Nostalgia & History > SP Telephone Pole Spacing?

I'm ready to install my pole lines high in the Oregon Cascades, and need to know the general rule of thumb regarding how far apart the poles were spaced. Anybody have any idea?

Thanks alot

PT Smith

In the absence of accurate mileposts and speedometers, I was told to count 37 telephone poles to get a mile, when doing a speed check. So, I guess divide 5280 by 37.

With most pole lines, they were 250' apart. Both signal and phone. They were kept separate for the most part, with signal on one side and phone on the other.

To clock your speed you would pick a place in the cab and then count "One One thousand, two one thousand". Most of the time it would put you at 60 mph at the first "Thousand" count.


Nudge

Pole spacing varied by territory. On the CRIP we had 40 pole territory, 30 pole territory, and 20 pole territory. I think it was a function of number of wires and curvature. The 40 pole territory was Chicago west, and the 20 pole territory was Herington west, as I recall, but that was a long time ago and I am older now.

spnudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With most pole lines, they were 250' apart. Both
> signal and phone. They were kept separate for the
> most part, with signal on one side and phone on
> the other.
>
> To clock your speed you would pick a place in the
> cab and then count "One One thousand, two one
> thousand". Most of the time it would put you at 60
> mph at the first "Thousand" count.
>
>
> Nudge


I thought on the Coast and the San Joaquin District the spacing was 165 feet which equates to 32 poles per mile... I know that if you go 2 1/2 poles lengths using the counting method one and two and three and you were doing 45. a few places along the Coast the poles are closer together...

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spnudge Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > With most pole lines, they were 250' apart.
> Both
> > signal and phone. They were kept separate for
> the
> > most part, with signal on one side and phone on
> > the other.
> >
> > To clock your speed you would pick a place in
> the
> > cab and then count "One One thousand, two one
> > thousand". Most of the time it would put you at
> 60
> > mph at the first "Thousand" count.
> >
> >
> > Nudge
>
>
> I thought on the Coast and the San Joaquin
> District the spacing was 165 feet which equates
> to 32 poles per mile... I know that if you go 2
> 1/2 poles lengths using the counting method one
> and two and three and you were doing 45. a few
> places along the Coast the poles are closer
> together...


Where I worked I thought it was about 32 poles too. We used to count, "one, and two, and three, and" (which was I think about 3.5 seconds) and if you hit the next telephone pole with the last "and" you'd be doing about 40 mph. That's how we judged our speed down Beaumont Hill when we didn't have an operating speedometer.

JDE

Well RB Frank always reminds me that there are 34 poles to the mile. Thats 155' spacing. Of course, he was referring to the Santa Fe Valley Division; maybe different than the SP standard.

And damn it PT, post some pictures of the layout. It looked awesome so far.

obsessedfoamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm ready to install my pole lines high in the
> Oregon Cascades, and need to know the general rule
> of thumb regarding how far apart the poles were
> spaced. Anybody have any idea?
>
> Thanks alot
>
> PT Smith

Rule of thumb for pole line construction and estimating was 175Ft spacing equating to approx 30 poles per mile. this would vary according to use and terrain.
SP with the exception of the MWP never used pole number identification for MP reference and the MP numbers were located by the engineering dept on the pole nearest to the actual mile.
The Mile Posts on the NWP from Willits to Eureka were set after the loss of the pole line in the Eel River Canyon by Engineering Dept. Surveyors.

Sorry, I was thinking about open wire-pole line construction. You have to place a transposition every 250 feet in order to stop wire hum and building up the wrong signal. They used to put them on the cross arm rather than hang them out, mid span.

I still used the "One one thousand" fixed on something somewhere on the engine and then timing them between poles. As I said, one one thousand came out at 60 mph almost 90% of the time. 40 mph was done by the seat of your pants or back to the MP and the scale in the TT.

I remember one trip from Dunsmuir to K. Falls on Atk where I thought it was a bit fast, didn't feel right, between Mt. Hebron and Dorris. Our TT only went to 80, but I clocked the MPs at 38 seconds, 94.7 MPH. The speedo would go to 79-80 MPH and then stick there. It rode better at that speed than at 79.

Of course when I was firing and later running 98-99 from SLO to SBA, we always made up time on the old areas that used to be 79. I still have a tape that the RH Foreman from LA sent to me on 99 when I took over in SBA the next day. He was telling me in so many words, "Got Ya." That trip we were very late out of SLO but got into SBA early. The tricks the old heads showed you.


Nudge

spnudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry, I was thinking about open wire-pole line
> construction. You have to place a transposition
> every 250 feet in order to stop wire hum and
> building up the wrong signal. They used to put
> them on the cross arm rather than hang them out,
> mid span.
>
> I still used the "One one thousand" fixed on
> something somewhere on the engine and then timing
> them between poles. As I said, one one thousand
> came out at 60 mph almost 90% of the time. 40 mph
> was done by the seat of your pants or back to the
> MP and the scale in the TT.
>
> I remember one trip from Dunsmuir to K. Falls on
> Atk where I thought it was a bit fast, didn't feel
> right, between Mt. Hebron and Dorris. Our TT only
> went to 80, but I clocked the MPs at 38 seconds,
> 94.7 MPH. The speedo would go to 79-80 MPH and
> then stick there. It rode better at that speed
> than at 79.
>
> Of course when I was firing and later running
> 98-99 from SLO to SBA, we always made up time on
> the old areas that used to be 79. I still have a
> tape that the RH Foreman from LA sent to me on 99
> when I took over in SBA the next day. He was
> telling me in so many words, "Got Ya." That trip
> we were very late out of SLO but got into SBA
> early. The tricks the old heads showed you.
>
>
> Nudge

Why was law violation and overspeed by "Hogheads" especially in passenger service such a "badge of honour"?

It wasn't really a badge of honor. You just wanted to get in on the "advertised" but do it safely. Back then, the officers looked the other way, knowing you wouldn't get them or yourself into a jackpot. As Robert Proctor Swanson used to say, "Go like hell but don't bruise the olives in the cocktails on the bar car."

Besides, the dispatchers knew who would "Go" and who dragged their feet. A hogheads reputation meant a lot for getting over the road. If you diddled along, the dispatchers would put you in the hole somewhere to die. Ones that would go, they would help over the road as much as they could.


Nudge

spnudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It wasn't really a badge of honor. You just wanted
> to get in on the "advertised" but do it safely.
> Back then, the officers looked the other way,
> knowing you wouldn't get them or yourself into a
> jackpot. As Robert Proctor Swanson used to say,
> "Go like hell but don't bruise the olives in the
> cocktails on the bar car."
>
> Besides, the dispatchers knew who would "Go" and
> who dragged their feet. A hogheads reputation
> meant a lot for getting over the road. If you
> diddled along, the dispatchers would put you in
> the hole somewhere to die. Ones that would go,
> they would help over the road as much as they
> could.
>
>
> Nudge

"Back then" whenever that was it was commom knowledge that RFE's were known as the "Hogheads" best griever but all the trick dispatcher was authorized to do was Call Crews, Issue train orders and clear signals. not authorize rule violations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/10 12:10 by JLY.