Cable Comes To Conewango?

Sometimes the strangest things are noticed while driving along. Pictures are only available for this because I had the camera with me at the time.

As one might say, "You get what you can."

This is one where the Adelphia folks decided to have fiber strung along a rural road, possibly tying Randolph with Cattaraugus; this is one of the best routes to take. The biggest irony here is that the houses in the background which are in the hamlet of Axeville are all Amish and don't have electricity, much less the need for cable TV. Ahhh, the ironies in modern life.

When the folks doing the work haven't quite finished attaching the fiber to the anchoring wire, these things happen. The "slack" cable is the fiber wating to be secured to the anchoring wire already run. The finer cable above the less slack heavy cable is the anchoring wire which will secure the fiber bundle. The contractors will use a machine which spirals a securing wire bundling the fiber bundle to the anchoring wire. The heaviest wire is the "32 pair messenger" cable for telephone use. ¹

This fiber is waiting for the guys to get back from their weekend off. ² It will eventually be strung onto the anchoring wire.

Endnotes

¹ Windstream (formerly Alltel) is the incumbent local exchange carrier in these parts. Steuben Rural Electric Cooperative is the power company serving the area where I was taking pictures.

² This is standard for union personnel. Why am I ragging on labor unions all of a sudden?