Power poles in rural areas in the early 40s

• May 16, 2016

• #1

p51

One Too Many

Messages

1,116

Location

Well behind the front lines!

I am putting some power poles on my O scale model RR layout and am doing them each with a single crossarm with one insulator on each side.
My questions are this for anyone who really knows an answer"

• What color of insulators was common then? Were green ones even used in the late 30s and early 40s?
• How would it look wired up to a single building along the main line?
• Did each pole have a transformer where it went off to a building? I assume they didn't do that in the 30s and 40s yet?
• What color/type of wire would be correct?

This is all based on a real place, where the rural electrification act hadn't put lines up to the hollows, but the main road into the valley did have electricity and I want to wire up a general store on the layout, nothing else will have power lines to it, and I want to get this right...
FYI, info on my layout can be found here if you have questions: http://www.freewebs.com/willysmb44/modeltrains.htm

 

• May 16, 2016

• #2

HudsonHawk

I'll Lock Up

Messages

4,381

Location

Heaven for men and dogs, Hell for women and horses

Not an expert, but...

I'm pretty sure there were all kinds of colors of insulators by the 1930s...green, blue, amber, clear, etc. There are many websites dedicated to collectors of such who could probably tell you exactly what kind you'd find in your neighborhood.

As for transformers, they were common in various forms from the beginning of the power grid. By the 1930s and 40s, utility poles were part of the landscape and were much more uniform and organized than the earlier hodgepodge of poles and wires. Pole-mounted transformers would have been the norm.

 

• May 16, 2016

• #3

LizzieMaine

Bartender

Messages

33,040

Location

Where The Tourists Meet The Sea

According to the 1935 Graybar Electric Company catalog which I have before me now, there was no choice of color in bulk order of glass pole insulators, nor was there even any standardization of color. Most insulators used at the time were some variety of Coke-bottle green/aqua, which varied according to the sand used to make the glass. That's not to say that different colors of insulators weren't available elsewhere -- but the fact that no choice of color is offered in the catalog suggests that it wasn't something considered particularly important.

Graybar also offered porcelain stand-off knobs for lines running from pole to building in glazed brown or white.

Lines at the pole were commonly sheathed in "Salisbury Line Hose," a grey-black extruded rubber product designed to insulate the cables and prevent induction voltage in telephone lines.

 

• May 16, 2016

• #4

p51

One Too Many

Messages

1,116

Location

Well behind the front lines!

Thanks for the info. I assumed someone here would have some pre-war info on insulators.
But as for transformers, what would they have looked like before VE day?

 

• May 16, 2016

• #5

HudsonHawk

I'll Lock Up

Messages

4,381

Location

Heaven for men and dogs, Hell for women and horses

p51 said:

But as for transformers, what would they have looked like before VE day?

Click to expand...

Substantially like they look today. The common pot transformer has been standard since the 1910s. Maybe this will give you the idea:

And it would have contained PCBs. I assume your model will not be *that* accurate.

 

• May 16, 2016

• #6

HudsonHawk

I'll Lock Up

Messages

4,381

Location

Heaven for men and dogs, Hell for women and horses

A side note about the color of insulators:

Most were some shade of the aqua green, as that was sort of the default color that resulted from the process, as Lizzie points out. You could order special colors, and that was sometimes seen on poles that had a lot of different circuits, which made it easier for a lineman to identify which was which. But other than that, it wasn't something that was given much thought. Much of the different coloring was simply a result of the glass the manufacturer had lying around. Glass companies made all sorts of items, not just insulators, so if they happened to have a bunch of cobalt blue glass, or purple glass or amber glass...that's what was used for the insulators. The colored ones are obviously the rarest.

 

• May 16, 2016

• #7

LizzieMaine

Bartender

Messages

33,040

Location

Where The Tourists Meet The Sea

Dark-green or brown insulators were often made from recycled ginger ale or beer bottles.

 

• May 16, 2016

• #8

p51

One Too Many

Messages

1,116

Location

Well behind the front lines!

Thanks again for the info. It'll be interesting making one of these in O scale but not outside of my ability. As the other poles I made and done and painted, I guess I'll need to make a third one, but I have the castings for the cross arms and plenty of dowel material to make a third from.

 

Last edited: May 16, 2016

• May 17, 2016

• #9

ChiTownScion

Call Me a Cab

Messages

2,241

Location

The Great Pacific Northwest

Power poles really do add a lot. I model in HO scale, and run at a club. A friend took this shot of one of my Pennsy K-4's hauling a short passenger consist about 6 years ago:

 

• May 25, 2016

• #10

p51

One Too Many

Messages

1,116

Location

Well behind the front lines!

I made these two poles (which hadn't had the insulators painted nor weathered overall when I took this photo but all that is done now), one of which I'm adding a transformer box to right now and should be done before the weekend. I also bought a role of "EZ Line" from Berkshire, which is a string product with some elastic in it. This will be the only structure with a power line going to it on the layout.

 

• May 27, 2016

• #11

p51

One Too Many

Messages

1,116

Location

Well behind the front lines!

Made a third pole with transformer and climbing spikes:

After this photo, I added a third pole then strung all the wire. I took photos after the 'wire' was in place but you just can't see the wire in them. That EZ Line stuff made by Berkshire models for just this use works really well it's colored elastic string, gauged just right for a power line.