Telegraph poles

[Anonymous]

I have a few old glass insulators that I picked up along the Santa Fe line in Santa Fe Springs California in the late '60s. I have found that inverting them, putting a small brass chain around the wire recess, plus three chains about 2 feet long to hang them from the ceiling. A votive candle fits in nicely for a mood light.

[Modelcar]

...What am I remembering about these "glass" insulators that they contained some harmful material such as PCB's...or something like that....Any comments...?

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Train Guy 3

Any railrans here collect glass insulators?

I've got about 30 or so, and many different ones. A couple of rubber ones, some of the threaded wooden pegs, and even half a cross arm. I also have an example with the wire still tied on.

They turn up at garage sales a lot, for a buck or two. Most of mine have come from hikes along the right of way, shortly after the poles came down. You don't find too many good ones if you aren't there pretty fast after they come down. Most are busted.

[tree68]

Ahhhh - the sound of the wind blowing through the wires....[:D]

[Anonymous]

Just as a historical footnote to MC's post, the original Sprint LD system was set up by SP to make a little extra money selling excess capacity on their in-house comm/PABX systems. And it was something that was well-run and innovative at the time--one of the first entities to take advantage of the Ma Bell breakup. We bought their servive early on, and for the era it was well-thought out with features that you couldn't get anywhere else, like on-like accounting code insertion per call. The down side was that (originally) you were limited to locations where the SP network/PABX operated, which was the SP service areas plus big cities where they had offices.

[Train Guy 3]

Any railrans here collect glass insulators?

[UPTRAIN]

I didn't know that...lol.

[mudchicken]

Also on there are/ were electric lines, message phones, CTC code lines, western union & other lease lines. There are still message (ds) phones and electric lines in use all over. Pole lines are dinosaurs in this day and age, but if they still work - they are used. Don't assume the line is inert.

Fiber optic cables and microwave systems are in use all over. Railroads have the largest private telecom systems in the country, a fact often forgotten.

[REDDYK]

Now, any old railroad photo will show a row of poles with 40+ single wires on glass insulators on crossarms. I always believed them to be telegraph wires. Most of them are gone, but not all. Does anyone use a telegraph today? Or is it possible that the RR uses these remaining wires for lineside signals of some type? I always wonder how CSX Jacksonville can operate a switch in Ohio.