What is a rough standard for power pole spacing?

[Marlin39]

I model the transition era, not modern. I was guessing about 100' or about 13".

Is that about right?

 

[bnsf971]

Here's everything you never wanted to know about it:

UTILITY LINE DESIGN CALCULATIONS

 

[Selector]

In HO, I place mine about every foot apart, with some variance. And not all absolutely vertical.

 

[Mopac Junkie]

I space them with a 12” ruler. I think I read somewhere that 9” is prototypical.

 

[santafewillie]

Out here in rural America, they're 300' apart, but they are all straight up poles with no crossarms. But that's too great a distance for an HO scale RR; that's like ~42". On my layout I go for 12"-13" because it just looks right. In metropolitan areas, it depends on the spacing of buildings and the need to have a transformer close by.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Are you talking power poles for electricity, or telegraph wires along side the railroad track?

As I understand it telegraph poles were generally spaced at 100 ft apart, but it depended on the number of cross members and number of wires on each. Each cross member could carry 8 wires. Back in the day all the signalling/interlocking wires were run along the tracks on poles, I remember seeing sections with 3 and 4 cross members all of which looked full.

 

[Mopac Junkie]

The typical "telephone pole" mass produced for model railroading (at least for HO scale) has 3 cross arms with 6 insulators on each arm. It is my belief that these depict the standard telegraph and railroad communications poles. In the non-railroad world poles are combination non crossarm poles carrying telephone, cable and single phase electricity to residential homes and such. Power poles have 2-3 cross arms carrying 3 phase electricity to commercial businesses having only 3 insulators. Distances between poles are calculated by static load of the wires and dynamic loads dependent on weather conditions. As a rule of thumb I go with what fits my eye best making sure spacing is consistent. My 2 cents.