Jump to content

Artefact or old junk?

Rate this topic


gph2000

Recommended Posts

Last Friday I went exploring on a heavily overgrown part of the old Clara Banagher line. 

image.png.148005a06e23e49489cc99bc7b0b80a9.png

Right where I have marked with the arrowhead, I photographed a discarded telegraph pole top

image.png.839acc17a110469054d27b7d8245d44a.png

Telegraph lines in Ireland only go along road way or railway lines, so its not likely to be something going cross country like ESB wires do. But, the stabilizer shown looks much to clean for something that is lying around for almost 60 years, having been installed God knows how many years before hand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, gph2000 said:

Last Friday I went exploring on a heavily overgrown part of the old Clara Banagher line. 

image.png.148005a06e23e49489cc99bc7b0b80a9.png

Right where I have marked with the arrowhead, I photographed a discarded telegraph pole top

image.png.839acc17a110469054d27b7d8245d44a.png

Telegraph lines in Ireland only go along road way or railway lines, so its not likely to be something going cross country like ESB wires do. But, the stabilizer shown looks much to clean for something that is lying around for almost 60 years, having been installed God knows how many years before hand.

Many of them stabilisers look like that. There are ones around my in ballinhassig that don’t look a day old 

 

the insulators that pe-date P&T are very valuable as the ones marked GPO are interchangeable with ones used in the UK and are rare 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dealt with insulators in a previous life, mostly towards the higher voltage end of things - Bullers became part of Allied Insulators and we used a good bit of their output, as it was a little cheaper than the vastly better NGK stuff from Japan.

The old factory, with its very Stokey bottle kilns, would make a nice layout for somebody to have a go at.

header-history__ScaleMaxWidthWzE5MjBd.jpg

https://www.alliedinsulators.com/company/history/

We did (inadvertently) blow up an insulator in a fairly dramatic manner in the mid 70s, whilst under test in Manchester, next to the Kellogg's factory - there was some damage to a lot of vehicles in their car park - and I've often wondered if we also contaminated their output, giving them the idea for Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, which were launched shortly after the event?

  • WOW! 1
  • Funny 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, BSGSV said:

The remaining insulator is damaged, which is perhaps why it remains. The spindles are galvanised, so still fairly rust-free, as is the clamp for the stay wire, although the stay wire itself does not look so good. 

The stay wire that fell across the masthead is rusted nicely, but the wire that lies near the stabilizer is in better condition than the image suggests. And as has been pointed out, the surviving insulator is incomplete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

I've seen hundreds of GPO and P&T ones. The real rarity is a red coloured one for lines carrying electricity, saw one once ever at an IR railway station, still in place and unbroken but no longer carrying any wires.

How about the brown coloured ones, I saw a few of them in my locality?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the high voltage end of things, brown would be the default glaze colour, but light grey ones would sometimes be specified for aesthetic reasons, where elevated insulators would be seen against a background of the sky and the grey would be less visually intrusive. You will also sometimes see clear(ish) glass ones, mostly as pylon hangers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use