Typical! No experts in the field of overhead line and telegraph pole maintenance on here for months then two come along at once.
First, we are pleased to welcome Disco Dave as member #0526 to our exclusive society. As well as playing all the hits from the 70s & 80s, Disco Dave is also an overhead planner and auditor for a national telecoms provider. (No names, no pack-drill!)
Disco Dave has kindly offered himself forward as a source of technical info for all matters telegraphic. And as if to prove it, he has pointed out some errors in our FAQ pages…
The red letter doesnt mean decayed. it stands for defective (although it usually is for decay). poles can also be D’ed for being too shallow or close to spiked railings for example.
He continued pulling us to pieces…
…also the year on the 3m mark is the year the pole was preserved not the year it was planted. A pole may have been lying at the bottom of a pole stack in a contractors yard for a good few years before it ever gets planted.”
Now, here’s where it gets spooky. Just 2 days after Disco’s letter of correction, this very similarly worded document arrived from Campbell Brodie Esq. Similar, but with some added gap-filler…
“The date on a BT pole does not signify the year it was planted; it signifies the year the pole was preserved. i.e. creosoted. (Some poles can lie on a pole stack for 2 or 3 years).
“D” on a pole means “Defective”, not decay. It could be condemned for being unstable (too may wires in one direction without a stay counter-balancing it), or it could be that it is “Shallow depth” (not planted deep enough) or it may have been condemned for Damage. i.e by a hedgecutter or vandalism.
BT do not use the “S” label anymore or the “SD” label. “S” was for “Suspect” of decay, but it either is or it isn’t now. “SD” was for Shallow depth, however, depending on how many wires there are in any 180° arc, a pole may be classed as S.C. or shallow climbable even though it may only be 0.9m in the ground. Any poles that are “shallow depth” now are classed as “D” or defective.
Campbell, not presently a member of this society*, tells us that he is an Overhead Survey Officer for the same national telecoms provider and has been since joining from the G.P.O back in 1977. That’s right, the 1970’s – an era from which Disco Dave also plays records. You see, it all fits! The similarity in writing style, suspiciously concurrent content, 1970’s contemporaneosity and the unhealthy interest in telegraph poles. I put it to you that Disco Dave and Campbell Brodie are one and the same person. I rest my case.
* Can’t think why not!