Report on REB poles
James A. Taylor On e-mail
I have seen your report in the October 5, 2005 edition entitled "Poles of Fortune" and in April 21, 06 entitled "REB subscribers victims of 'unusual' expansion". I am very interested in learning if there are similar reports dealing with the replacement of the 1977 vintage of wood southern yellow pine poles with spun concrete poles. In 1977 I drafted the specification for these southern yellow pine wood poles from the U.S. for the first Chairman of REB. He wanted at least 20 years of service life. To date I have not heard a report of the first failure. I have made two trips to Bangladesh to inspect the U.S. southern pine poles in service with some of the REB staff. We did not find the first sign of any decay in any of the poles. One of the manufacturers who supplied these southern yellow pine poles to REB has sold some poles manufactured to the same specification to Africa with a written 40-year bank guarantee. Several major U.S. utilities have adopted the features from the REB specification that have given this performance. Keep me informed. I have more than 50 years' experience with utility wood poles in 36 countries. I have worked in every continent except Antarctica on pole problems. Let me contribute to your campaign.
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