Railroad Pole Lines - Electric, Communications and Signaling - Distance Between Poles & Track Specs

Discussion in 'Right of Way' started by yardmaster, Feb 25, 2008.

  1. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Folks,

    Does anyone have any documentation showing recommended distances between line poles and the poles to track centerline (C/L)?

    I've looked through some of the B&B documents that Karl and others have posted but can't seem to find any references.

    Found an older reference in a circa 1918 Frisco Man magazine for B&B recommended practices for 14' from door of handcar house to track C/L but nothing on pole lines.

    Thanks in advance!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 17, 2024
  2. friscomike

    friscomike Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Howdy Chris,

    I haven't seen any Frisco specifications for electric, communications and signal line poles, but I use this website for a construction reference.

    http://www.annsgarden.com/poles/poles.htm.

    Perhaps you can Google the site and find the distance from track centerline.

    Great question, I'll look, too.

    Best Regards,

    Mike
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 17, 2024
  3. UCES

    UCES Member

    Hey,

    I just happened across this posting about clearances.

    I'm a field engineer for an electric utility and the clearances we use are in the National Electric Safety Code. It indicates our electric poles can be no less than 12' from the pole to the nearest rail and the vertical clearance is no less than 22' above top of rail. However, this clearance can be reduced by an agreement with the railroad depending on conditions.

    I always try to stay 12' away from the tracks.

    I hope this helps.

    Thanks.

    Kevin Ferguson
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 17, 2024
  4. Steve40cal

    Steve40cal Member

    If you are talking about the electric, communications and signal pole line that run along the right of way, most of what is left in service and decommissioned runs along the edge of the right of way.

    In some places the right of way is quite wide, while in others it drops to the usual 50 feet. I always tell folks the railroad owns to the outside of the cross arms of our pole line. If a location had tracks removed, the old poles can be quite far from the tracks. There have also been times when the old poles have leaned in over the tracks and had to be taken down or repaired for safe train movement.

    The Frisco set their electric/communication/signal poles 40 per mile. They marked crossings and equipment by mile post plus the number of poles, not tenths of the mile like now. The fifth pole had a vertical metal band on it and the 10th pole had a horizontal metal band around it.

    Two horizontal bands and a vertical metal band would be 25 poles. One of my crossings here in Tulsa is 418.32, so that is 418 miles and 32 poles from St. Louis. The new BNSF way is 418.90 with that being whole miles and tenths from St. Louis.

    Many of the poles in Oklahoma still have tags on them for Western Union (WU).

    Hope this helps,

    Steve
    BNSF signal maintainer Catoosa, OK
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 17, 2024
    SteveP likes this.
  5. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    To all, many thanks for the information.

    Yep, the Bridge and Building (B&B) crew of the HO-Scale Caruthersville Branch will definitely need to relocate the poles around Pascola!

    At best I'm guesstimating they are 10' from the track centerline (C/L).

    Mike,

    The website you linked to is superb. That will help when I'm ready for powerlines.

    I think I have that article on building a transformer station around here somewhere!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 17, 2024

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