The fall Ontario insulator meet was hosted by Bruce Templton this year. Bruce lives just outside Huntsville Ont., in cottage country. The roads into and around this area of Ontario have plenty of hills and valleys as they wind through the Canadian Shield. The fall colors were just about at their best, which made for a nice drive.

The Huntsville area had seen very little rain for the month of Sept. Sadly, Murphy's law struck and the day of the insulator meet was a wet one. Once the decision was made to clear out the garages and move the meet inside, tables and insulators appeared as fast as I've seen.

There was a good collector turn out despite the weather. The BBQ list had 2-dozen "customers" and no one went hungry with Bruce attending the grill. It was tough to break away from the insulators, but after a while there was no one looking at the tables, as we were all around the BBQ.

There was a wide range of Canadian insulators on the tables. Available Canadian colors included cornflower blue and various shades of purple, green and pink. There were quite a few porcelain insulators around too, so there was something for everyone. Doug Netzke had a good range of foreign insulators from outside North America. Australian insulators are one of his specialties.

Rick Soller (IL) and Dave French (MN) made the trip up from the US and both had some nice insulators to show off. I really liked the glowing peacock blue signal. We just don't see color like that up here in Canada. Rick had a neat cd147 that was stuck in a tree, which had grown around it. Judging by the size of the tree, it took about 15 - 20 years to trap this insulator.

Other notable insulators that were seen include a nice example of the rare CNR 154 and a 136.4 Canadian Boston with a 1-1/4" graphite bubble in the skirt. Kevin Kidd brought a few insulators for show and tell. A jade green Brookfield 102, a milky purple BTC 102 and a 122 Dominioin (note spelling) with sharp drip points are all unlisted insulators that Kevin has located for his collection.

Many insulators changed hands during the few hours allowed. Tear down time came way to soon. There were many trades made as well as sales. Trading has always been a strong element at the fall meet, and this one was no exception. I had intended to come home with fewer insulators, but I think my car tires "chirped" on the wheel wells more on the way home than on the way to the show.

One high light of the day for me, was seeing my first moose. It being 30' in front of my VW Golf was close enough. We saw another larger bull on the way home, but it was off feeding in the bush out of harms way.

-- The Red Porcelain Insulator --

Getting back to the Fort Langley Insulator Show I mentioned a few months ago. I am now happy to provide a look at the rare red porcelain insulator that was there. 

Bill Baker of British Columbia is the proud owner of this red British Bullers insulator. He retrieved it while visiting Great Britain in 1985. The London North West Railway was tearing out the poles and lines between Carlisle and Dumfries. Having the poles cut made for easy pickings. There was only one red insulator per pole, so it must have indicated a separate circuit. 

The color free dome has a detailed incused embossing which identifies the insulator as a Buller's product. Thanks to both Bill and Bob for sharing this colorful insulator with us.

This column's header insulator is a blue Canadian Boston [ cd136.4] with a nice milky stripe. Photo credit and thanks goes to Dwayne Anthony of CA. Other photo credits belong to Rick Soller and Dona Brkich.

Feel free to drop CJOW or myself a note if you have anything you would like to see covered in the way of Canadian insulator news or information. 
Good Collecting....... Robin

(See Coming Events for the next Canadian Show.....April 23, 2005)

Robin Plewes, Almonte Ontario          Phone: 613-256-7638 
Email: robin.plewe@cmcelectronics.ca