With the help from Permanent Way colleagues, we have finally got round to changing two telegraph poles at Kinchurdy which had rotted at ground level. This was not a particularly difficult job but was quite time consuming. The new poles are two feet taller returning the line wires back to their original height, reducing the strain and taking them back out of our passenger’s view from the carriage window when travelling on the train. We are very fortunate that the railway has accumulated healthy stock of telegraph pole components such as cross arms, porcelain insulator pots & spindles which should allow us to maintain our pole route for years to come. The Strathspey Railway is now one of a very few heritage railways which has a fully operational telegraph pole route in the UK.
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| Preparation works at Boat of Garten before heading to site. |
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| On site the pole is notched to take the cross member, a hat is installed to protect the top of the pole from the weather and reduce the rate of decay. |
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| The end result, new pole up. 1.5m into the ground for stability and 0.6m taller than the old pole making the wires level to the other poles and reducing the tension in the lines. |
We still have more poles that are in need of replacement. If you wish to get involved with this renews please get in touch.
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