lines on poles

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Strictly speaking, the ground is the ground.  You can use the earth as the
return and don't have to have a return wire.  For the same reason, you don't
want to touch a power line when you are standing on a metal ladder.

 

Bob Huston

 

  _____  

From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 10:42 AM
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: RE: N&W icons: the singularly N&W 440-volt line on poles

 

     Abram, Certainly could be that my Dad told me this was a 4,400-volt
line but I could have sworn he said it was 440 volts....Sounds mighty high
to me --  But it's probably been at least 45 years since he told me
this....And You are probably right, these lines likely are not CTC code
lines, which truly are insulated throughout their lengths for protection
against the weather, line voltage leakage, etc., because they provided the
power to operate the critical signal and switch systems.  Where is the
"return" or "neutral" wire?? -- You've got me on that one, Brother Abram.  I
dunno....I am certainly and definitely no electrician -- and never was --
but my Dad surely was -- and I may have misquoted him on some aspects of
this explanation....So, does someone else have more accurate answers??
Where is that REAL N&W or VGN signalman in Our Crowd??  About All The Men I
knew when a Young'un are Gone to Their Great Rewards in That Signal Bungalow
in the Sky, in which I sure hope it IS NOT 125-30 degrees inside about this
time of EVERY year!!....Let's try for some more explanations....Lloyd Lewis 

To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 02:36:39 +0000
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: RE: N&W icons: the singularly N&W 440-volt line on poles

Wrote Lloyd Lewis:  My Dad, who was The Virginian Railway's last Supervisor
of Telegraph & Signals, told me this extra wire on the N&W's pole line above
all the other numerous lines and crossarms was the perch upon which rested a
special N&W-only 440-volt line....

Doesn't add up for me, Lloyd.

1.)  Where's the other side of the circuit (the "neutral" or "return" wire)
?

2.) 440 isn't enough juice to go very far.  I haven't done the calculations,
but I'll bet you'd see a 50% line drop in voltage over a hundred miles.

3.)  Other railroads, and mebbe even the N&W, were hanging 4,400 volts on
poles and using it to light stations and drive AC signal systems, as early
as 1911-1913.

4.)  CTC code line is almost invariably shielded (insulated) because of its
critical importance.

I hope one of the museums can get a couple of N&W poles, crossarms and wire,
and two of those distinctive angle brackets !

-- abram burnett

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