A mint Marked Fred Locke M-2430 exactly where it has been since the line was dismantled in 1953. The early M-2430's had a habit of fracturing at the top of the base skirt causing the top platter to break away from the base at the top of the pinhole . . We think this strange tie arrangement was used at high strain locations to avoid this problem. The steel wire may have been used for (we think) power for the line cabins along the line route, or maybe communication. This arrangement typically used a Lee pin metal cone, and likely dates from when the line was upgraded from 23 kV to 60kV. The little M-2430's were then re-used to provide insulation on the underbuild. Assuming the underbuild was power, the line was likely not operating at more then 2400 volts so this arrangement would have worked in this situation. Here is a link to some more photos of this same hunt posted in February... [id=175799019]