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Sine Waves: Experiences of the Journey Along the Line is a collection of short (1-3 paragraphs) stories about the experiences of linemen brothers and sisters from around the country and world. The funny, sad, true life observations about people,situations and encounters from each person's perspective. Interested in submitting your story or experience? Send a message to stories@powerlinemanmag.com and our staff will contact you as soon as possible.
And Then We Weren't
We were young. We thought we were invincible. We worked, we climbed, we partied. We lived our lives as would be expected of men of a certain age. Our group ran the gamut of personalities and character...
Continue Reading...Just Another Day
It was the early 1990’s, I was assigned to a part of the division that was renowned for its’ crime statistics. It was the days of the crack epidemic. Though there were many good, solid citizens living...
Continue Reading...Dig Here
We were reassigned to work in another area of the division. The foreman that covered the area was not our normal boss. He was a former Marine and considered to be a bit of a stickler.
...
Continue Reading...Tell Me A Story
He was pumping gas in our yard the first time we met. I was still relatively new to the division and had never seen him before.
...
Continue Reading...Brothers
A two-hundred-footer
High up on the cliff
A double 500
And one side still lit
...
Continue Reading...Tramping in Texas (Part Five - Conclusion)
They must have told Phil because he also spotted us some cash to cover us until payday. The crew stayed together for a few months, then CW and Big Jack drifted off and Phil took us over on his crew. S...
Continue Reading...Tramping in Texas (Part Four)
The following day when we pulled into the show up, there was a familiar face standing in the parking lot. It was my first foreman, Phil. Turns out, the 1249 Apprentice Coordinator had called him and t...
Continue Reading...Tramping in Texas (Part Three)
The next day, we worked our way down the mountain to Phoenix and found the local Union Hall. We sauntered in and announced our intention to get out on the Salt River Canyon project asap.
...
Continue Reading...Tramping in Texas (Part Two)
Somewhere in Pennsylvania, the Opel’s drive shaft fell out and skittered down the highway. It was the spark shower that alerted us. Apparently when the mechanic recommended that we unhook the drive sh...
Continue Reading...Tramping in Texas (Part One)
There were three of us in the backseat of a beat up six man, my pole buddy Gary, myself, and a large guy wearing a Superman T-shirt. The two guys up front had a silent "most wanted" look about them.
...
Continue Reading...Before Darkness Fell
Got a call from the dispatched for a house with no power.
...
Continue Reading...Divining Rods
When I did distribution work, one of my foremen claimed that he could locate buried water lines using divining rods.
...
Continue Reading...The Hook Ladder
It was common to use a hook ladder on transmission towers and steel poles when we couldn’t get a truck to them.
...
Continue Reading...Great Advice
Early in my apprenticeship, I was lucky to be around very good journeymen and some great projects.
...
Continue Reading...Induction (Old but Still Relevant)
I just had an induction incident that I thought I would pass on.
...
Continue Reading...The Prettiest Blue Arc I Ever Saw
Three of us took our 100’ bucket to help the crew from Leland do a project in north central N.C.
...
Continue Reading...Apprentice Graduations or Not
I love working with apprentices and teaching young people the line trade. My apprenticeship,
which started in the early ‘70s, was fantastic.
...
Continue Reading...May I Ask a Question?
At what point, on a job, is safety forgotten? We all do a safety job scope meeting right before the job starts. Then what?
...
Continue Reading...Stringing Line
This one happened thirty or so years ago, seems like yesterday.
...
Continue Reading...Pride
He follows in footsteps over a hundred years trod But when he closes each day no one will applaud
...
Continue Reading...Lineman Recognition
Went to New York to see Lady Liberty and enjoy our retirement. It was a wonderful experience seeing all the boroughs and Times Square.
...
Continue Reading...Noisy Transformer
I had a call to check out a noisy transformer. When I arrived at the home, the lady of the house told me that each morning just after sunup, the transformer outside her bedroom window started making a...
Continue Reading...It's the Folks That You Meet
The image popped into my mind, followed shortly by the name. It was a memory plucked from a bank stuffed with a lifetime of experiences. Some of which may never reveal themselves, especially as the fo...
Continue Reading...HIAB High
One Friday afternoon before a long weekend, on a full moon, there was a call of a MVA, man trapped in a vehicle. Upon arrival, there was a truck with a cab about twelve feet in the air.
...
Continue Reading...Assistant Dynamite Man (Part 2)
Part 2
On Monday, I showed up and found my new foreman. He asked me what I knew about running wire. Remembering the outcome of my last promotion, I told him the truth and said nothing.
...
Continue Reading...Assistant Dynamite Man (Part 1)
Part 1
Somebody from behind gave me a shove. I stumbled a step forward, and then caught myself.
...
Continue Reading...Pulling a Pole
We were pulling a pole after a change-over, 34kV on top, 4kv underbuilt.
...
Continue Reading...Trooper
The first time I met him, I was a young lineman, and he was a veteran troubleshooter. He wasn’t big but you knew he wasn’t someone to take lightly.
...
Continue Reading...Risk Management
How old does a tower, pole or wire need to be before its lifespan is over?
...
Continue Reading...Peavey
This is a story of one of my first foremen, Keith Tinsley, known as “Peavey.”
...
Continue Reading...One Stormy Night
Nowhere in the Journeyman Lineman’s job specifications does it say we, as Journeymen have to do what you are about to read. I do thank god I was a Journeyman Lineman that night.
This incident occurre...
Continue Reading...Embrace Change
The speed of change is increasing. In more than 45 years as a lineman, I have seen things go from manual to automatic to wireless. Being a lineman requires physical and analytical skills, but now more...
Continue Reading...Hilariously Annoying
He was the second (line) man on the three-man gang that I was assigned to.
...
Continue Reading...The Roll
For a few years in my distribution career, I was on a crew that did a lot of re-conductoring.
...
Continue Reading...Near Miss with Mother Nature
While working outages, after a thunder boomer, in deep south Georgia years ago.
...
Continue Reading...Another Character Along the Journey
It was Brooklyn...the late 70"s. Far removed from hipster renown that it enjoys today, it was the place that gave us Coney Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Dodgers and great pizza. It was the se...
Continue Reading...Listen to the Voice of Experience
After a lightning storm one spring, I was running trouble calls with two young apprentice linemen.
...
Continue Reading...First Time in a Bucket
It was the summer of 1976, and I got a job as a temporary worker with Huntsville Utilities, a municipal company in Alabama.
...
Continue Reading...Crashing Halloween
One Halloween, I was working as a trouble man doing an afternoon shift when suddenly I got one of those calls. Semi-trailer hit by train right in the middle of town right as it got dark!
...
Continue Reading...Capacitance Charge
When I was a lineman apprentice in Oklahoma, I learned the hard way about underground primary and the capacitance charge it will hold.
...
Continue Reading...The Bank
A good lineman, friend and coworker passed away recently. A memory from another friend, a lineman, regarding a shared experience with this man, brought this story to mind. It is an entirely different ...
Continue Reading...Setting a Pole
Occasionally we had to set a pole in a pasture with a steep slope and no trees.
...
Continue Reading...A Hairy Pole
This is another “car hit pole” trouble call. The weather was good, no wind, the call came early in the evening after dinner, before bedtime.
...
Continue Reading...What is a Lineman?
Between the enthusiasm of youth and the disillusionment of retirement there is an unusual creature called a “Lineman.”
...
Continue Reading...Why Old Guys Should Tell Stories
When I was young and starting my apprenticeship, I was told that I would know three linemen that died, statistically speaking, before I retired.
...
Continue Reading...Neutral or Phase?
In our distribution system we used to have a lot of 6.9kv delta.
...
Continue Reading...That First Christmas
It was my first big winter storm. This was a big one and it was a new experience. There were crews from all over the company, as well as outside crews from other organizations.
...
Continue Reading...Lineman Christmas Eve
’Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Cause the power was out.
How could this happen?
How could it be?
The house is all dark,
Even light...
Continue Reading...The Hot Lap
My second or third week on the Transmission line crew we traveled to South Carolina to look at a 100’ bucket. We were in line for a new bucket and our fleet guy said there was one that was available, ...
Continue Reading...The Trail of the Wood Walkers
I have walked many trails
I have ascended many poles
I reach a hand to help
I was sent to serve
I was sent to provide
I was sent to make a difference
Watching the lights come on ...
Continue Reading...First Responder
This trouble call happened many moons ago, but I still think about it from time to time.
...
Continue Reading...Time To Say Thank You
Working as a lineman for over forty years gives a person a unique perspective for what it takes to keep the lights on.
...
Continue Reading...Transformer Explosions
In the 1980’s there were some quality control issues with transformers causing them to explode.
...
Continue Reading...The Lineman
They sings of the men as goes down to the sea;
Of the heroes of cannon and swords;
...
Continue Reading...Pole Band Testing and Wooden Poles
Single Point Grounding is not new anymore and, for sure, a lively topic of discussion in any line room.
...
Continue Reading...One Afternoon
I was a lineman on a two-man crew. It was a simple after-lunch task.
...
Continue Reading...The Yank
The company hired a fellow from the upper mid-west as a second-class lineman.
...
Continue Reading...Quit In Place
There is a new term today with which I am not familiar. It’s called “quitting in place” and substantial numbers of people are following this trend.
...
Continue Reading...Storms...and Lessons
It’s storm season again…but, then again, when isn’t it nowadays.
...
Continue Reading...The Cloud
The line crew looked out at the skies
The foreman is dreading taking his crew into the mouth of the storm
A lineman, an apprentice and a helper follow the foreman into the storm
Wires down poles do...
Continue Reading...We Got The Fire Out
Before cell phones, we used two-way radios to communicate.
...
Continue Reading...That Day
The ride usually took about an hour, depending on the weather, time of day or which end of the shift you were on. Like most work commutes, there were times that the car seemed to know the way since th...
Continue Reading...Ground Faults and Industrial Interference
Troubleshooting is difficult enough when tracking down ground faults to isolate problems.
...
Continue Reading...Hog Rings
The distribution contractor I worked for years ago would, sometimes, send me with a bucket truck to do side jobs, usually involving a sign company or ball field lights.
...
Continue Reading...Night Work
One thing that linemen have to do that is unlike anyone else is handle high voltage in the darkness of night. Construction during daylight, most of what we do, is routine and fair to say quite safe.
...
Continue Reading...Did You Use Your Lamps
It was one of those quiet evenings, the kind that you look forward to.
...
Continue Reading...Time Off
Most of my career was spent in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.
A very beautiful place to live and work!
...
Continue Reading..."G"
The hours grew late, one by one the group had left, so that only a few remained.
...
Continue Reading...The New Safety Man
The company hired its first professional safety director in the 80's.
...
Continue Reading...Working Indoor Switchgear
Underground switch cabinets and indoor vaults have evolved over the years, thank goodness.
...
Continue Reading...Life At the Top of the Pole
I was Superman
Nothing could, would or was going to happen to me.
...
Continue Reading...Glass Menagerie
It was my first year in the trade and my first major winter storm call out, an ice storm. &n...
Continue Reading...Ergonomics and Linework
During my safety consulting practice, I had the opportunity to work on some interesting human factors assessments. The science is fascinating, and ergonomists specialize in studying the effects on the...
Continue Reading...A Way Out
It was a Monday morning, and the crews were receiving their assignments and preparing their trucks.
...
Continue Reading...Cows Getting Zapped
The cream in your morning coffee relies on a stable grounding grid.
...
Continue Reading...One of Those Quiet Nights
The last night of the midnight shift had been quiet, uneventful, when the emergency supervisor in the Control Room was given the assignment to switch out a 4kv feeder in preparation for an overpass re...
Continue Reading...The Linesman
Across this country green and gold,
Electricity had to be run, it was the linesman who was told,
...
Continue Reading...Super Heating on Dead-Fronts
This situation began with a part out trouble call on a three-phase overhead circuit.
...
Continue Reading...How Quickly Can You Get This Out?
There are too many accidents, too many line hands getting hurt, too many jobs going wrong.
It’s time to take a stand.
...
Continue Reading...Fling
Trees pinning down powerlines and telephone and cable is part of linework and the overtime glory hole. Depending on local practices, managing these calls can involve a few different crews to release t...
Continue Reading...A Hot Summer Day
It was a hot, humid summer’s day, the line crew, comprised of two veteran linemen, was assigned to a straight line secondary change over.
...
Continue Reading...Safety
There is nothing I can write about safety that has not already been written.
...
Continue Reading...Tower #3, A Close Call
This story was probably the one that had me the most at risk or worried for my life.
...
Continue Reading...Silent Salute
The look of a face weathered and torn,
with rounded shoulders from hard work were born,
...
Continue Reading...All in a Day's Work
The call came in to meet the Fire Department (FDNY) for a manhole fire at a location in an underground network area, made up of mostly multi-family homes and large apartment buildings.
...
Continue Reading...Dead Birds
I was as an Overhead Troubleshooter in the Bronx at the time, and we work as a one-man crew. I was called to respond to a customer complaint, on a very quiet Sunday, to investigate...
Continue Reading...Tower Set #2
This is another story of tower setting. The first story was part of profile on Bo Lindell that was posted to our Powerlineman Profile series in December.
...
Continue Reading...Introduction to Line Work
My graduation from high school was at the fortunate time in 1975 when the draft was cancelled. I ended up at a small liberal arts college in Swannanoa, N. C. The school had a work program that require...
Continue Reading...Surprise, Surprise
During my 36 years working in the Con Edison Overhead Distribution and Transmission Departments I encountered more than a few memorable moments...here is another one:
...
Continue Reading...Choices to Make
The Slim the Lineman story was about making choices for young men, between making big money or steady money. Like most linemen, the need to be paid for your extra effort and risk goes hand in hand.
...
Continue Reading...Breaking Walls Down
One fall afternoon, I got an urgent call for a garbage truck with wires on it.
...
Continue Reading...One Summer Night
Saturday night, 2230 hours. My double- shift has almost ended and I get a job for flickering lights in an upscale area.
...
Continue Reading...A Chuckle from the Field
Three guys walk into a washroom and are standing at the urinal.
...
Continue Reading...Antarctic Cement
In the early 80's, I worked at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
...
Continue Reading...Echoes of the Past
The garage was dimly lit and cavernous. There was a tranquil quiet within the building, the type that normally accompanies the pre-dawn hours, as I passed the rows of trucks that lined the aisle...
Continue Reading...Subsurface Switch
My memory engine springs to life like a garage air compressor that comes on, unexpectedly, in the middle of the night. This memory lands me in early spring at underground fused switch 615X.
...
Continue Reading...In Remembrance-Part 4
This is another short story about some of the times working on a crew with Danny. He was a friend, coworker, and a fellow lineman. Tragically, he died while working last April.
...
Continue Reading...Grow Operation Bypass
Well back in the 1990’s, there were many illegal growers helping themselves to free power. Locating the thefts of power was a challenge for the utility. The illegal grow ops were creative and used inv...
Continue Reading...In Remembrance-Part 3
This is another short story about some of the times working on a crew with Danny. He was a friend, coworker, and a fellow lineman. Tragically, he died while working last April.
...
Continue Reading...Why Am I A Lineman
Why am I a lineman. No one gives you the title, no one gives you anything associated with the title lineman.
...
Continue Reading...It's What We Do
The men and women that answer the call to action, to “keep the lights on,” do so because it is a proud trade and an honorable thing to do.
...
Continue Reading...A Troubleshooter's Tale
Here’s a story told to me by another old trouble shooter.
...
Continue Reading...In Remembrance-Part 2
My friend, coworker, and fellow lineman, Danny died in a tragic work event last April. This is another memory of him.
...
Continue Reading...In Remembrance-Part 1
My friend, coworker, and fellow lineman Danny died in a tragic work event last April. These are some remembrances of him.
...
Continue Reading...Is This a Test?
I was working the afternoon shift as a trouble technician, alone, in Richmond BC. It was towards midnight on a very rainy night when I got a trouble 1 priority call.
...
Continue Reading...Funny... but True
The company decided to do some intelligence testing to see who was smarter.
...
Continue Reading...Blood Brothers - GC Line - Part 2
Some mean storms started to roll in off the Pacific and the rain wouldn’t let up. We were getting called out on storm restoration work. Back then we would often work 48hrs straight, then 7.5hrs of res...
Continue Reading...Blood Brothers - GC Line - Part 1
It was November 1996 or ‘97, in Northern California. I was working at GC Line, for PG&E, for Ben Arvig, aka Gentle Ben.
...
Continue Reading...Only on the Midnights
It was summer and we were working the midnight shift. It was one of those hot, sultry summer nights when the humidity hung in a thick, soupy unmoving manner.
...
Continue Reading...Ice Storm Battle
In the winter of 1986, the west coast of British Columbia was hit by northern air creating ice storm conditions. The electrical utility had its hands full dealing with the impact on the system. Lineme...
Continue Reading...In Recognition
As a troubleshooter, we experience all types of situations from routine to hazardous. Operating in all types of conditions from oppressive heat to freezing temperatures; blue sky days to raging storms...
Continue Reading...Line Work on the Ice: Antarctica
In the early 80's, I was fortunate to get a job as an "Outside Plant Technician" at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. I was one of three linemen working out of the power plant.
...
Continue Reading...Winter Call Out
It was the dead of winter, just after dinner, around eight o’clock, when the outage call came in. Since it was winter, it had been dark for several hours and the temperature was minus twenty degrees. ...
Continue Reading...Progressing Technology
In the early 1970’s, up in British Columbia, the linemen had been using early version bucket and boom trucks. Distribution crews were working off poles with lift sticks, hot stick trailers and baker b...
Continue Reading...'Tis the season
It was Christmas Eve, in the mid-70s. It was the days of three-man crews. Two linemen and a driver working on line trucks. Unless it was a big or complicated job, the entire job, start to finish...
Continue Reading...The Pole in the Cemetery
Shortly after I became the Senior Lineman on the Transmission Line Maintenance Crew, we had to replace a pole that was in the middle of a community cemetery.
...
Continue Reading...Potential, Learning Experience
I was an apprentice at the time of this incident. Our job was to install a single-phase overhead service into a house. I got the house end connected to the mast and confirmed the meter base open and s...
Continue Reading...Management...really?
During my 36 years working in the Overhead Distribution and Transmission Departments I encountered more than a few memorable moments.... here is another one:
...
Continue Reading...Back-Feed Near Miss
Our underground crew arrived at a construction site to install new single phase 800 -amp service. Being the crew leader, I went into the typical main switch electrical
...
Continue Reading...Storm Restoration: Puerto Rico
Back in 1989, after Hurricane Hugo, we were sent to Puerto Rico to restore power. The storm had caused widespread damage throughout the Caribbean and the Southeastern U.S.
...
Continue Reading...Friday
It was a Friday afternoon; our crews were working in an area of the division that was previously marsh land. We were installing poles for a feeder upgrade. The last
...
Continue Reading...Hurricane Hugo
We were called in early on a Thursday afternoon in Sept. 1989. We were told to go home and pack for two or three days. We would be preparing to go to work in
...
Continue Reading...Trouble Call
As a single person “Troubleman Crew” for an investor-owned utility in a metropolitan area, I met all kinds of people going on trouble calls.
...
Continue Reading...Burning Wires
In my days as an Overhead Troubleshooter, I came across many crazy situations, here is one of many stories I have….
...
Continue Reading...Irony
This is a story about the irony that Linemen all too often find themselves in and it begins on a cold January day in Northern Alberta, Canada. The drive took nearly
...
Continue Reading...Communicating
Communicating has always been an important part of line work. There are a number of factors that affect this. Depending on where you were trained, who you
...
Continue Reading...The K-Line Rebuild
During my 36 years working in the Overhead Distribution and Transmission Departments I encountered more than a few memorable moments.... here’s another one:
In November of 1983, our company was...
Continue Reading...Trash Talking
Some of the funny things that linemen say. For instance, when asked “How is your wife doing?”
...
Continue Reading...First Day
I had been with the company for a while but finally had the opportunity to transfer over to the line department. It was something that I was really looking forward to.
...
Continue Reading...Family Business
To many people, line work is a family affair. There are plenty of stories out there about linemen whose father or son is in the trade, as well as multi-generational families of linemen. My family is a...
Continue Reading...No Light Call
The craziest things can happen to you on what you think is a simple no light call. I was sent to a private house complaining of a no light, it was just getting dark out when I pulled up in front of th...
Continue Reading...Christmas 1989
The Christmas freeze of 1989 was undoubtably the worst and possibly the most terrifying time of my career. I had been with the power company less than two years and had worked plenty of thunderstorms ...
Continue Reading...Sine Waves: The Bucket of Blood
During my 36 years, working in overhead distribution and transmission, I encountered more than a few memorable moments….here’s one.
For some reason, one morning the distribution general foreman decid...
Continue Reading...Respect
I have won over a lot of people in my life. Sometimes it’s as easy as opening a door for them, sometimes it takes years of kind acts and words, but when it happens there is no better feeling. In our i...
Continue Reading...