Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

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NS3322
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Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by NS3322 »

How many telegraph lines are left in the state?
The only one I can think of is the line along the Falling Waters Trail in Jackson County.

MiRailProductions
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by MiRailProductions »

NS3322 wrote:How many telegraph lines are left in the state?
The only one I can think of is the line along the Falling Waters Trail in Jackson County.
I know of some telegraph lines north of Milan on the Ann Arbor Railroad, near the Platt Rd. crossing.
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Doktor No
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Doktor No »

The CSX line from Lake Odessa eastward still has code line up...if that's what you mean. Telegraph hasn't been used for over 50 years.
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NS3322
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by NS3322 »

Doktor No wrote:The CSX line from Lake Odessa eastward still has code line up...if that's what you mean. Telegraph hasn't been used for over 50 years.
Yep! I am just curious how much is left.

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Man o' War »

One lonely telegraph pole with its insulators intact remains on the CN/GTW Mount Clemens sub, in MTC proper near where the tower was located. Why it escaped the chainsaw massacre a few years back is a mystery - but the pole seems happy about it.

Not code line per se, but CN did construct a lengthy pole line at North Haven a few decades back in order to get power for signals and switches into what is a rather remote and rural area. I know a few local photographers who despised old code lines cluttering up their pictures, and now they head out to New Haven frequently in order to "get the poles" into their shots for atmosphere...

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Super Chief »

Three Rivers srill has a few along Grand Elk south of town alons South Main Street to M-86 and the old Airline from Three Rivers to Centervillle will have one pop out ar you from time to time.

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Doktor No
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Doktor No »

Its NOT a code line but WAS a communications line along the ex CSX now MQT along US131 where the tracks go under I96 in Comstock Park. That was for the block phones along the line to Baldwin and north.
Couldn't tell you how far those go north anymore....
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Michael
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Michael »

Here is one near Centerville off the ROW on Dean Street
https://goo.gl/maps/ksJJiPBQkLH2

Super Chief wrote:Three Rivers srill has a few along Grand Elk south of town alons South Main Street to M-86 and the old Airline from Three Rivers to Centervillle will have one pop out ar you from time to time.

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Super Chief »

Thanks Michael for the photo, west of that one towards the ole pickle plant are some more and towards Lambert Rd. where the switch for the Niles line off the airline went west.

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by GAL »

North of Freeland, Carter and Sarle road crossings. Most of the lines are still hanging.

Note: This is the exact site of the July 22, 1989 Derailment of CSX Transportation Inc. Freight Train and Hazardous Materials Release. One nearby residence was destroyed by the fire that ignited following the release of hazardous materials. About 1,000 residents were evacuated for 7 days after the accident. No one was killed; 11 people were treated for injuries Estimated damage exceeded $4 million.

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Standard Railfan
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Standard Railfan »

The last time I travelled along the Escanaba & Lake Superior (ex-CMSP&P) from Channing south, i noted a large number of poles and some line was still in place. I don’t believe any of the line is still in use.

IIRC the pole line was still in place most of the way to Green Bay.

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Atkinson_Railroad
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Atkinson_Railroad »

The title to the thread could be somewhat of a misnomer.

Telegraph poles?

It's certainly possible some of the many line wire poles with related cross arms, insulators and dangling remnants of code line hanging
from them (that are still peppered in a few places around the state of Michigan) carried telegraph communication.
I'm doubtful the poles remaining in existence today were ever installed originally as "telegraph" equipment though.
That type of communication is from an era before the era that followed that one.

As for coming up with the actual number of line wire pole installations remaining?
One would come up with quite a few if intent on seeking them out.

Trackage near Freeland running between Saginaw and Midland comes to mind to name just one
particular location as GAL has already mentioned.

To expand the thread a tad... I'd be curious to learn about what time period the railroads
actually ended the use of telegraph communications.

John

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Standard Railfan »

Atkinson_Railroad wrote:The title to the thread could be somewhat of a misnomer.

Telegraph poles?

To expand the thread a tad... I'd be curious to learn about what time period the railroads
actually ended the use of telegraph communications.

John
I suspect that the transition from telegraph to voice occurred over several decades. The Pennsylavania RR was dispatched almost completely by telephone by 1930. I believe some railroads used telegraph dispatching into the 1960's. Many railroads may have hung onto telegraphy for much longer owing to the cost of conversion and resistance to change.

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Steve B »

I still call them telegraph poles because for the first several decades starting in the mid-19th century they exclusively carried telegraph wires, the general public always called them "telegraph poles," and to the casual eye the remaining pole lines look identical to the telegraph lines of the early 1900s, down to the standard crossarm length and capacity for 10 insulators on each one.

It's similar to how people refer to "telephone poles," even though they may carry telephone, power, and cable TV lines.

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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by GP30M4216 »

Functioning code line poles are still in operation west and east of Lansing, and north of Plymouth. How about along the Ann Arbor south of Milan? Some older active crossing installations map still have the protection circuitry strung up on poles instead of buried, even in non-signalled territory.

Some poles may still be up in the Wayne area on the CSX side. Poles are also still up along the former C&O Saginaw subdivision from Baldwin west. Poles may also still be up in Kalamazoo near BO along the GR&I and then in the former Gibson Diamond area. See also 5 remaining 4-crossarm poles on the Zeeland Lumber property in Zeeland, and about 4 multi-crossarm poles still adding to the landscape beside Union Station at MA in Lansing.

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Once upon a time on the CSX at Wayne
Once upon a time on the CSX at Wayne
Near West Botsford in Kalamazoo, in 2007.
Near West Botsford in Kalamazoo, in 2007.
Still humming away at Williamston.
Still humming away at Williamston.

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astrovanman1989
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by astrovanman1989 »

We have on pole next to the Saginaw railway museum that had a bunch of insulators
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Re: Surviving Telegraph Poles in Michigan

Unread post by Tim »

When I was working for the C&O (1965-1968) the telegraph key was still working between Ensel and MA. I was working nights and the operator at MA and I used to mess around with it trying to teach ourselves Morris. At that time Western Union still had a wire on the pole line although it was a backup line.

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