Concerning Woodland Scenics Pre-Wired Poles in N-scale:
Actually you just reminded me that @robert3985 uses surgical suture for this purpose.
Although I use 6-ought black non-sterile suture silk for fine wire details, I don't use it for lines on right-of-way telephone/telegraph poles. I've used some .002" stainless wire experimentally for some diorama shots in the past, but I didn't like the shiny quality of it, and also that it was difficult to get to hang smoothly and uniformly between the N-scale of Nevada SP prototype poles and crossarms I used for the shot.
Photo (1) - .002 Stainless Wire Strung Between N-Scale of Nevada Poles & Crossarms on Kelly Newton's Version of Weber Canyon:
Prototypically, the signal and power lines associated with right-of-way (ROW) telephone/telegraph wires are strung quite tightly, and don't sag much. Sometimes power lines are added in a separate location on the poles & crossarms (usually with larger insulators ) and these are larger in diameter and sag noticeably.
On most ROW railroad-installed utility poles that are used for both power and signalling, the lines are made of several different sizes and types of wire, which if done in actual scaled-down prototype diameters, would be virtually invisible. This is verified by photos of the real thing, and only in some photos are the lines clearly visible, such as against the sky, or with smooth or distant structures or scenery behind them.
Photo (2) - See the ROW Telegraph/Telephone Poles? See ANY Wires???
From diagrams of transition era ROW "pole lines", the wires used range from "No. 10" to "No. 6". Maximum dia. of "No. 10" wire is .135", which in N-scale is a microscopic .00084375"...rounded off to .0008". That's EIGHT TEN THOUSANDTHS of an inch! "No. 6" wire has a maximum diameter of .192", which in N-scale is .0012".
For visibility, I'd say that .003" in N-scale would be a good diameter to represent ROW "pole line" signal wires, and power lines that prototypically are No.10 through No. 6 wires.
Lines were made of different types of copper wire and also iron wire...and were bare metal, with no insulation, so the copper oxidizes to a green color and the iron oxidizes to very dark brown...basically black, and they were smooth.
Although I don't own any Berkshire Junction EZ Line yet, BJ says in their literature that the "fine" elastic thread is .010" in diameter. However, I've read posts by modelers who have actually measured it, and they say it is between .003" and .004" in diameter.
If EZ Line is really less than .004" in diameter, I highly recommend it for stringing "pole line" on your N-scale ROW telephone/telegraph pole crossarms.
Of course, the added benefit of EZ Line is that it's elastic enough so that you're not going to break it or snap crossarms or poles off if you snag it...and you will for sure.
Although color varies from green to dark brown on prototype pole lines, to keep them as unobtrusive as possible, I'd opt for EZ Line in black. If you want them to stand out a bit, the green would be my next choice, also representing copper wires.
On the other hand, maybe not stringing ANY thread between poles is actually the best looking, most prototypical looking option??????
I won't be purchasing any N-scale WS strung poles for several reasons...the two main reasons being that they don't look anything like the poles alongside UP's trackage here in Utah, and the string they're using is totally wrong for signal/power lines on ROW telephone/telegraph poles.
If you'd like to know more about ROW railroad telephone/telegraph poles, there's a thread dedicated to that subject here:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=46061.msg599253#msg599253 ...which I see needs some maintenance with missing photos. I'll do that tomorrow evening.
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore
