Those Were the Days, My Friend! Part III

My pursuit for more insulator types and colors nevertheless went into full gear during the summer of 1967.

Old railway rights-of-way in my area were diligently scoured for many miles around. Very particular emphasis was given to a few lines which were recently discontinued. The linemen had just got through removing the open-wire and threw the crossarms onto the ground, with the insulators remaining on their pins. There were three crossarms per pole and even though the majority of my finds were B-beehives, Hemingray-40’s and 42’s, etc., an occasional CD 147 “spiral groove” or Whitall Tatum No. 1 in purple sure did make my day.

Searching for insulators and adding them to my collection became a bona-fide addiction. Instead of becoming involved with school sports and other related activities, spare time after school and during weekends was spent looking for insulators and writing to the few collectors that were out there about my finds. I lived, breathed and dreamed about insulators. While some other young people my age were doing LSD and other drugs, I was doing insulators and let me tell you the “high” I got was wonderful! Those were the days, my friend!!

Having Mr. Woodward’s 1965 Report and issues of Western Collector in hand, I pursued scouting for additional collectors as fervently as I did for insulators themselves. My correspondence with Mrs. McClellan and Mr. Woodward continued on a regular, on-going basis for a long time. Added delight was derived from occasional trades. I will never forget the thrill when I received my first deep purple W.G.M. Co.! It was a CD 121 “toll” from an exchange Mrs. McClelland and I had agreed upon. This was my first insulator swap and to this day this insulator has a very special place in my collection. Mrs. McClellan was quite impressed with my collecting spirit and traded several other nice insulators, happily adding them to my collection. Two years later, in 1969, she invited me to be guest columnist in her regular column in Western Collector (“Insulator Hot Line”). It was an honor in the March 1969 issue when she wrote an interesting article titled “A Youthful Insulator Collector” which gave some detailed background about my insulator collecting and finds through my earlier years.

Leads via Mrs. McClellan and other collectors I had come in contact with helped me to exchange letters and insulators with enthusiasts like me all over the country. By late 1967, letter writing was a regular thing for this lad. Insulator books by John C. Tibbitts and Marion Milholland which had just been published then gave me many more variations and colors to add to my want list. As a result, insulator trading flourished.

Always having a particular fancy for color, I started to take specific note and a closer look at the glass and porcelain insulators that were on the poles in my home town and in neighboring communities. In 1967 I was only fifteen and my primary mode of transportation for insulator expeditions was via bicycle. Beyond requesting that family trips be rerouted so I could visit insulator companies, I did not push my luck too much further with my parents in obtaining insulators near home by asking that they drive me to my “insulator gold mines”. So I equipped my two-wheeled express with a pair of carrying baskets in the rear. To this day, I don’t know how I ever managed to pack up to twenty pounds of insulators in each steel-wired basket and ride my bike back home, sometimes taking two to three hours. However, I did this safely each time. Hardly any insulators ever got chipped since I carefully wrapped each one and put them into a large paper bag, inconspicuously lining my carrying baskets. Despite many long bike rides I always successfully accomplished every mission, with determination being my number one motivating force.

By late 1967, I began to make more and more field trips. These occurred during afternoons when I got home from school and on weekends. The latter was when the longer journeys took place. Insulators were plentiful then and I continued to have very good cooperation from the people I knew at area utilities. Some still had barrels of insulators in their back rooms which hadn’t seen the light of day in decades. Most of the utilities and fire alarm signal departments who had hoarded insulators through the years usually permitted me to look through them and take what I wanted. Having insulator books gave me specific types to look for. I could now identify and read about my finds. I was very entertained!

There were (and are) quite a few smaller municipally owned utilities in my area, plus many older towns which had lots of town-owned and maintained open-wire fire alarm signal lines. So, within a reasonable bike riding distance I had more than ample sources for neat insulators during the late 1960’s. And, there was quite a variation of insulators out there to be had. For instance, one town used yellow U-292 porcelain uniparts by the hundreds to identify street lighting wires. Another municipal electric utility employed golden to vivid orange carnival glass Pyrex-61’s and 661’s on their primary circuits. A seashore community had lots of “hat” style porcelain uniparts on their primary and secondary lines which ranged from very light pale blue to dark royal blue porcelain. (To this day the old timers at that utility affirm that they used blue insulators on their poles only for aesthetics!) Local fire alarm departments used all sorts of glass pintypes, most having at least one or two specimens well out of the ordinary.

The reception I received from these organizations enabled me to add a lot of variety to my insulator collection during the late 1960’s. Among my most memorable finds were no less than six CD 134 deep amber T-H.E. Co.’s and one CD 138 Postal Tel. Co. with large lettering in rich yellow green given to me as I dug through an old insulator barrel in a fire alarm maintenance back room. This Postal is the only one I’ve ever seem with large lettering in such a vivid color, and is among my favorite pieces. Although there were no other CD 138 Postal’s on that department’s lines, remaining were about a dozen deep amber T-H.E.’s by late 1967. What a beautiful sight it was to see these insulators on their crossarms! On a cloudy day you could not tell the difference between one of those and a brown porcelain signal unless you looked very closely. However, the thrill was on a sunny day when you could readily see the insulator’s pin glow a dark but distinct, rich orange as the sunlight filtered through the insulator’s dark colored glass. Deep amber T-H.E. Co. insulators were used only in two or three communities in my area. The majority of them were removed from service by the mid-1970’s and most were saved for me by the linemen. Needless to say, I made some good trades through the years with my duplicates.