The Pylon Appreciation Society

Some of the pylons have elegant designs. The supports for the transmission line along the highway where I live are just ugly galvanized tubular posts. They are not even painted.

My mom is an avid insulator collector. That is apparently also a thing that people do.

3 Likes

No wonder, they are pretty! :smiley:

…Be glad she is not a pylon collector. You’d need a BIG garden…

4 Likes

The Concrete Society?

Take that, Margaret Thatcher!

Personally, I really like the cobalt, dark purple, and honey ones in @crenquis’s chart. Just something about the purity of the hues.

1 Like

yeah, the music scene in Athens was pretty special back then. Pylon usually gets overshadowed by REM and the B-52s, though. good to see there’s an appreciation society carrying the torch

1 Like

What won in the other years?

I see only one of these old phone lines in my travels through telescope country - a four-pair line along Ajo Highway between Tucson and Kitt Peak. It looks like it might have been in use 20 years ago - most of the wire is still there.

Did you know that the old open-wire phone lines were twisted pairs? Some of the insulators are mounted on racks that allow one wire to pass under the other. This was done for the same reason it’s still done with Ethernet cable - to reduce crosstalk between adjacent pairs. That’s why it’s called crosstalk, as you would hear someone talking on another line if the twisting wasn’t up to snuff.

Not bored enough yet? Read this fascinating article on “transpositions”, the gizmos used to prevent crosstalk. It’s loooooong!

4 Likes

Damn it… I came to say the same thing…Though that’s not what this is about:

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.