Red Hot Color from South of the Border
by Dale Huber
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", December 2002, page 33
I was honored when Carol McDougald asked if I would write the bylines for the
photos in this issue of Crown Jewels. (See color insert "Red Hot Color from
South of the Border", pages 1-4)
I have collected insulators since 1970,
hard to believe, I was ten years old then. Anyway one of my claims to fame have
been my many trips to Mexico. The first trip was in the early 70's with my Dad
and older brother, Art. We drove from Arizona to Mexico City then back up to
Texas. One stop on that trip was to a small glass factory in Texcoco, a suburb
of Mexico City. They had a small brick oven there filled with insulators. As
memory serves we got about 75, embossed Texcoco CD 155 in emerald greens, over a
hundred unembossed CD 155 in dark olive green and about a dozen CD 106.5 as
shown on page 1. We went back about 10 years ago and they were all gone,
apparently used as cullet to make bottles and other similar items.
On that trip
my dad bought some CD107 PSSA ponies in a hardware store in Mexico City, some of
those were in a beautiful citron yellow. For you mud collectors, we also found a
small power piece marked New Lexington in substation near Guadalajara.
In more
recent trips I have found several of the beautiful Mexican insulators pictured.
The emerald green CD 133.5 Tel Fed Mex from a small spur line a few
hundred miles south of Texas. The CD155 PSSA in purple is a tough one.
I have found two and "a half" in my 15 or so trips. One near Hermosio. It had so much soot on it I
couldn't tell it was purple. The find of our trip sat in the back of the truck until I got around to
washing it some time Later. As I slowly washed off the soot I couldn't believe
my eyes-it was purple! The other one was found hundreds of miles away near Saltio. That was an interesting Line --- miles of
junk-Hemi 42's and then a purple PSSA, then more miles of junk and then a purple dome embossed CD133
Brookfield. I guess it was worth the walk.
I went down with Jim Sanders in the
mid-eighties. He was the guy that picked some of the green Cal Electric Works
down there. We went back to see if he left any. No such luck, but we did find
about a half dozen CD162.7 No Embossings in purple . At least those
covered our airfare. The CD 155 RYT's came from a railroad line from Nogales to
Guymas. They were golden amber (this photo doesn't do it justice; they
are a glowing bubbly golden amber), emerald green and cornflower blue.
The CD
214's were found in many parts of Mexico. They are hard to find in decent
condition especially those with long drip points. The light yellows are extremely rare.
Every trip to Mexico starts with high hopes. Insulator hunting in Mexico is interesting. You dream about the trip for months.
After two days you wonder why you are there and can't wait to get back to the
good old U.S.A. Mexico is different. In the USA it is common to cross an
intersection on a yellow light, don't do this in Mexico, yellow means STOP! You
have to stop at yellow lights because in Mexico they push the red before it
turns green, just Like racecar drivers. I have watched cars block before the red
light turns green. little differences like that slowly create a Mexico fatigue
for gringo's like me.
I have found very few insulators on the ground. The railroad right-of-way is
periodically burned throughout Mexico. Burning kills the grass, brush and trees that might grow
along the
tracks. It also kills any insulators on the ground. Burning would also burn the telephone
poles except for one thing-most of the poles are steel. The most
common pole is railroad track; you know what the wheels of the train roll on.
They get used track and stick it in the ground and bolt a cross arm to it. The
rail varies but is typically the rail is about 4" tall and 4"wide.
Common pole spikes are of no help in Mexico. With a lot of brute force it is possible to climb a few
poles each day or use a ladder. Insulator hunting in
Mexico is not for the faint of heart, I must admit driving down there is more
frightening than climbing the poles. These days most of the pole lines are
abandoned. They are rapidly salvaging the lines for the steel poles. The insulators
left on the ground have a short life. Kids either break them or when
the right of way is burned, I still keep going back. The beer is cold, the food
is tasty and every once in a while I get lucky. The last trip we found a
two-tone bubbly purple/ aqua CD 162.7 Tel Fed Mex- unbelievable.
In the Last few
years hunting for insulators in Mexico has changed. The telegraph lines along
most of the railroads are abandoned and the poles are being removed.
It is also common to see goats or horses grazing in the railroad right-of-way. Young
children are left to watch the animals. The rocks these kids throw have caused
me so much grief. It's amazing how many good insulators they have destroyed.
Editor's Note: Dale is in Mexico, as of this printing, and I wish him a safe
journey and the best of luck at returning "north of the border" with
additional Mexican glass.
With this kind of color available, you too might decide to add a little
bit of Mexico to your collection.
 |
155 RYT
Golden Amber |
155 RYT
Emerald Green |
| |
|
 |
155 PSSA 42
Purple |
162 SM-2
Olive Amber Blackglass |
| |
|
 |
162.7 DERF
TELGS
NACLS MEXICO
Dark olive green |
Some of the162.7 styles can exhibit a lot of crude molding and color
variations like this two-tone aqua and amber. |
| |
|
 |
162.7 DERF
TELGS NACLS MEXICO
Amber black glass |
162.7 NO EMBOSSING
Purple |
| |
|
 |
214 TELEGRAFOS NACIONALES
range from yellow to dark red amber. |
| |
|
 |
| Some Telegrafos units also have incredibly long drip points. |
250.2 TELEFONOS ERICSSON-LD-1
Olive green |
735.5 LINEA DEL SUPO GOBIERNO
Green aqua |
740.8 TELEGRAFO DE JALISCO P
embossed around the pinhole
Dark green |
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