Telegraph wires

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Now here's something you don't see in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) these days - pretty unusual elsewhere too and I have posted them in "History" rather that heritage things you can see and enjoy.

This from Poland on the line from Lithuania - the sole rail link (if you can call it that with the change in gauge between the two countries).  "Rail Baltica" will link from Poland across Lithuania and Latvia and on to Tallinn in Estonia and I suspect that in the process the old signalling communications will be replaced.

[broadgage]

It is possible that some of the wires shown are not for railway purposes, but are part of the local telephone system.
Since the right of way and the support poles already existed, it was often economic to use the existing infrastructure for phone lines, rather than building a new route.
This was done in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and overseas.

A minority of UK telegraph line routes along railway lines had red insulators. These were used for a mains voltage electricity supply to remote signal boxes. Only a small current was available, limited to lighting and sometimes to battery charging.
Space heating and cooking was generally by coal or paraffin.

[stuving]

We may not have any wires but, just next to Wokingham station, we do still have a few poles. They had been hiding in the dense woodland that had been allowed to invade the slopes by the railway. As you can see, a lot of trees of similar girth were cut down and I was impressed that the chainsaw brigade could spot which ones were poles and leave them - even when camouflaged by ivy leaves.

[Electric train]

We may not have any wires but, just next to Wokingham station, we do still have a few poles. They had been hiding in the dense woodland that had been allowed to invade the slopes by the railway. As you can see, a lot of trees of similar girth were cut down and I was impressed that the chainsaw brigade could spot which ones were poles and leave them - even when camouflaged by ivy leaves.

Was there ever a siding or head shit there, these types of poles on the SR^▸ (Southern Railway / Southern Region / Scot Rail / Scottish Region (rather confusing - it depends on the context)) with only 2 insulators often had lighting on them, or it could have been an electricity supply for the local electricity company / board 

[stuving]

We may not have any wires but, just next to Wokingham station, we do still have a few poles. They had been hiding in the dense woodland that had been allowed to invade the slopes by the railway. As you can see, a lot of trees of similar girth were cut down and I was impressed that the chainsaw brigade could spot which ones were poles and leave them - even when camouflaged by ivy leaves.

Was there ever a siding or head shit there, these types of poles on the SR^▸ (Southern Railway / Southern Region / Scot Rail / Scottish Region (rather confusing - it depends on the context)) with only 2 insulators often had lighting on them, or it could have been an electricity supply for the local electricity company / board 

Exploiting the zoom effect in that photo, I can see more than by eye. For a start, the nearer pole is actually reinforced concrete, so might have won a game of scissors-paper-stone with a chainsaw. The two behind it do look round and wooden, though hard to see in detail. And why one has a ladder fixed to it, apparently wrapped in vegetation, who knows?

And while there's only the two running lines here (between the skew bridge in the picture and the footbridge the picture was taken from) in any of the old maps I've looked at, some time between the 1930s and 1960s the entry line for the goods yard at the station was extended into this section. There had always been an unused space for it under the footbridge, oddly.

[broadgage]

Poles for floodlighting usually had only two wires, possibly more in very extensive installations. If arc lamps were used there was usually a winch to lower the whole lighting unit to near ground level for attention, as this was needed frequently. For filament lamps, or later mercury lamps, a ladder was often provided for lamp replacement.

A few installations used series lighting, whereby special lamps of low voltage were used in series on a high voltage supply. Never popular in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), more of a USA thing.

[Electric train]

We may not have any wires but, just next to Wokingham station, we do still have a few poles. They had been hiding in the dense woodland that had been allowed to invade the slopes by the railway. As you can see, a lot of trees of similar girth were cut down and I was impressed that the chainsaw brigade could spot which ones were poles and leave them - even when camouflaged by ivy leaves.

Was there ever a siding or head shit there, these types of poles on the SR^▸ (Southern Railway / Southern Region / Scot Rail / Scottish Region (rather confusing - it depends on the context)) with only 2 insulators often had lighting on them, or it could have been an electricity supply for the local electricity company / board 

Exploiting the zoom effect in that photo, I can see more than by eye. For a start, the nearer pole is actually reinforced concrete, so might have won a game of scissors-paper-stone with a chainsaw. The two behind it do look round and wooden, though hard to see in detail. And why one has a ladder fixed to it, apparently wrapped in vegetation, who knows?

And while there's only the two running lines here (between the skew bridge in the picture and the footbridge the picture was taken from) in any of the old maps I've looked at, some time between the 1930s and 1960s the entry line for the goods yard at the station was extended into this section. There had always been an unused space for it under the footbridge, oddly.

The ladder would indicate lighting use

Poles for floodlighting usually had only two wires, possibly more in very extensive installations. If arc lamps were used there was usually a winch to lower the whole lighting unit to near ground level for attention, as this was needed frequently. For filament lamps, or later mercury lamps, a ladder was often provided for lamp replacement.

A few installations used series lighting, whereby special lamps of low voltage were used in series on a high voltage supply. Never popular in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), more of a USA thing.

Typical UK railway siding / walkway light would have been enamelled metal lampshade.

I am so happy I no longer have to repair / maintain such lighting any longer