Overdue Update
So here is an overdue update for... you.
Last Thursday I went back to Evans City to continue where I left off looking for insulators. Although, first I stopped to get that CREB in that old lady's yard. I snuck up and knocked it off and found out that it wasn't a CREB after all haha. It was just a regular old Brookfield (same shape, different embossing). Oh well, I left it there and took off. After that I went back out to Evans City. Before going into new territory I went back to that other CREB hanging out over the creek to find that the water was much much lower this time around, and the landing zone was close enough to shore that I could get the insulator done. I happily knocked it off it's perch and watched as it kerplunked into the water an arm's reach from shore. Success! Oh... wait... no.. the mud cleared and I saw it hit a rock on the bottom and broke. Damnit! I gathered my wits and continued on without it.
Right away I found another light green 162.3. I also found a downed pole with a bunch of insulators nearby removed from their pins and gathered up in a little group. Must've been someone through here already. The weird part was, they left the good ones. I picked up a 162 Star in yellow-green ($30) and some others. Woohoo. Continuing on, I found that the line I was on split at a junction into two separate lines. I went one way and soon found the poles chopped down and missing (damn), so I went back and went down the other direction. I didn't really find much for awhile, then I came across a CD-133 Brookfield (a new one for me). They are very common and mostly worthless, but I didn't have one so I decided to get this down. It was wired in still (with dead wires), but wasn't very high. Unfortunately, when they are wired in they are very difficult to remove. I painstakingly used the loop end to snag the tie wire and unwrap it from the insulator (took awhile) but soon the wire loosened enough that it popped off the glass. I spun the glass off easily after that. Woohoo!
Moving on I soon came to a small town, Harmony PA (aw). I moved through town looking for insulators and soon came across another CD-133 (right in town). This one, I could see, had the drip points on the bottom, so I assumed it was a Hemingray (which commonly have drips, whereas Brookfields almost never do). Since the first 133 was a Brookfield, I figured I'd get this down so I could have a Hemingray as well. It wasn't wired in either, so it was an easy grab. Soon it was in my hands and I was happy to see that it was, actually, a Brookfield. This turned out to probably be the "rarest" find of the day, even though it wasn't the most valuable. Talking to other collectors, I gathered that there are only a few of these known in addition to the one I just found (doesn't mean there aren't a ton out there... these are just the reported ones). That's pretty cool though, its neat to find rare glass.
Moving through town was uneventful.. didn't really see very much. I was also being careful because of the people around, so I kinda just walked through. I got to the other end and saw another CD-133. This one didn't have drips and was wired in, so my first instinct was to just leave it for someone else. Then I figured I might as well try to get it down so I can check it out first. I didn't feel like untying the wire again so I just tried to knock it off it's pin to see what might happen. Luckily, I was able to do this. Since the wire was tense, however, it popped the insulator up into the air and made it harder to get down. Luckily for me, the tie wire was rather loose on the glass, though, so I was able to jiggle the wire until it fell out, rolled down a pretty steep bank and ended up in the water of the creek below. A fella watching from the trailer park (lol) across the street yelled over that it went in the water. I waved and said thanks and then went down to retrieve it. I was relieved to find that it didn't sustain any damage, and then I was even more relieved to see that the glass was dark olive green in color. This was the same insulator as the first 133 I found, although in olive green. For comparisons, the first 133 is worth about $5 whereas this one is worth $50, just because of the color. Woohoo! I zippered it into my coat pocket (as opposed to leaving it on the RR ties to pick up on the return hike).
I moved on out of town and soon came across a set of high poles near some kind of warehouse. The first high pole had a CREB on top that was JUST within reach when I stood on this wooden block that was randomly lying around. I spun it off and went to catch it, but it landed squarely on my middle finger (really hurt) and hit the ground. Luckily, my knuckle broke the fall enough that it didn't break, so I picked it up and turned around for the hike back.
The end haul for the day. The olive is the top middle insulator.
It was a pretty good hunt, can't complain. It was tiring though, and the following day I had to drive to Morgantown to visit Ryan for the weekend. On the way down I stopped in Connellsville and Uniontown to (what else) hunt some more. I didn't walk very much since I was still sore, but I ended up finding two CREBs (though one is in pretty bad shape), some CD-122s, a CD-134 and some other random ones. Pretty good. I met up with Ryan at 630 or so and we went back to his place and played video games/drank brewskis. It was a fun time.
On Saturday Ryan and I went out to Cheat Lake to take a small walk. I was still pretty tired and sore from two days worth of hunting, so I wimped out a lot. We ran a few errands after that and then went back to play more video games lol.
On Sunday we went to Qdoba and had some mexican and then came back to watch the Pens beat the Caps, woohoo! It was a great game. More video games were in order for the evening.
On Monday I went to WVU to fill out some paperwork for the upcoming job and to meet some folks. It took 4 hours or so. I also had to watch this super lame defensive driving video that was like 75 minutes long, but with some strategic fast fowarding, I cut it down to about 35 or 40 minutes. Noice. The guys I'll be working with seem pretty cool, it should be a good project.
After WVU I had a quick lunch with Ryan and then drove home, first stopping in Ohiopyle to check for some more glass. I love ohiopyle, it's one of my favorite places. It's just nice to be there by the river. There were lots of trains coming through, though, so I didn't wanna stick around too long. I hiked a couple miles and then turned around; found about 5 or 6 insulators that I kept. One of them has a nail entombed in the glass, which is pretty neat.
Not much else to report. Weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow so I'm going to head back out to Harmony to continue where I left off. These insulator hunts are helping to get me back in hiking shape for the job coming up; I usually do about 10 miles or so per hunt. Of course, these are flat railroad beds and don't really take into account the terrain that I will see with work, but that's alright, I'll tough it out.
Also, I miss Wyoming.
Ok, I will update sometime later. Wish me luck!
Last Thursday I went back to Evans City to continue where I left off looking for insulators. Although, first I stopped to get that CREB in that old lady's yard. I snuck up and knocked it off and found out that it wasn't a CREB after all haha. It was just a regular old Brookfield (same shape, different embossing). Oh well, I left it there and took off. After that I went back out to Evans City. Before going into new territory I went back to that other CREB hanging out over the creek to find that the water was much much lower this time around, and the landing zone was close enough to shore that I could get the insulator done. I happily knocked it off it's perch and watched as it kerplunked into the water an arm's reach from shore. Success! Oh... wait... no.. the mud cleared and I saw it hit a rock on the bottom and broke. Damnit! I gathered my wits and continued on without it.
Right away I found another light green 162.3. I also found a downed pole with a bunch of insulators nearby removed from their pins and gathered up in a little group. Must've been someone through here already. The weird part was, they left the good ones. I picked up a 162 Star in yellow-green ($30) and some others. Woohoo. Continuing on, I found that the line I was on split at a junction into two separate lines. I went one way and soon found the poles chopped down and missing (damn), so I went back and went down the other direction. I didn't really find much for awhile, then I came across a CD-133 Brookfield (a new one for me). They are very common and mostly worthless, but I didn't have one so I decided to get this down. It was wired in still (with dead wires), but wasn't very high. Unfortunately, when they are wired in they are very difficult to remove. I painstakingly used the loop end to snag the tie wire and unwrap it from the insulator (took awhile) but soon the wire loosened enough that it popped off the glass. I spun the glass off easily after that. Woohoo!
Moving on I soon came to a small town, Harmony PA (aw). I moved through town looking for insulators and soon came across another CD-133 (right in town). This one, I could see, had the drip points on the bottom, so I assumed it was a Hemingray (which commonly have drips, whereas Brookfields almost never do). Since the first 133 was a Brookfield, I figured I'd get this down so I could have a Hemingray as well. It wasn't wired in either, so it was an easy grab. Soon it was in my hands and I was happy to see that it was, actually, a Brookfield. This turned out to probably be the "rarest" find of the day, even though it wasn't the most valuable. Talking to other collectors, I gathered that there are only a few of these known in addition to the one I just found (doesn't mean there aren't a ton out there... these are just the reported ones). That's pretty cool though, its neat to find rare glass.
Moving through town was uneventful.. didn't really see very much. I was also being careful because of the people around, so I kinda just walked through. I got to the other end and saw another CD-133. This one didn't have drips and was wired in, so my first instinct was to just leave it for someone else. Then I figured I might as well try to get it down so I can check it out first. I didn't feel like untying the wire again so I just tried to knock it off it's pin to see what might happen. Luckily, I was able to do this. Since the wire was tense, however, it popped the insulator up into the air and made it harder to get down. Luckily for me, the tie wire was rather loose on the glass, though, so I was able to jiggle the wire until it fell out, rolled down a pretty steep bank and ended up in the water of the creek below. A fella watching from the trailer park (lol) across the street yelled over that it went in the water. I waved and said thanks and then went down to retrieve it. I was relieved to find that it didn't sustain any damage, and then I was even more relieved to see that the glass was dark olive green in color. This was the same insulator as the first 133 I found, although in olive green. For comparisons, the first 133 is worth about $5 whereas this one is worth $50, just because of the color. Woohoo! I zippered it into my coat pocket (as opposed to leaving it on the RR ties to pick up on the return hike).
I moved on out of town and soon came across a set of high poles near some kind of warehouse. The first high pole had a CREB on top that was JUST within reach when I stood on this wooden block that was randomly lying around. I spun it off and went to catch it, but it landed squarely on my middle finger (really hurt) and hit the ground. Luckily, my knuckle broke the fall enough that it didn't break, so I picked it up and turned around for the hike back.
The end haul for the day. The olive is the top middle insulator.
It was a pretty good hunt, can't complain. It was tiring though, and the following day I had to drive to Morgantown to visit Ryan for the weekend. On the way down I stopped in Connellsville and Uniontown to (what else) hunt some more. I didn't walk very much since I was still sore, but I ended up finding two CREBs (though one is in pretty bad shape), some CD-122s, a CD-134 and some other random ones. Pretty good. I met up with Ryan at 630 or so and we went back to his place and played video games/drank brewskis. It was a fun time.
On Saturday Ryan and I went out to Cheat Lake to take a small walk. I was still pretty tired and sore from two days worth of hunting, so I wimped out a lot. We ran a few errands after that and then went back to play more video games lol.
On Sunday we went to Qdoba and had some mexican and then came back to watch the Pens beat the Caps, woohoo! It was a great game. More video games were in order for the evening.
On Monday I went to WVU to fill out some paperwork for the upcoming job and to meet some folks. It took 4 hours or so. I also had to watch this super lame defensive driving video that was like 75 minutes long, but with some strategic fast fowarding, I cut it down to about 35 or 40 minutes. Noice. The guys I'll be working with seem pretty cool, it should be a good project.
After WVU I had a quick lunch with Ryan and then drove home, first stopping in Ohiopyle to check for some more glass. I love ohiopyle, it's one of my favorite places. It's just nice to be there by the river. There were lots of trains coming through, though, so I didn't wanna stick around too long. I hiked a couple miles and then turned around; found about 5 or 6 insulators that I kept. One of them has a nail entombed in the glass, which is pretty neat.
Not much else to report. Weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow so I'm going to head back out to Harmony to continue where I left off. These insulator hunts are helping to get me back in hiking shape for the job coming up; I usually do about 10 miles or so per hunt. Of course, these are flat railroad beds and don't really take into account the terrain that I will see with work, but that's alright, I'll tough it out.
Also, I miss Wyoming.
Ok, I will update sometime later. Wish me luck!