Originally Posted by
hotwiretamer
How many remember "the way it was" there first day on the job, and the improvements made (or not) as time went by, and now realize how far behind the company that you worked for at the time was behind the times?
I started linework in 84, and here are are a few things looking back where we were slightly behind the times:
Three crews, no bucket trucks. We had one 36' service bucket that if available you could call for assistance. Our line trucks all had a bucket we carried. We gloved so even on a single phase inset, we tagged the line (with just rope) set the pole, then installed bucket on boom (manual 3rd stage fiberglass extension) tied it in. Then took off the bucket, climbed the pole and intalled xfmr, etc. Of coarse there was no leveler as gravity took care of that, and no lanyard. When we finally purchase a two man bucket most of us thought it was a pain in the ass to set up and use, and climbed a lot instead of utilizing the bucket!
There was still wood hot sticks, bakerboard, etc. in warehouse. (They now are on display at my house!)
What you couldn't dig with a Digger-Dereck or pressure digger was done with a spade, spoon and digging bar. (My foreman called it the "Three Phase Set". Now we have Backhoes, Mini excavater, Backyard Dollies, and Vac-truck. Grunts have it so easy these days!
For URD we blew in a string, pulled in the pulling rope, moused the wire to the rope, and pulled that 3 phase 750 urd in by hand, manually feeding the wire off the reels. GOD BLESS THE UNDER-DOGG!
We climbed in T-shirts, wore leathers for secondary, and laughed at the electricity tracking off our rubbers in the rain.
On an Underground outage we would start at the dip and slam in the LB elbow pot to pot untill we blew the fuse. Wallah! We have found the fault!
Sagging large conductor? Yank on that hoist handle untill you break the safety on the handle. "Let's call that sag!"
Homemade pole trailer consisting of an old pole tied to an axle with a pindle hitch bolted to the end of the old pole.
Just think, 20 years from now the newbies today will be telling stories that when they started they could "Free Climb". NFW!!