Did you ever dream about coming across thousands of insulators just thrown in heaps and mounds and 50 gallon drums? Add to your fantasy piles of cobalts, purples, olives, greens in all CD's including Castles, E.C.&M.s, Columbias and threadless of all shapes and sizes.

Well, I did when my father-in-law, Ernie, called me last Summer. He said that a local auto junk yard near him had contracted to rip up a railroad in New Jersey, and they carted all that "stuff" you collect back to the yard and everything is just laying there. Since he knows the owner (Ernie knows everybody), he wanted to know how much he should offer the guy for the whole mess. Now, Ernie is the type that buys a car at auction one day, washes it, and sells it the next day for a $10 profit. I said, "Hold on, Pop, wait until I can come there and look at what they have." He told me I'd better hurry up because there might be other strange people that get excited over these things. He has always questioned the sanity of his daughter for sharing my interest in the hobby.

The pile of crossarms......

A week later, my son and I drove to the yard and found it to be closed. Through the fence I could see some crossarms and went looking for someone who could open the gate. After introducing myself to Ernie's son-in-law, I was allowed into the yard to look around.

The place was unbelievable: junk cars, transmissions, wheels, chassis of all types, and piles and piles of insulators. My excitement quickly turned to chagrin when I saw how they were dumped and piled and broken. I was surrounded by glass and porcelain and wire and brackets and plastic and rubber and, and.....WHERE WERE ALL THE GEMS YOU WOULD FIGHT A JUNK YARD DOG FOR?

From what I could see at a glance, all the glass was a common variety. What is on the bottom of the piles and in the 50 gallon drums is anybody's guess. There were Armstrong, Whitall Tatum, Brookfield, Kerr, Hemingray in all the common CD's. There were some nice olive pieces in pieces, and some pretty fair porcelain. Intermixed was plastic, rubber, wire, and transposition brackets. In the field were piles of poles and crossarms (Farmers buy them for fencing).

Tom Wisser clawing and cussing on a pile
of miscellaneous insulators.

After about 2 hours of digging and climbing and pulling and cussing, I came away with 3 olive beehives, some white porcelain and brackets which I paid for. I suppose all this will eventually end up on the "big crossarm in the sky" since it will be recycled some day. Perhaps there is that gem in there somewhere, and if anyone wants to look, please let me know.

Bill Wisser carrying a handful of goodies.

By the way, as I was leaving, the owner mentioned the funny ones he found that are smooth inside. He would let me see them sometime. When he comes home from Florida, I'll send Ernie out there to look for them!