P. WALTERS
& CO
LONDON

Imagine stumbling around in brush and high grass along an abandoned railroad grade and almost tripping over an undiscovered style of an 1870’s to 1880’s classic porcelain insulator in mint condition. Nice! Imagine that insulator still being tightly cemented inside a heavy iron cover for protection and having two ears to hold heavy gauge telegraph wire without tie wires. Very nice! Now, imagine that iron cover having four, tear drop openings to allow rain water to keep the base washed clean and a tapered iron pin with a crude spur near the base, instead of the typical threaded bolt and nut type pin. Unbelievable!

You sink slowly to the ground and carefully pick the insulator up to admire it. As you turn it over, you almost drop it. Staring up at you from the side of the dome is the bold embossing:

P. WALTERS
& CO
LONDON

You wonder if you are dreaming.

The above incident happened to me in April, 1995 while Jim Bergman and I were making our second, extensive insulator research trip to Uruguay, South America. A quick shout brought Jim, and I shared the find with him. Jim is not a porcelain collector, but the look that crossed over his face and the sudden smile let me know what he thought of the find. This find occurred early in the morning, near the Brazilian border in northern Uruguay. Jim and I spent most of the day searching the old railroad grade and eventually recovered a damaged specimen and an empty iron cover. Heavy afternoon rains forced us to leave the rough, dirt road we were on and move on toward our next destination. By this time, we had already determined that, if this proved to be a really classic find, a return trip to the area was a must.

The first P. WALTERS/& CO/LONDON, just as found.

Shortly after we returned to Alaska, I shared photos and detailed information on the P. WALTERS with Marilyn Albers. She was ecstatic over the find and had never seen an insulator just like it. A somewhat similar insulator, the Fuller Bow specimen shown on page 47 of W. Keith Neal’s book Searching for Railway Telegraph Insulators has only one ear and oval openings. It was patented in 1867.

This information, plus the interest created by the display of the P. WALTERS at the Marlborough National convinced Jim and I that a third trip to Uruguay was a must. We had spotted a few of the old telegraph poles, actually, very high iron rails used as poles, still standing in remote areas in April. Most of these standing rails were bare at the top but a few still had British Cordeau style replacement insulators on them. Remarkably, a couple of these tall rails had the original P. WALTERS insulator firmly in place on short crossarms. Jim had shimmied up both of these rails and, while holding on for dear life, had tried to pry the P. WALTERS from the crossarm without success.

We returned to Uruguay on August 14, 1995 armed with the “retriever”. The “retriever” was Jim’s brainchild, a twenty foot long, heavy duty aluminum pole made up of sections joined together by sleeves and bolts for portability. A Swede saw with an eye bolt welded at the top was bolted to the top of the pole. A small rope was threaded through the eye bolt and an open loop formed above it. The “retriever” was then raised up, the loop placed over the P. WALTERS and pulled very tight. After the crossarm had been severed or the P. WALTERS freed, it was carefully lowered to the ground with the rope to prevent damage.

300 mm telephoto of a beauty awaiting
recovery. The spikes were to discourage
nest building by very persistent birds.

Our first two attempts at using the “retriever” were painful experiences with Jim and I both getting our eyes filled with sawdust. A few adjustments in our recovery methods solved this problem and we were able to complete the recovery of the P. WALTERS in a very short time.

FCUN: The second insulator Jim and I recovered during this August expedition really got our adrenaline pumping. On the back side of the dome, opposite the P. WALTERS embossing was the even larger, boldly embossed letters “FCUN”. A few more of these FCUN embossed specimens were recovered, most with medium to heavy damage. Two specimens were found with a very small vertical, incuse stamping of FCUN on the back of the dome.

Jose Luis Rubio, a good friend in Montevideo, solved the mystery of the FCUN embossing and its significance. FCUN stood for Ferro (Rail) Carril (Road) Uruguay Norte or literally, the Railroad of Northern Uruguay. Jose promised to do some additional research on the construction and operation of this railroad during the following week, while Jim and I were in Argentina.

Gus Coll another good friend in Montevideo, provided us with the only information currently known about the P. WALTERS Company. Gus had worked with a telegraph company in the early 1960’s and he recalls reading that P. WALTERS & CO was an early telegraph supply company in London. He believes they operated from the 1850’s to the early 1920’s. Research is continuing on P. WALTERS & CO.

Large Image (285 Kb)
Jim using the "retriever", surrounded by cacti.

Printed materials given to us by Jose Luis Rubio show that a concession was granted by the government of Uruguay on January 12, 1870 for the construction of the Railroad of Northern Uruguay (FCUN). This railroad was to run from the city of Salto, Uruguay to the current cities of Belle Union and Artigas, Uruguay, both on the Brazilian border. Political and financial crises during the next two decades severely delayed completion of the railroad. Rail service was finally inaugurated to Belle Union on April 20, 1887 and to Artigas on April 17, 1891.

A single telegraph line was constructed along the entire railroad. The P. WALTERS & CO. insulators were found on only a small section of one branch of this line. These insulators could have been special ordered and manufactured as early as 1870 or 1871 and as late as the mid 1880’s.

Railroad Crossing Warning and Sign. Love that little engine!

It should be noted that England was granted concessions to construct and operate many railroads throughout Uruguay in the last half of the nineteenth century. By 1900, England owned most of the railroads in Uruguay and operated them with typical British efficiency. During World War II, England ran up a large debt with Uruguay for beef, wool, leather and other needed products. This debt, coupled with other foreign debts and the massive cost of rebuilding war ravaged England, caused England to turn over their Uruguayan railroad system lock, stock and barrel to the Uruguayan government in the late 1940’s as payment in full for their war debt.

Close-up of embossing on the front of the  P.WALTERS & CO LONDON   Below is a tracing of the embossing on the rear of the varieties marked FCUN.

The government of Uruguay continues to own and operate what remains of this railway system today. All passenger train service was ended in 1988 and many railroad freight lines were abandoned at the same time. Today, very few freight trains or lines still operate. The Railroad of Northern Uruguay was completely abandoned in 1988, the telegraph line taken down and poles pulled in many places. Finding the first P. WALTERS & CO. insulator in April was very fortuitous for Jim and me, and for the hobby in general. Due to the FCUN embossing that exists, this classic insulator will forever be linked to Uruguay.