Editing Utility pole (section)

== Pole route ==
[[File:Pole Route.jpg|thumb|Telegraph pole with spars, insulators and open wires on a now decommissioned Railway Pole Route, Eccles Road, [[Norfolk]], United Kingdom]]

A '''pole route''' (or '''pole line''' in the US) is a telephone link or electrical power line between two or more locations by way of multiple uninsulated wires suspended between wooden utility poles. This method of link is common especially in rural areas where burying the cables would be expensive. Another situation in which pole routes were extensively used were on the railways to link [[signal boxes]]. Traditionally, prior to around 1965, pole routes were built with open wires along non-electrical operated railways; this necessitated insulation when the wire passed over the pole, thus preventing the signal from becoming attenuated.

At electrical operated railways, pole routes were usually not built as too much jamming from the overhead wire would occur. To accomplish this, cables were separated using spars with insulators spaced along them; in general four insulators were used per spar. Only one such pole route still exists on the UK rail network, in the highlands of Scotland. There was also a long section in place between [[Wymondham]], [[Norfolk]] and [[Brandon, Suffolk|Brandon]] in [[Suffolk]], United Kingdom; however, this was de-wired and removed during March 2009.

[[File:Country Crossing - geograph.org.uk - 568823.jpg|thumb|A railway telegraph pole beside a railway bridge on the former [[Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway|railway line]] between [[Portadown railway station|Portadown]] and [[Dungannon railway station|Dungannon]] in Northern Ireland.]]