetlights have been converted in the area.  We are a sort of a streetlight "island" - a hamlet 6 miles from the nearest village.  

We have a "lighting district," a line on our property taxes specifically to pay for the streetlights.  I suspect we are at the mercy of our utility for a changeover, as the district has no reserve - it just exists to pay for the operation of the lights.

Unless a grant or something like it comes through, we'll be under sodium for a while...

[blue streak 1]

Tree.   Did not know those jackleg sodium vapor salesmen invaded the north.  Most of the small towns around here that suffered thru the orange glow have gotten rid of them with LEDs now the norm. Cannot believe you still have them ?

[samfp1943]

CSSHEGEWISCH

I am not a ball turret gunner (neither was Dad).  I don't think that I could handle this bridge too well.

"... I don't think that I could handle this bridge too well..." 

  i'm with you, That 'little U-shaped one' at the Grand Canyon was more than enough to prove that to me.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I am not a ball turret gunner (neither was Dad).  I don't think that I could handle this bridge too well.

[Miningman]

Wild Horses could not drag me across...I would beat them off!

Glass bridge: China opens world's highest and longest

• 20 August 2016

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Media captionFootage shows members of the public walking the bridge for the first time

It's finally happened.

The much-heralded "world's highest and longest" glass-bottomed bridge has opened to visitors in central China.

It connects two mountain cliffs in what are known as the Avatar mountains (the film was shot here) in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.

• Do you dare cross China's glass bridges?
• Chinese couple gets married on glass bridge
• China's latest mountain glass walkway

Bridge in numbers

Completed in December, the 430m-long bridge cost $3.4m (£2.6m) to build and stands 300m above ground, state news agency Xinhua reported.

It has been paved with 99 panes of three-layered transparent glass.

And according to officials, the 6m-wide bridge - designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan - has already set world records for its architecture and construction.

Image copyrightAP Image copyrightAP Image copyrightAP

The year of glass bridges

Glass bridges in China have been a popular craze for the daring photo opportunities they provide. Events like mass yoga displays and even weddingshave been staged on several such bridges.

One couple celebrated their special day by dangling in mid-air from a bridge in Pingjiang, also located in Hunan province.

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionIt's not everyone's idea of a special day - but this couple staged a daring shoot

But how safe is it?

This was the question on everyone's minds as the city geared up for the bridge's official opening.

But officials have staged high-profile events to try and reassure the public of the bridge's safety.

Officials sent in sledgehammers and even drove a car, filled with passengers, across the bridge earlier this year.

The BBC's Dan Simmons was invited to take a bash at the bridge.

 

Media captionDan Simmons tests the world's longest glass-bottomed bridge Image copyrightAPImage captionPark authorities deliberately cracked the glass with sledgehammers Image copyrightAPImage captionAnd for good measure, they drove a car full of people over it

Park officials have said a maximum of 8,000 visitors will be allowed on the bridge each day.

So those wanting to add another thrill to their bucket list are strongly encouraged to book their slots in advance. 

Here is the link :

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37127725

 

[tree68]

SD70Dude

How is the smoke and forest fire situation where you guys are?  Alberta is being choked out by smoke drifting over from BC, but we don't currently have any major fires.

Some years ago northern Quebec was besieged with wildfires.  The weather patterns were such that we got smoke here in northern and central NY.  I was driving through Syracuse and the sky had that same weird orangy glow.  

There were several dispatches in my county for folks who could smell the smoke.  Sodium vapor lights are orangish, of course, and between the actual smoke from the wildfires and the glow from the streetlights, there were a few false alarms.

[Miningman]

Yes we have lots of smoke here in Northern Saskatchewan. Been smoke warnings everyday for week now .. as I write this the sunlight coming thru the patio doors makes a weird orange glow on the floor and all over the kitchen. Sky is a blend of grey, very pale blue tints, red and orange. There are pockets of 'fire burning' scents in various areas of the house. It's so still here you think time stopped.

Luv this photo which I'm going to sneak in. Really gives a feel for the Canadian Shield 

Mile 30

[SD70Dude]

Excellent photos!  I had forgotten just how rugged and mountainous northern Quebec is.

How is the smoke and forest fire situation where you guys are?  Alberta is being choked out by smoke drifting over from BC, but we don't currently have any major fires.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4787327

[Miningman]

Thank you NDG. Bridges and Dams. Neither of them make me feel easy when crossing over. 

Back to Mining for a bit. How about the lesser known and lesser reknown Cartier. Quite the operation.

Cartier 

Port Cartier 

Originally Quebec Cartier Mining Company was owned by United States Steel in 1958. The original isolated line of 190 miles was completed December 19, 1960 between the iron ore mine at Lac Jeannine and Port Cartier (formerly, Shelter Bay) with 132 lb. rail and CTC. Power was 9 GMD GP9's and 8 MLW RS-18's to haul 150 car trains with 5 units. 500 ore cars built by CC&F. When the original mine ran out, the line was extended in 1972 a further 86 miles north to Mont-Wright. MLW supplied 5 M636's and another 130 ore cars were added. Other units, used and new were added over the years. Quebec Cartier Mining Company was acquired by Arcelor Mittal in 2006 and became ArcelorMittal Mines Canada in January 2008. 

Note: In the 1990's all C-636 and M-636 units were upgraded with GE 251 Plus kit that included microprocessor control.

ArcelorMittal 

Aerial view of Mont-Wright and closeup of Fire Lake ore train. Ore will be further processed here. 
Fermont, QC 7/27/2006 Rod Bushway

---

41 leads 46 and another unit returning with empties from Port Cartier. May 26. 1994 

87_48_79 heading towards Port Cartier. May 26, 1994 

73 and several other units shop track Port Cartier. May 24, 1994

[NDG]

 

FYI.

 

 

When I heard of the collapse, I immediately thought of the Kinnard Bridge.

 

https://files1.structurae.de/files/photos/2094/0991_kinnaird_s0002304.jpg

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/4388793/italy-bridge-collapse-canada-design-bc/

 

http://staging.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMFHZM_Kinnaird_Bridge_1965_Castlegar_BC

 

 

Just upstream on Kootenay.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Suspension_Bridge

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Brilliant_Suspension_Bridge_Kootenay_River.JPG/800px-Brilliant_Suspension_Bridge_Kootenay_River.JPG

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@49.318158,-117.631519,8299m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

 

Brilliant Dam. Just upstream. Kootenay River.

 

https://kootenaymodelrailway.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_3905.jpg?w=760

 

Thank You.

 

 

[NDG]

SD70Dude

Dust in the streets of Herculaneum, Missouri ended up being 30% lead.  Dirty business.

http://www.kbia.org/post/end-lead-laced-era-polluting-smelter-close-after-120-years#stream/0

 

 

" Leaded. "

 

Urban Legend says the soils near an old Smelter down here are quite high in Lead content from procedures used c. 1900 and that it is still possible for people to get " Leaded " from them.

 

Trees once killed for miles around Smelter back when.

 

 

Concentrates of Lead and Zinc used to ooze from shorty ore cars in wet weather in yards all thru here.

 

Most common type of ore car used here in later years. Note roller bearings inside journal box.

 

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_rolling/377228.jpg

 

From this site.

 

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_rolling/two.htm

 

 

Slave Lake Division ore car used ex Pine Point, NWT. Built new for this service. CN  hoppers carrying concentrates, also.

 

https://search.nbca.unbc.ca/uploads/r/northern-bc-archives-special-collections/9/3/2/932b050fd0540c4cc8f0d7e02da610b667efe2d758d323ba2a98cd43daec2d6d/2013_6_36_1_028_38.jpg

 

 

Thank You for all your Postings, information and photos!

 

The CNor ten wheelers are especially elegant! and there were many of them.

 

You are doing a great job, Sir!

 

Thank You.

[AgentKid]

Miningman

http://railways.library.ualberta.ca/Images/Maps/CanadianNorthernWesternRailway.jpg

Agent Kid and all-- the third link shows the branch down to Sheerness and it's clearly labelled!

I wanted to thank you for thinking of me with this post.

At some point I want to get back to you on many interesting posts and threads you have made over on the Classic Trains forum.

Bruce

 

[SD70Dude]

A happier sight, passenger and freight:

http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=34355

C'mon 100,000 views!

[SD70Dude]

Dust in the streets of Herculaneum, Missouri ended up being 30% lead.  Dirty business.

http://www.kbia.org/post/end-lead-laced-era-polluting-smelter-close-after-120-years#stream/0

[Miningman]

NDG and Overmod-- Thankfully we have come a long way with Lead processing and Smelting and a lot of remediation has been done. 

I was offered employment with Doe Run in Missouri at the same time I was offered the position where I am now. It was for field work in exploration and extending the reserves with an aggressive diamond drilling program. Never met Ira though!

Wonder if he read too many Scrooge McDuck comic books. Quite the estate but Gates and Zuckerburg will out do him. 

 

[Overmod]

But doesn't the Special Instruction here refer to isolating single traction motors on particular units (which would screw up any number of things on poorly-maintained electrical systems) and not just taking some units off the line in a given consist to minimize effective TE?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

While both CN and NAR had GMD1's riding on six axles, CN's GMD1's in the 1900 series were built as B-B units, they also had steam generators.