Weekend Update 3/27/11

[Dave V]

I'm amazed at how much discussion this project has garnered.  It's almost worth its own thread.

Berkshire Junction claims the product is not rubber.  And yes, I imagine it's available at craft stores or someplace.  The EZ-Line spools are 100', so for roughly $10, that's still a fine deal for me, since I know what I'm getting (versus trying to find a "similar" product and maybe being disappointed).

The product does come with a UV warning.  Yep, someday it probably will turn brittle.  But then, so have my SuperTrees in much less time, and that's with longer than the recommended preservation soak.  As DKS mentions, lots of other things will also decay with time under UV.  It is what it is, and I'm not averse to trying an otherwise neat and fun product based on an unquantifiable risk of long-term degradation.

As for dust collection, dust is a problem on everything, not just wires.

Chris, I'm thinking about when I restring those green lines with gray, moving them in from the corners of the cross-arms an insulator.

[conrail98]

Dave, I don't know about changing out the green wire. I remember when railfanning as a kid with wires still up on the trackside poles that they were green in color. I think the ones going through town should probably be gray, I'm just not sure about the railroad's,

Phil

[Iain]

I agree that going gray and less noticeable is better.  As far as insulators go, should you not remove the ones you don't use?

[wcfn100]

As far as insulators go, should you not remove the ones you don't use?

You can probably get away with a few stragglers, but you can't just remove the insulator either as the post the insulator was mounted to would probably still be in place.

The CNW/MILW main where I spent much of my youth had a mess of telegraph wires and we used to go looking for porcelain insulators, but it was about 1 for every 40 glass ones we could find.

John Hill has a lot of pictures on RRPA of this area that show the telegraph lines.

http://johnhill_3009.rrpicturearchives.net/locThumbs.aspx?id=71232&Page=1

Jason

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks for the photo link Jason. Great pictures! One observation is that many of the wires "disappear" when photographed with a overcast/hazy sky background.

A couple of other favorite shots here including the Griswold crossing signal with the rotating Stop sign (soon to be released by NJ International).
http://johnhill_3009.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=774866

And, some Beer Cars (like my stalled etching project)!
http://johnhill_3009.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1725888

Best wishes, Dave

[wcfn100]

A couple of other favorite shots here including the Griswold crossing signal with the rotating Stop sign (soon to be released by NJ International).
http://johnhill_3009.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=774866

Yeah, that's Wooddale Ave just down from my HS.  It was actually the closest grade crossing I could get to from my house but it was too far away so we'd drag our bikes under the grain cars to get across and go to the pool.  I also spent too much time doing stupid things at that grain elevator in the background. 


Jason