Recently, my friend and fellow insulator collector Steve Marsh, contacted me regarding an unusual observation. While riding Amtrak in Northern California, he noticed what appeared to be bowls under insulators on a railroad pole line. The insulators appeared to be CD 154 Hemingray's. The bowls looked to be made of copper and were affixed to the crossarm pins directly below the insulators. The line appeared to be in disarray, without evidence of recent maintenance, and we began planning a trip to investigate this strange construction. 

Prior to our outing, Steve called and said that he had found a picture of a patent by Fred M. Locke that looked similar to what he saw. I wrote to Elton Gish, requesting a copy of this patent. Elton's reply was very informative. He sent me a copy of a Crown Jewels article from August, 1980. In the article, Jack Tod replied to a letter and photos sent to him of copper bowls used on primary lines. They were called metal fog shrouds. They were intended for use with U-418 porcelain insulators; an early attempt to defeat fog and air contaminant pollution of power lines. According to the information provided by Jack, these early styles were soon replaced by U-855 fog bowls. The U-855's provided adequate insulation without the hassle of using the copper shrouds. The use of these shrouds was extremely limited.

Upon receiving this information, Steve and I were excited. But more questions began to arise. Why would such a arrangement be used on a railroad line? And, according to Steve's observations from the train, why were they only used in a very limited area? Only an excursion to the site could possibly answer these questions! 

Saturday morning. The check-off list is completed: rake, camera, tools, metal detector, insect repellent, donuts, sodas, maps, and lots of speculation as to what we will find. We are ready! After a short trip on a main highway, we take a turnoff to an old highway. Excitement mounts as we can catch glimpses of the track and line below us. But, how to get there? The area is surrounded on one side by water and on the other by homes! Do you think anyone would allow a couple of harmless insulator collectors to climb over their fence to walk a few miles along a railroad track? Neither Steve nor I feel lucky enough to go up and ask! After circling the neighborhood for the better part of a hour, we spot our chance on the other side of a drainage ditch! Why do we always have to be on the wrong side of a ditch?! Not to be discouraged, we find a way around and enter the right-of-way for the tracks. So, where are the bowls? A quick glance up and down the row of poles reveals that the line has been abandoned, lines have been cut in places and left to hang. But where are the BOWLS? Being a salt marsh and home to many waterfowl, the area is also a favorite for hunters. So what does a frustrated hunter shoot at when no game is available? Abandoned telephone poles! The poles on our immediate right and left looked as though a flock of woodpeckers had descended upon them! A quick stomp around the marsh grass didn't reveal even a shard of glass. But, who would expect the gray mud to give up anything anyway! While I was busy pulling the weeds from my sox after the first stomp, Steve excitedly called from several poles away. He had found a crossarm, metal pins barely distinguishable from corrosion due to the salt water, and a bit of copper plate around the base of the pin below the cob! We were on the right track! Our pace quickened, each of us taking every other pole base to save time with both running into each other around one pole. We found more rotting crossarms with bits of copper but not one bowl. It seemed as though the shooters had done a thorough job in this area. Then we saw them. Puckered by shotgun pellets, 30 feet up and out of reach. The bowls were here. On some of the poles with crossarms, we began to see portions of bowls still attached to the pins. They were always on the top crossarm, of course, on the inside two pins. Steve said this would have been a 110 volt line used by the railroad for its signal system. About half of a mile from where we started, we began to see more intact bowls on the same top crossarms. The further we walked following the line, the more intact they became. At one point, the line went into a gully. There at the bottom, in a ditch, surrounded by black berries with a fresh growth of spines for the summer, we saw the end portion of a crossarm jutting from the mud. We knew this had to be the place! On a prior expedition, Steve and I had been caught in a minor landslide attempting a similar maneuver, so we were both a bit reluctant to go climbing down. A quick toss of the coin made me the volunteer! After carefully sliding down the grade and into the berry bushes, I was able to grab hold of the crossarm. It was completely buried in gray mud and would not budge!

A few solid tugs and THERE THEY WERE! Two specimens of the copper bowls attached to their metal pins emerged. By now, Steve had made his way down to the bottom of the ditch. Great! All we had to do now was take the pins apart and we were on our way! "Say, Steve, hand me the wrench and... " In our excitement., we had left all of our tools back in the truck! Neither one of us wanted to hike back to the truck to retrieve them, nor did we want to drag the crossarm back to the truck! "Well, looks like we're going to be here for a while, huh buddy?"

Not to be dismayed, we put to work on the crossarm, literally taking it apart with our hands to free the two pins. Insulator collectors know no boundaries when no one can see them! Our two specimens were both badly shot up, but they were worth the effort. Further on down the line, .we saw more of the bowls with insulators ranging from rubber Continental Rubber Works ponies to B 145's to Hemingray 154's. At no point did we notice any U-418's in service with them. Very strange!! We took a number of photos of the line both with the bowls with insulators out of service and, at one stretch, with the insulators and poles very well maintained and definitely still in use by the railroad. During lunch, we were tossing back and forth why this line had been put into service. Since many of the poles had no evidence of the bowls, we could only speculate that the signal line must have been installed with the bowls in place. Further crossarm maintenance during the years would explain their absence in stretches. While we were talking, I fell a tingle up my spine. Just too much excitement for one day! A scratch of the back of my neck a few seconds later produced a huge tick! For the rest of the afternoon, one would appear periodically to say 'Hi!' Yuck! or course, they didn't appear to like Steve! 

Through the remainder of the day, Steve and I searched several miles of track and only found evidence of these metal bowls on a relatively short stretch or line. After returning home that evening with our treasures we made a new discovery. A U-418 would not fit into the bowls! Not even close. Our specimens were definitely manufactured for use with smaller insulators. Could these have been made for secondary line application? But why did we only find them on a railroad communications line? Why didn't the adjoining line that also had evidence of a signal line have these? Why did we only rind them on a several mile stretch of line? We saw no evidence of any style of fogbowl insulators on the crossarms, even on the stretches that were well maintained and still in use. 

Our trip provided us with many more questions than we had before. Guess that is why we both share a love of this hobby. Still so much to learn and search out. And, not to mention, the adventure.