What is the distance in actual inches between electric transmission towers? Thanks for your info
That can vary depending on how many wires, weight of the wires, size and strength of the tower and geography concerns. So that being said, pick a favourite prototype transmission line go to Google Earth and use the measuring tool to measure the distance between towers.
The same applies for telephone poles. The poles can be quite far apart with only one or two wires, but once they start adding wire(s) they may put another pole up n between the existing ones.
Brent[C):-)]
First, define, “Tower.”
Are you talking about those skyscrapers that stand about a meter tall in HO scale, or something smaller.
Then, I don’t think you want their separations stated in inches (unless you like playing with large numbers.) Feet, yards, meters or even fractions of a mile might be more useful.
Here in the Southwest, I have seen transmission lines leap vast canyons in a single bound, the individual conductors decorated (every few hundred yards) with big orange ball insulators to keep the stronger winds from blowing them together. If someone wants to bet that the span was over a mile I won’t cover…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Actually those big orange markers are so that they are visible to aircraft. They are required by FARs under some circumstances. Some localities do, however use them for the purpose you stated as well.
Both Bing maps and Google maps have scales shown on their satellite maps. You can find the power lines you are interested in modeling and use the scale to determine spacing.
Actual inches I don’t know. In N scale, I got 4 towers (3 in-between spans) in about 6 feet, but they are supposed to be 100 feet away or so, this a little smaller thn scale to suggest perpective.
Hello, this is an interesting thread, as coincidence had it I had a trip to see my sister that was cancelled, but! She lives near some transmission towers that are very similar to the small & medium sized ones that Walters produces. Until now I have never thought about positioning them, although I have assembled them. Since I am not there I took a chance on Google Maps, & my knowledge of her terrain & made you all a picture. For these (similar to Walthers) they look like they are about a 1000 feet apart. I also copy, pasted, & rotated the legend to get it close to them, & placed it on the same plane.
I will be going down there soon if you want pix & other info let me know, as we will have that opportunity!
Let’s assume you are in HO scale for this example. Let’s also assume the 1000 foot spacing from the previous post, which to me is a very realistic sounding figure. Now a little math:
1000(feet)/87 = 11.49(feet, rounded)
11.49(feet)x12(inches per foot) = 137.88(inches apart)
Now, unless you have a layout some 50-60 feet long, that kind of spacing is likely to (A) limit you to 2, maybe 3 towers on your layout, and/or (B) the spacing is going to “look” too far apart. Just as us modelers often compress structures, yards, and even train lengths to fit our layouts, I wouldn’t fault you for compressing the spacing to a more modest 6 foot or so (which is still roughly 500 scale feet).
Brad