Quote Originally Posted by Harlan View Post
Holy Cow, Bob! Yes, it has Hemmingray 42 embossed on it and I didn't remember anything being there. How did you know from seeing the small photo?
Oh, I used to collect. My favorite, which I still display, is a clear Hemmingray 56 in mint condition.

Attachment 25274

When I was a boy, a lot of the early runs of power and telephone lines and poles were coming down. As you saw, they often purchased line rights along railroad easements. You could walk a RR line for a few hours and have your pick if you had the pluck to climb the poles.
I got this insulator from the top of a rotten old pole while on a bow-hunting trip in the middle of 'Nowhere, Texas'. I use a lineman climbing belt to climb trees for bow-hunting and used it to shimmy to the top of the old pole while my hunting pals laughed and kept saying they could hear the wood cracking. Most of the poles along the old route were broken or gone and there weren't any other insulators. There was also an old railroad adjacent to the poles. There was no track left but there were remnants of rotten ties and I dug up a couple of spikes out of the sand. I'm sure the insulator isn't worth $5.00 but I would not take $100 for it.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...89Medium-1.jpg
Yeah, these things are useful for pencil cups and paper weights, all kinds of stuff. The heavy duty glass is just beautiful. Memories.

Bob