New Highline videos!!

Here is a video of the Sandwich storm.  There were several poles that were left standing but were to damaged, so they had to be taken down before work could continue on this section. 

Life on the High Lines

This what I have been doing on the Transmission lines lately.  On Oct 26th a large wind storm blew through the Chicago area knocking down 60 95-100ft wood poles and bringing down close to 3.5 miles of wire in Sandwich IL, a small farming community west of Chicago.  40 plus lineman spent the next 25 days making it safe for the public and restoring the line.  When all was done, 120 poles were handled, and over 50 miles of wire was cleaned up or replaced.  It was the largest project ever done by the transmission department.  Here is how I spent the last 25 days.
                                           First there was material to be ordered and delivered.
                                          In this picture is the first of over 80,000 ft of wire.

Jerry's Work

 On Monday I packed up the boys and headed out to Sandwich, IL to watch as a helicopter set poles for Jerry and his fellow workers.  The whole operation was pretty impressive (which I guess was the point because the cost of it, from what Jerry has told me, is amazing... and they say they overbudgeted by having one extra employee... sheesh!)
Jerry will better be able to tell the details, but I thought that until he comes home and can put up his own photos, I'd give you all an idea of what happened.

All the holes had previously been set by comed employees, so the job of the helicopter was to carry poles to the holes and drop them in while comed workers stood below, faced over 100 mph wind forces, and guided the pole down to secure it in.  Each pole took about 10 minutes to set by the helicopter and Jerry had to hustle to move on to the next pole.  By the time I met Jerry for dinner, he looked about ready to fall over and sleep.  Poor guy.
In this photo you can see the helicopter lowering the pole to the ground.  The arm from that truck you see meets up with it and Jerry will be able to tell you what happens next.

 This is a view of the line that they have set.

Here you can see the line as well as the helicopter with its ropes hanging down. 
So hopefully that helps the menfolk understand a wee bit better when you talk to Jerry about all the details. :)