Right of Way Utility Poles - Straight or Leaning


Greg@mnrr

Section Hand
Have a question for the Forum members on should the utility poles along the right of way be straight or leaning for best photos and scenic effect? I'm not sure which direction to use on my layout.

I have several poles that are purposely leaning since they are in more remote and harder to maintain (HO worker wise) areas of the layout. In person they look great, but in a photo they don't look realistic. The photo needs an exact angle to be used to look good with a leaning pole.

I have read for best results all poles should be straight from all viewing angles.

What are your opinions on this sort "dumb" subject?

Thanks.

Greg

SOO hopper.jpg
 
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I think the NMRA standards for HO scale utility pole lean is: no more than 15 degrees leaning away from the track and no more than 19.56 degrees lean in parallel with the track.
I could be wrong though and I know I'm in violation of that reg. That's why I had to drop outa the NMRA.
Pole lean would be accented by a purpose for the lean. A pole in flat ground would normally be straight up and down, while a pole on a hill might develop a lean toward the downhill due to gradual slipping of the soil. Of course, if you have a car crash scene, the pole could be laying on the ground with wires sparking.
 
I retired from Ameritech and out of my 30 years 14 was a lineman. When ever we set a pole we went for straight, and when we had an end pole we would set it leaning a little towards the line lead then the down guy would tension it straight. Years later some poles would lean because of heaven wires or heavy winds but when new we would shoot for straight.
 
If the poles are following a curve in the tracks, wouldn't they also lean outward to counteract the tensions caused by the curve? Or anywhere there might be a curve in their path?
 
No we never had wires dictate the lean, if it was smaller wires curves wouldn't matter. If the poles carried larger heavier wire we would put slack spans in where tension would affect poles. One time in a rural area we installed 600pr wire that was really heavy. We had more slack spans then spans under tension.
 
I purposely lean a few random poles as that's what I had seen. Of course in the era that I model, they were just starting to remove the wires. The poles generally remained for 5-6 years after the wires were removed so wireless poles are not out of place on my layout.

Willie
 
I think the NMRA standards for HO scale utility pole lean is: no more than 15 degrees leaning away from the track and no more than 19.56 degrees lean in parallel with the track.
I could be wrong though and I know I'm in violation of that reg. That's why I had to drop outa the NMRA.
Pole lean would be accented by a purpose for the lean. A pole in flat ground would normally be straight up and down, while a pole on a hill might develop a lean toward the downhill due to gradual slipping of the soil. Of course, if you have a car crash scene, the pole could be laying on the ground with wires sparking.

Sounds acceptable to me, yeah ... I can see where that rule would git ya!
Got a laugh out here!
 
Of course there's always the exception to the rule, especially with backyard cans. We'd set everything straight and eather the contractor or Mother Nature would make sure it cocks one way or the other. Lol
 
Utility poles as in power, CATV and telephone are always set straight up and in a straight line. If there is a curve in the road, the poles will have a down guy. Not many poles are set on the inside of a curve as there is insufficient room for the guy, instead, the lead will cross the road and continue until the next curve and so forth. A pole line built wrong will always be a challenge to keep it straight. However, railroad communication and signaling poles (a thing of the past) will be placed willy-nilly and many are leaning.
 
As mentioned, it depends on your era and the state of maintenance of your road. In my world, the road is doing well and construction is to "modern" standards, so the poles are set straight.
 
I am an NMRA member and have not seen or heard of a utility pole standard or RP(recommended practice).

Since I started railfanning after most lines that I follow did away from wires, all I have to go by is old pictures. Most of the pictures if there was a lean it was generally away from the track, but usually only of a few degrees.
 
Funny over the weekend in Central Wisconsin, I saw a old right of way and the utility poles were still following the track. Most wires were still in place and the poles themselves were a Driftwood silver and likely there for at least 75 years.

Most poles were standing straight without any lean.

Greg
 



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