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My history with glass Insulators
I have lived my entire life (all of 18 years) in the
small, Richmond, Va. surburb of Glen Allen. Less than
a mile from my house is the RF&P Subdivision of CSX Transportation.
My great maternal grandfather was a 41 year veteran of the Richmond,
Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. My brother continues this legacy
today in his passion for railroading and railfanning.
I first became interested in insulators on a winter night
in early winter, 2002. One of my better friends, another avid insulator
collector, wanted to go 'searching for glass things' in a local county.
The rest is history.
While being a collector young in age and experience in
the hobby, I have already learned so much and met so many. Through
ICON
and various contacts, I have seen how vast of a hobby I really got myself into,
and I have not regretted it for a single second.
Myself,
and close contacts
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David Hawkins
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I have lived all my life hearing trains roll up and
down the RF&P subdivision. I saw some of the
old lonesome poles as a child, but they never appealed much to me.
Needless to say that 10 years later
the opposite is true
I quickly fell in love with the
CD 145 "beehive", the early standard of the Western Union Telegraph
Company. I also have numerous CD 152's, W.U.T.Co.'s replacement for
the CD 145.
My collection rests (well, not really) right above
200. About 25% are beehives. |
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John Whitmore
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I met John through my brother. John is an avid
railfan as well as insulator collector. John says
of himself:
My name is John Whitmore, and I was born in Harrisonburg, Rockingham
County,
VA. When I was young, my family would vacation twice yearly in
Florida, and
I became fascinated with the multicrossarm telephone poles that lined
the
highways and adjacent railways for literally hundreds of miles along
the
way. In the days before the Interstate Highway System, the trip from
VA to
St Petersburg was three days and two nights on the road. We would
travel
US Routes 301, 52, and 17, and these highways paralleled the Atlantic
Coast
Line Railroad, and it's 4-plus crossarm telegraph line. The colored
glass
sparkling in the sun kept me occupied for hours during these trips.
I obtained my first insulators from linemen working for the
Harrisonburg
Mutual Telephone Company in 1972 when they were relocating lines along
a
roadway. When I finally got to hold one of those crown jewels in my
hand
for the first time, I was hooked, and have been interested in them
ever
since. I originally specialized in Lynchburg's, and won Second
Place-Specialty with my display at the 1977 NIA show in Lakeland FL.
I
sold my collection when I relocated to Richmond due to space
limitations,
but still have a small collection of pieces that I have found. I
enjoy
mentoring new collectors to the hobby, as well as going out on hunts
for
glass. |
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