From "Line Work Part 1" by Louis Casper, General Inspector Telegraphs:
"In a telegraph system consisting of thousands of telegraph offices, both large and small, means must be provided for a physical electrical connection between such offices so as to interlink them into one complete unit. This link between telegraph offices is generally called outside plant construction, and consists mostly of strings of bare wire raised above the ground by means of wooden pole supports. Stretches of such structures are termed pole lines."
As the telephone came into being, the same pole line technology was adapted and used with some modifications. After 1938, the Antonito to Chama pole line contained both telegraph and telephone wires. Prior to that, the wires designed for telegraph work, however, they had been adapted for voice communication using the telegraphone.Many of the poles are still in place today, especially in the section of the line between Cumbres to roughly Sublette. They are typical of the type used throughout the D&RGW system. It would be interesting to know if these poles were cut locally, as the timber industry in the area was (and still is) quite substantial. Perhaps some D&RGW records will be found that indicate where these poles came from.
Quite a few of the poles have an interesting "repair". It appears that the original poles were sawed off, leaving a 4 or 5 foot stump. A new pole was then lashed on using steel cable. Ed Trump provided this explanation of the reasons behind this odd-appearing repair:
When a pole rotted off in the earth, the damage almost always was within the two feet beneath the surface of the earth...old poles were dug up frequently where the entire original butt was intact except for the portion two feet below the earth surface.
The repair for such a situation, if the above-ground portion of a pole was still serviceable and reasonably sound, was to dig a hole adjacent to the rotted pole, then set a "stub" which was a short section of pole set to the original pole's depth, and extending four or five feet above the ground. Then the original pole was lashed or banded tightly to the "stub" thus restoring the pole's original integrity. Sometimes the original pole was sawed off at ground level, but usually not.
Old pole lines will show a large percentage of "stubs" on the poles. It was considered an economical method of pole line repair and cost less than setting a whole new pole, as the linemen didn't have to climb the pole, untie the wires and move the crossarm and insulators to the new pole. In fact, the work could be accomplished by the groundmen without the assistance of the lineman at all, which resulted in labor savings as groundmen were not paid at the same rate as linemen.
Railroad telegraph and telephone circuits were designated for specific communication functions. L.E. Trump explains the purpose of the different circuits:
The "DS" wire was a wire that usually spanned only an operating division or portion thereof under the control of a single dispatcher, and was reserved for exclusive use in transmitting train orders, and "OS"ing train movements.
The RR "message wire" was used primarily for railroad company message business from RR HQ to it's operating personnel and agents along the line. RR message wires terminated in the division or main relay office of the RR.
The Western Union wire was used for commercial telegrams and terminated in the nearest WU large city relay office. WU telegraph service was thus universally available at most RR depots when the RR telegraph office was open and manned. RR ops got a commission from handling the WU business.
This is why you often see three wires depicted in RR depot photos, and old drawings by the likes of Harry Temple etc. A typical setup in a RR depot would have three sets of instruments (relay and key) on the telegraph table..one for the DS wire one for the RR message wire, and one for the WU wire. A common local sounder in a stand or swing-arm resonator would be provided with some means such as a switch or table jack arrangement to allow the resonator sounder to be "cut in" on the local circuit from any of the three relays. Later technology made use of the "mainline" calling sounders on each wire and a single relay, key and local sounder master set that could be plugged into any of the wires with a cordless table jack, and the separate relay and key for each wire was eliminated.
Other wires on the pole line possibly would be run into the station switchboard only and not have a set of instruments assigned to them. This was for testing and patching purposes so that breaks or grounds along the line could be located and patched around if necessary between stations on direction of the wirechief. The WC would call the stations along the line when he needed help and have the operator "open 118 west and say when" etc. when shooting wire trouble.
Ed has done considerable research and sleuthing of the pole line arrangements on the railroad. This gives a good feel for the tools the dispatchers and railroad management had to control the railroad. This was the 19th and early 20th century version of "information technology" !
Ed explains in detail the D&RGW telegraph system:
Greg...
I went thru part of the stuff on the website...
Only thing I can add now is that I know what all the wire numbers were on the teleraph pole lines in the San Luis Valley and on the line to Durango, Farmington and Silverton, plus the Creede branch, with a fair amount of certainty.
Took a while to figure it out, but with info from some of those old pole heads, and old employee timetables, I believe I have it mostly correct now.
I made a line drawing showing all the stations, office calls, and wire numbers that either terminated or went through the switchboards in all the RR stations and W.U. Offices.
Pretty interesting.....
Stuff such as the 108 Western Union wire(originally WU No. 8)...went from Pueblo all the way to Silverton via Walsenburg, LaVeta Pass, Alamosa, and Durango.
118 Western Union wire (originally WU No. 18) went all the way to Creede, came from Pueblo via Canon City, Texas Creek, Salida, the Valley line, Alamosa thence up the Creede branch, terminating at Creede.
The DS telegraph wires (No. 1 Wire) were in shorter sections...Pueblo to Trinidad, with a loop to LaVeta from Walsenburg.
No 1 DS wire Alamosa to Monte Vista, DelNorte and Creede.
No. 1 DS wire to Salida.
The Alamosa East DS wire No. 1 went from Alamosa, looped to Laveta Thru Ft Garland, then back and down the Chili line as No. 01 terminating in Santa Fe W.U. office.
Alamosa West DS wire No. 1 went to Antonito, Chama, and Durango.
Timetable Info shows a No 2.W.U./Message wire Durango to Farmington and a No 1 wire.
Timetable info shows a WU 108 wire and a No. 1 wire Durango to Silverton. (These are the ones John B. Norwood was hooked onto with his Y-pole during the snowslide episode he describes on the SV (Silverton) branch.)
How No 1. wire got to both SV and FX (Farmington) from DG (Durango) is somewhat of a mystery unless there was a set of repeaters on it at DG.
RR msg wire No. 3 went from Denver to Pueblo to Walsenburg to Laveta to Alamosa.
RR Msg wire No. 5 went from Denver to Pueblo to Salida, apparently down the Valley line to Alamosa, with loop to Ft Garland, La Veta.
Western Union No. 109 (originally WU No. 9) was used for teleprinter at the last, went from Pueblo to Walsenburg WU, through switchboards not cut in at smaller offices to Alamosa WU.
This checks out pretty well...there were 5 wires on the pole line from Alamosa to Antonito. DS fone (made of old WU 9/109 and RR msg No. 3), WU 108, DS No.1 West, and No 01 which was the original Chili line wire to Santa Fe. Only the one wire was ever on the Chili line, No 01. After the Chili line was abandoned, it was put to ground at Antonito as as spare wire.
4 wires on the pole line Antonito to Chama and Durango,,,, DS fone (made out of original WU wires 9/109 and old RR msg No. 3), WU 108 and DS No. 1.
Old Photos show three wires on the Valley line...I make them DS No. 1 from Salida, RR Msg No. 5 from Denver and Pueblo, and WU 118 from Pueblo.
Two wires on Creede Branch: DS No. 1 and WU 118.
There never were any telephone pairs on the Creede branch or the Valley Line.
East of AS, DS No. 1/01 loop (2 wires) to LaVeta, No.5 Msg wire loop to LaVeta (2 wires) RR Msg wire No. 3 WU 8/108 and WU 9/109. Seven wires. Plus a pair for DS phone at the last, total of nine wires. One ten pin crossarm arm. Seems to fit what I remember of that pole line.
Most of this info about the wire numbers comes from empoyee timetables showing what wires were cut in and in switchboards at the various stations along the line.
Can you dig it?
Ed Trump
Fairbanks Alaska