Boston Elevated Railway, 1942. Large Porcelain Cleat Insulators.

By Joe Maurath, Jr.; posted March 22, 2020

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Photograph taken along a section that was demolished right after this photo was taken. The Orange Line stretch utilized CD 267 and 267.5 insulators and were positioned into otherwise identical cross-ties. The latter had equally spaced holes in them and short stubby pins were used, mounted on a separate piece of heavy creosoted wood attached to the top of the main horizontal rail (see photo). The Orange Line also had some large cleat insulators for cable supports. They were replacements and were along (newer) sections where the builders probably found them more durable than the glass pintypes. These installations were covered above by boards, perpendicular between the two higher mounted curbs or rails (as seen) and acted as catwalks. They were removed as we see here, exposing the cleat installations facilitating the removal of the heavy copper direct current supply cables that once were draped through them.

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