how to get old telephone poles

[mlinnane]

I live in upstate NY 30 minutes west of albany can anyone tell me who I can buy old telephone poles from?

 

[mikim]

Call your local elect company -- or the city -- my neighbor just bought several to cut up for fence posts from the nearby town -- worked out to $4 per post -- BIG posts.

 

[heehaw]

we "use" to be able to do that here: now you have to be someones buddy: they say they cannot sell the post because they are treated with creosote, which is a haz material that has to be disposed of properly: but they can give them to their buddies...
heehaw

 

[EddieWalker]

Here in my part of Texas, TXU is the utility company and they have a contract with a company that gets every pole they pull. No sales to the public.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[RHughes]

We're pretty luck here. When the local electric coop replaces poles, the leave the old ones for the land owner.

I did find another source locally. Rail Works (or something like that) had a contract to dispose of ties and utility poles replaced on railroad right of way. They sell the best ties and poles real cheap and pulverize the rest to burn in steam generation plants. You might check to see is there's some company in your area that provides a similar service. This place literally had *mountains* of ties and utility poles available.

 

[Bird]

Where we lived down in the country, we had an electric co-op and members could buy the used poles. A few years ago my brother paid $1 a foot for them.

 

[npaden]

It's funny how people always call them telephone poles but 99.9% of the time they are talking about power poles. Not many telephone poles around since nearly all telephone lines are now buried underground.

 

[pilonidal]

Maybe in the urban areas, but the poles in the rural areas are usually shared by the power, phone, and cable guys.
You can buy RR ties most anywhere and they are even more saturated with creosote than the poles. So disposing of old poles as a hazard, as mentioned earlier, seems to be a racket for someone.

 

[Cord]

Word for word, that is what my power company told me. Strange how the creosote all of a sudden become hazardous once the pole has been removed.

 

[Labrat]

Try Powerline construction in Clinton. I Think I paid $20 for one a couple of years ago.

 

[npaden]

I'm sure it is different in different areas of the country. Cable and Rural don't go in the same sentence around here. If you are rural you have satellite. Cable is only in town.

All of the rural telephone cooperative I audit are 99% underground cable. Many don't even have a single pole on the books anymore.

 

[theboman]

Many times they will give them to you if they are replacing them in your area.

 

[ALBALD1]

I've never paid for them. If you can find where they store they used ones, they give them away here. I cut into 8ft pieces & split for fence post. If you see a elec co or tel co tech by the road, ask if they have any ideas how you could get them. Most of that pole replacement is contracted, so they may know the name of the contractor.

 

[rlee6]

Those of you who cannot get used powerline poles free, you are not missing out much. In my area, used poles are free but I am not allowed to cut them in the premise (liability issue as far as power co is concerned). I have get the whole pole. How many have the special trailer for the whole length?

 

[bridge4]

Hello All, updating. I am in a similar area, but on the MA side. it's been almost 20 years, any new ideas on how to get some poles? I'm looking for 2-4 45 foot ones.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hello All, updating. I am in a similar area, but on the MA side. it's been almost 20 years, any new ideas on how to get some poles? I'm looking for 2-4 45 foot ones.

I found some here & there on FB marketplace.

 

[bridge4]

I found some here & there on FB marketplace.

Thanks, I just was searching and found a place by cape cod that fits the bill. I've also reached out to National Grid. Cape Cod could get pricey shipping them out here, so I will have to see what they charge.

 

[lman]

I talked to the guys replacing poles in front of my house and asked them if I could have about 6 of the old poles and they left them. I drug them behind my tractor back to behind my barn. They seemed happy since those were poles that they didn't have to load onto a trailer. That was about 10 years ago. They work good for corner posts in a pasture.

 

[bridge4]

I talked to the guys replacing poles in front of my house and asked them if I could have about 6 of the old poles and they left them. I drug them behind my tractor back to behind my barn. They seemed happy since those were poles that they didn't have to load onto a trailer. That was about 10 years ago. They work good for corner posts in a pasture.

I'm hoping I can get a similar deal, they've been doing some work recently in the area.

 

[Hay Dude]

One of the old farms I work in my area has hundreds of overly thick fence posts made of old T-poles. He must have had a connection with someone that just dropped them off at his farm. Short pieces of T-pole everywhere on the property.
I need 15 to rebuild a lean-to roof in the upcoming months. None to be found.