Matt Weldon's photos

Alley between E Ross St and Young St just east of S Walnut St. Troy, Ohio. Three CD 183 Hemingray-71 glass insulators in service use in Troy, Ohio.

Pole next to alley between S Mulberry St and S Walnut St along E Simpson St. Troy, Ohio A unique old steel pole in Troy, Ohio with a CD 219 Hemingray 660 and a few CD 183 Hemingray-71's. Looks to be a 13kv subtransmission line on top.

Alley between E West St and E Simpson St just east of S Mulberry St, Troy, Ohio. A shot of some old poles with some old lightning arresters, cutouts, and a pothead in Troy, Ohio. The glass insulators are CD 219 Hemingray 660's and CD 183 Hemingray-71's. Looks like a couple of nice white U-180 Ohio Brass porcelain insulators.

Alley between E Ross St and Young St just east of Mulberry St. Troy, Ohio. A shot of two CD 219 Hemingray 660 glass insulators in service use in Troy Ohio. A Squirrel always adds a nice touch to a power pole shot.

A wide assortment of gorgeous colors of the front stage CD 134 James Pennycuick display. Diamond-Ps, C.E.L.CO., and PETTINGELL ANDREWS embossed insulators were in this well put together display by different collectors.

A close up showing one of the JD Unipart U-908A insulators in service use on a sub-transmission line between Columbia City and Churubusco, Indiana.

I usually don't post just porcelain insulators in service use, However, I had two linemen say that these light blue JD Unipart (U # 908A) are rare and only used on this one sub-transmission line. They are used between Columbia City and Churubusco, Indiana.

A shot of an old City Light and Power, Indiana Michigan Power utility pole just west of Forest Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The two glass insulators are CD 218 Hemingray-660s. The transformer is an old cast iron Westinghouse. Fort Wayne was one of those few cities where many decades ago had a choice of two electric utilities, Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) and City Light and Power (CL&P). On March 1, 1975 that would all change when CL&P was leased to I&M for 35 years. At first I&M slowly started to upgrade the power grid doing away with the old CL&P lines while upgrading their own lines. Than about 15 years ago I&M got more aggressive about the upgrading and that progressed even faster as the lease was getting nearer. I&M would eventually become the exclusive electric service provider for Fort Wayne after the lease was up in February 28, 2010. After all the upgrades to the power grid two neighborhoods in Fort Wayne never got the new upgrades. Sections of the Northside Neighborhood and small sections of Spy Run Neighborhood never got the upgrades. On the old poles the I&M lines were up on the top crossarms while the CL&P lines would be on the bottom crossarms. Sometimes down an alley the I&M poles would be on one side with the CL&P poles on the other side. CL&P used four different glass insulators on their lines. CD 168 Hemingray D-510s, CD 218 Hemingray-660s, CD 230 Hemingray D-512s, and CD 272 Whitall Tatum 511As. This pole got upgraded last summer along with all the other poles in the alley. I believe it is all now just a single phase circuit line. Hard to believe compare to all these lines. To read more info about City Light and Power please go to this link. www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081224...

A shot of an old City Light and Power, Indiana Michigan Power utility pole in the neighborhood of Spy Run in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Small sections of Spy Run and sections of Northside are the last two neighborhoods in Fort Wayne to have some of the old CL&P/I&M poles still up in service. However, the last year the old poles have been upgraded in the Northside Neighborhood in most sections. This shot shows two CD 218 Hemingray-660s on the bottom City Light and Power buckarms. Looks like one maybe both transformers are not in use anymore.This is also the first pole I've seen were steel pins are in use for the old City Light and power crossarms. The nearly full moon was a nice bonus with the late evening lighting. Before March 1, 1975 the top crossarm would of been I&M while the bottom two buckarms CL&P. After that date, I&M leased from CL&P for 35 years until on February 28, 2010, I&M would eventually become the exclusive electric service provider for Fort Wayne.

A very large power insulator produced by the Corning Glass Works in Corning, New York for the Pyrex trademark line of insulators which produced insulators in the 1920's - 1940's. The CD 331 Pyrex insulator with a width of 15" and height of 11" and weight of 38.25 lbs makes it the largest and heaviest glass pintype insulator produced in North America. This Pyrex insulator known as mold style No. 701 were produced in the 1930's and supported voltages of 70,000 volts. Most CD 331s were used around Dalles & Pendleton, Oregon; Walla Walla & Dayton, Washington; Montana. Here is a link showing them in service use. Photos by Bill Rohde. www.insulators.info/service/pyrex.htm

January 30, 1999 This shot taken along the old Pennsylvania Railroad just outside Logansport, Indiana known as Logansport Yard "A." A part of the railroad scene that is fast disappearing are the railroads pole lines. Basically called the pole line, the pole line had four basic functions or electrical applications - telegraph, telephone, controlling (signaling), and power. Telegraph - The telegraph was the first electrical application used along the railroad for both railroads own use and for public or leased lines like the Western Union. Although the telegraph was built along railroads ROW in the early years of the telegraph for easy access. In 1851 the New York and Erie Railroad would be the first railroad in the U.S. to use the telegraph to coordinate the movements of its trains. The telegraph was last used for railroad use by the mid 1980s. Telephone - Railroads first started to use the telephone in 1879, but wouldn't become common use until the early 1900s. In later years the telephone was used for wayside communications between train crews and dispatchers at switches, control points, etc. Also used between railroad stations and basic dispatcher use. Controlling (Signaling) - This is also sometimes called the code line. This was basically used for signal control circuits which includes the CTC which used many wires and ABS which required less wires. Power - Power was needed to run the various signal apparatuses, switch machines, and wayside detectors. Usually the busier the railroad was the more lines were used along the railroad. A small branch line railroad might only need a few wires for telegraph or telephone use, while a main trunk line railroad would have up to 60-80 wires with all the electrical applications. Today all this old open wire technology is being replaced by fiber optics, microwave, radio, satellite, and computers. If a pole line is still being used along a railroad today, only the controlling (signaling) and power lines would be the only electrical applications used. In 5-10 years railroad pole lines will only be seen in books or pictures. Scanned from a 35mm negative using a Pentax PZ-10 camera, Pentax FA 28-80mm f/3.5-4.7 lens.

January 30, 1999 This shot taken along the old Pennsylvania Railroad just outside Logansport, Indiana known as Logansport Yard "A." A part of the railroad scene that is fast disappearing are the railroads pole lines. Basically called the pole line, the pole line had four basic functions or electrical applications - telegraph, telephone, controlling (signaling), and power. Telegraph - The telegraph was the first electrical application used along the railroad for both railroads own use and for public or leased lines like the Western Union. Although the telegraph was built along railroads ROW in the early years of the telegraph for easy access. In 1851 the New York and Erie Railroad would be the first railroad in the U.S. to use the telegraph to coordinate the movements of its trains. The telegraph was last used for railroad use by the mid 1980s. Telephone - Railroads first started to use the telephone in 1879, but wouldn't become common use until the early 1900s. In later years the telephone was used for wayside communications between train crews and dispatchers at switches, control points, etc. Also used between railroad stations and basic dispatcher use. Controlling (Signaling) - This is also sometimes called the code line. This was basically used for signal control circuits which includes the CTC which used many wires and ABS which required less wires. Power - Power was needed to run the various signal apparatuses, switch machines, and wayside detectors. Usually the busier the railroad was the more lines were used along the railroad. A small branch line railroad might only need a few wires for telegraph or telephone use, while a main trunk line railroad would have up to 60-80 wires with all the electrical applications. Today all this old open wire technology is being replaced by fiber optics, microwave, radio, satellite, and computers. If a pole line is still being used along a railroad today, only the controlling (signaling) and power lines would be the only electrical applications used. In 5-10 years railroad pole lines will only be seen in books or pictures. Scanned from a 35mm negative using a Pentax PZ-10 camera, Pentax FA 28-80mm f/3.5-4.7 lens.

1425 West Washington St., Bluffton, Indiana A shot of a series street lighting circuit poles in Bluffton, Indiana. The six glass insulators are CD 230 Hemingray 512s along with an old mercury vapor street light. The wires leading off to the right go to the ballpark lights, thanks to IE_RICK for pointing this out.

12979 Winchester Rd, Allen County, Indiana. Wide angle shot of four CD 239 Kimble-830 glass insulators in service use south of Fort Wayne. Here is a close up shot of the same pole. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28287321

12979 Winchester Rd, Allen County, Indiana. Close up shot of four CD 239 Kimble-830 glass insulators in service use south of Fort Wayne.The two insulators on the left are straw color and the two right ones clear. Here is a wide angle shot of the same pole. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28287323

13029 Winchester Rd, Allen County, Indiana. A super close up shot of a straw color CD 239 Kimble-830 glass insulator in service use south of Fort Wayne. Taken just one pole south of this pole. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28287321

A shot of an old City Light and Power, Indiana Michigan Power utility pole in the neighborhood of Northside in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sections of Northside and small sections of Spy Run are the last two neighborhoods in Fort Wayne to have some of the old CL&P/I&M poles still up in service. Sadly, this pole about six months ago got upgraded and is all now a single phase circuit. This shot shows a CD 218 Hemingray-660 glass insulator along with five failed wooden pins. Before March 1, 1975 the top two crossarms would of been I&M while the bottom two CL&P. After that date, I&M leased from CL&P for 35 years until on February 28, 2010, I&M would eventually become the exclusive electric service provider for Fort Wayne. Here is a close up shot of just the lower CL&P crossarms. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28128719 Here is a wide angle shot of the same pole in the alley. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28128717

A shot of an old City Light and Power, Indiana Michigan Power utility pole in the neighborhood of Northside in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sections of Northside and small sections of Spy Run are the last two neighborhoods in Fort Wayne to have some of the old CL&P/I&M poles still up in service. Sadly, this pole about six months ago got upgraded and is all now a single phase circuit This shot just shows a close up of the lower CL&P crossarms. The glass insulator is a CD 218 Hemingray-660. Looks like five wooden pins have failed. Before March 1, 1975 the top two crossarms would of been I&M while the bottom two CL&P. After that date, I&M leased from CL&P for 35 years until on February 28, 2010, I&M would eventually become the exclusive electric service provider for Fort Wayne. Here is a wider angle shot of both the I&M and CL&P crossarms. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28128721 Here is a wide angle shot showing the whole pole in the alley. www.ipernity.com/doc/314471/28128717