Linemen Draggin' The Line

Here is a video made to the Linemen. This is my first live action video with my own made video in it. It is made as a thank you to all the hard working Line crews out there.

The large mass of insulators that show up at the end of the video are all the insulators that the Line crews had to replace in only ten weeks when they up dated over 150 miles of powerlines in my home town.
Thank you Linemen
Photos used from the Ocean Railroader and old photos from Insulators. info
backaround music Draggin The Line by Tommy James & The Shondells.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Lineman
• telephone
• pole
• power
• Insulator
• line
• crew
• truck

[trainmandan05]

And the Mushrooms are Pin Type Insulators.

[OceanRailroader]

@trainmandan05 Yes they are the Mushrooms are in the family of pin type insulators in that they are held on to the power pole by giant steel pins that have threads on them like a common glass insulator.

[johnmason2354]

BTW I saw a pole last year that had a date of 7/49 and still in service. it had a Westinghouse 3 KVA Riral type transformer still in service with a clear lightning arrester and clear primary pin tops.

It was like going back into time. It actually still had the REA CO-OP metal nail on letters on it. It was surrounded by large oaks that probably helped keep the heat down in the pot and leep the pole from weathering. The pole still looked good.

[OceanRailroader]

In downtown Richmond VA they still have 100 year old cement streetcar poles still standing and some of them still hold up glass insulators and very old transformers along with very old insulators. I did remember seeing a glass lighting arrester on a old pole out in the county. I was lucky to be able to save some of them during the up grade.

[bigjohn68040]

Were they upgrading the voltage? Around my area in Jersey they have gradually upgraded many of the 4800 volt delta lines to 7200/12470 volt wye but there is still plenty of 4800 around.

[OceanRailroader]

They were keeping the voltage the same on the lines that I saw them working on at 19,000 volts. Many of the lines in this video had last had major overhauls done in the 1970's and 1960's do to the dates on the insulators.

[thunderboltman100]

holy cow 2:44

[Satchmoeddie]

@johnmason2354 I saw a lot of old 40s stuff that has been abandoned up on the Indian reservation. Old Westinghouse transformer platforms on the three pole with a cat walk design. My REA book is in another room. I have a few from the mid west to the west coast. Thankfully most everything was standardized. A great uncle did this stuff in the 1910s -1920s. Great photos with pack animals and horses for transportation, and erecting the poles. That, I cannot even imagine. No bucket truck & I'm bummed.

[Satchmoeddie]

I have pictures of my great uncle in the 1920s with his hooks tool belt and pack animals to get in and out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains with materials, food, and shelter. The good old days! Living in a tent eating gruel and erecting grade 5 REA pole sets, and string up 69KV line.

[chevyrace7]

the tall insulators are stand off insulators and the other ones are called pin type or fog bowls

[montanajule]

Awesome tribute to Linemen! Thanks for this! My father was a lineman his entire life. Love this!

[JDTHEWOLF]

Journeyman Lineman Local 66 Texas...highliner...thanks bro

[johnmason2354]

@OceanRailroader

That is great. I have some of the old "valve" GE arresters that were mounted on the side of REA type CSP transformers. These are almost 30 inches in length. The old GE arresters had a porcelain "cap" on them that looked like an upside down porcelain bowl with the GE logo in the porcelain.

The 50's Moloney Electric had that famous "M" with the arc through it and the words "with ihibitol, PCB inhibited oil".