Telephone Poles: Project by Ray

The making of telephone poles in this manner is nothing new. This is for those who may not have seen or tried this method yet and a refresher for those who have.



I used 1/4" dowel x 7" long for the poles. Make sure you will have enough clearance, height and width if set next to the track. Rough them up using the side of a fine saw and notch them for 3/32 square crossbeams. Drill the bottom to fit a 3/64 wire leaving enough sticking out to attach to the layout. Using this method of attachment makes it possible to move the poles when necessary or if they happen to be accidentally hit will just bend rather than break. To attach the insulators (beeds) I cut the heads off of straight pins and pushed the pins into the crossbeams, slid 2 beads onto each pin and secured them with a drop of CA glue. After dry cut the pins flush with the beads (always use safety googles when cutting the straight pins!) Now glue the crossbeams to the notched dowel. A brown wash or stain can be used, followed by black paint or alcohol washes. Stabilizer brackets can also be made by using straight pins and bending them to 45 degrees. You can make many variations of these poles.