One of my earliest recollections of a open line recreation was the back yard clothesline I saw at Claude Wambold's Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania insulator show and sale in the early 1980's. It was something I admired and wanted to recreate in my own yard one day. However, it was a project that was always on the back burner because I never thought I could obtain all of the 'authentic' materials needed to undertake the project. One of the key components is the pole. However, because of its size, weight, availability and transportability, it was a piece I never expected to obtain and therefore a project I never expected to undertake. Opportunity knocked on my door this summer when a paving project required the relocation of a number of the telephone poles on my street.

The methodology of moving overhead utilities consists of the power utility placing new poles and moving the power lines first. The power utility then cuts the pole tops down to where the telephone and cable utilities are located. The other utilities then come in and move their stuff over. In the final pass, the power utility comes in and removes the old poles and gathers up all the wrecked out material. Since this is a coordinated effort of many different parties, this particular project took several months to complete. To my benefit, the crew working this project was a nice bunch of guys. The allowed me to take whatever used hardware I wanted since it was destined for the dumpster anyway.

The pictures and story that follows details the building of my own backyard open line recreation. This is a project that I undertook nearly 20 years after I got the original inspiration.