The Wichita Lineman Is Still On The Line
Remember that old Glen Campbell tune, “Wichita Lineman?” It made its debut in 1968 and took the ride all the way to number one on both the pop and country charts. Glen was always one of my favorites and ‘Lineman’ was one of his best.
Being a ‘lineman for the county’ can be a pretty good job for those who enjoy that kind of work. Being afraid of heights (as many are) is, of course, a preclusion to working in this field. It’s a job that attracts those who aren’t afraid to take a risk as this can be a fairly dangerous occupation and workers lose their lives on the job every year.
A typical lineman will have a large and varied collection of lineman tools and it’s important that these be kept in good shape and serviceable. Something called a ‘hot stick’ is a frequently used item that’s employed when moving ‘live’ wires. If this stick is damaged, even with microscopically small scratches or fractures, it can allow the current to travel down to the hands of the user. Oops. Safety standards employed while working with high voltage lines need to be stringent.
Tools typically carried on a lineman’s truck are numerous and span a wide range of function. You’ll find everything from crimping tools to portable heaters and generators. You’ll see these guys out working any day of the week and any time of the day or night. They go where they’re sent when there’s a problem and their schedules have to be flexible.
In the Philippines, where I live, ‘brown-outs’ are a common occurrence and happen weekly if not more. The power shuts off and you sit there and wait for it to be restored. The house becomes uncomfortably hot because the electric fans or air-con have shut down. At night it means bringing out the artificial lighting and we have candles and torches (flashlights).
Some of the wiring configurations put in place here by the electric company look like a big mess of spaghetti and when I first saw it I was surprised the system even works at all. But it does. Things aren’t redundant here, so when a problem happens somewhere in the line everything downstream gets shut off until the problem’s repaired. There is no secondary line to take over the load.
They’ve been replacing power converters and putting in new poles not far from here and we’ve been having brownouts every day for a couple of weeks now. Last week the well supplying our sub-division went dry and we had no house water for six days. Oh, the trade-offs we make to live in paradise!
Bob Proctor has been writing articles since 2006 and is an expert on lineman coveralls, however he also likes to write about crimping pliers
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