Hi!
As I have seen countless “telephone poles” along the right of way of various railroads over the years, I am almost embarrassed to ask this question…
In the '40s/'50s, what was the typical distance between the poles? Obviously that number has a range to it, and I suspect it runs between 100 and 200 feet or so - but I just can’t recall.
My reason for the question is so I’ll get them reasonably distanced on the new layout - and want to make sure I have enough on hand.
Thank you!
Mobilman44
I’ve always assumed around 150’ but then what do I know[:-^]
Mobilman,
Michael Burgett wrote an article called, “Stringing details in the sky” (pg. 30-33) in the 2006 issue of How To Build Realistic Layouts. On pg. 32, under Locating a pole line, the author writes the following:
“On average, railroad poles are spaced 100 to 150 feet apart. Most poles are placed no closer than 13 feet from the closest rail, and the bottom wires should be at least 27 feet above ground.”
The entire article is very good, along with the rest of the issue.
Hope that helps…
Tom
On the Canadian prairies at every mile the poles were higher where a road crossed the tracks so it was pretty easy to to count the high poles and calculate the speed of the train(if you were a passenger)
Are they still called “telephone poles???”
Line poles (aka: telephone poles), according to the Book “Trackside and Lineside Detail for your Model Railroad” published by Model Railroader Books:
“Real Poles are spaced anywhere from 40 to the mile (132 feet apart) to 26 to the mile (203 feet apart). In Model work, where distance is always a problem, a shortend spacing of about 80 scale feet is desirable.”
I find that 80’ looks about right in HO.
BTW, the book quoted above is actually a collection of articles by various authors on trackside details and is a wealth of good information.
Here is EVERYTHING I have gleaned over the years:
Hope some of it helps…
How to detail a telegraph pole.
(BTW, these would be the poles along the track “Right of Way”)
Materials required:
Telegraph poles
Xacto knife with fresh No.11 blade(s) - depending on how many poles you have.
Razor Saw
Polly Scale paints: Weathered (or grimy) Black, Rail Tie Brown , Some form of Bright Blue, and New Gravel Gray are what I used.
Maybe a fine Jeweller’s file.
2 Paint brushes - one needs to be a 15/00 or better. About 7 hairs will do.
Pin Vise and a No. 57 Drill or whatever works for you.
Floral Wire or straight pins.
ACC cement.
Steps
Now you can be finished at this point. But I went a step or two further.
Hi, and thank you all!
As I recall, I used 18 inches on my last layout, which is about 150 HO feet. This fits pretty well with what you all have mentioned.
I used Atlas poles on the last layout as they were the only ones available in the early '90s when the layout was built. I “roughed them up”, and painted the insulators a metallic green, and weathered and Dull-Coated them. I cut off the base, and drilled holes in the plywood and secured with hot glue. As I have about 30 or so new ones, I will probably do the same on the new layout, but secure with caulk or the like. Ha, hot glue works wonders and lasts forever, but those “stringy things” were a real pain.
Thanks again,
Mobilman44
I don’t think the spacing has changed over the years. Trains published a pic of the MN&S running along my street in 1959, the telephone poles were the same when I moved from there in 2006.
As with many things in model railroading, you might need “selective compression”…it could be that putting the poles at exactly prototype spacing might make them look too far apart and/or make the mainline next to them seem shorter.
The number of poles per mile along railroad tracks varied greatly, from the high twenties up to 40. Most seemed to be in the 32-35 pole per mile range. The tenth poles were marked in some way, a typical method was an aluminum band about 6-8 inches wrapped around the pole about 10-15 ft high, one band for every ten poles. So pole 10 would have 1 band, pole 20 would have 2 bands, pole 30 would have 3 bands. No attempt was made to convert poles to 10ths of a mile on many roads, they just gave locations in miles and poles. So a slow order might be from mp 153 pole 10 to mp 153 pole 31. Starting in the 1980’s the railroads were retiring pole lines and went to signage marking 1/4 miles along the tracks.
I know trhat Aleksandr Graham Bellofski was the first telephone pole.[:P]
Just in case someone else misinterprets this, note that the poles along the railway line are for the railway’s telegraph and dispatcher phone lines, and not typically for Bell’s phone lines.
That is however excellent information for detailing city scenes or poles along roads on the layout.
Mobilman,
Make sure you also take a look at Rix Products telephone poles. For $5 you get 12-16 poles - 30’ & 40’. Up to 5 armatures can be added to each pole. I think they look much nicer than the Atlas ones. I also like to “rough up” the poles by scraping them with the razor saw blade.
Tom
80’ sounds like a good ballpark figure but way too taxing on my brain to do the conversion from scale to actually distance so I think I’ll just go with one actual foot. I’m getting close to the point where I’m going to be installing mine so this is all good information.
I recently did some forced perspective and put in a couple N scale houses just below the top of a large hill. I decided the scene needed some utility poles to look right. I was too lazy to research so I placed them 8" apart and that looks reasonable.
Since I will be doing this sometime soon on my layout, I’ve taken the time to observe actual poles both in rural and urban settings. I always assumed these poles were creosote soaked and dark but I have noticed that the poles out in the country have been weathered over the years so they have become bleached out to a grayish shade. Also, due to some residential development in the area northeast of Columbus, OH, new lines an poles were installed along US 62. These new poles seem to only have a dark creosote stain at the bottom, about 6’ above the ground. Above that, that are light brown. I’m guessing some staining was done for protection but not as thick as near the bottom. Another thing I have noticed is that many of the new poles being installed in our area are metal rather than wood. We had an ice storm several yea
I saw both being used. I think it would also depend on which went through the district first or something like that. If I had my druthers I’d just bring them through the tunnel though as I saw that a lot more than the other. If these lines were High Voltage lines I saw those being brought over the tunnel.
I know with the bridges around here we either had poles being used, powerlines brought together and conduited through, or crossbars just attached to the bridge below, and to the side of, the deck.
I’m not sure the exact correct footage, but out in the country in central Indiana, along the CSX main, it looks like this: http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype%20Train%20Photos/6-9-073.jpg and this: http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype%20Train%20Photos/Videos/?action=view¤t=90d15f72.flv
Well in HO scale, 1 foot equals 87 real feet (1:87 scale) so 80’ in HO would be…about one actual foot. [:)]
If it’s real mountains like the Rockies, they may need to run the lines in a conduit thru the tunnel. If it’s just in hilly country, they would run the poles over the hill. Usually it’s easy to spot, the area around the poles is usually clearcut for maybe 50’ or more on either side of the pole line, so there’s an obvious clear spot over the top of the hill.
Every other pole has the cross are mounted on the other side of the pole.
