Posted by Merritt Herald | Sep 22, 2015 | News, Community | 0

Bob Scafe has a thing for insulators.

“People are like crows — they just have an appeal to people,” Scafe told the Herald, as he carefully handled a bright green one last weekend (Sept. 12). He was in the middle of hosting his annual — sometimes twice annual — insulator trade show on his ranch just outside of Merritt off of Coldwater Road.

“The beauty of this hobby is that there’s something in it for everyone, and everyone likes it for different reasons,” he said.

What does he mean? History, aesthetics, science, industry and the art of collecting are all potential components to an obsession with the now outdated pieces of equipment.

For those who haven’t visited Scafe at Insulator Ranch, a history lesson.

Insulators were originally invented in the 1840s as a way to prevent electricity from being lost by travelling down telegraph poles and dissipating in the ground. As the telephone became a more popular means of communication, it was adapted for use on those poles as well. Some are made of glass, others glazed clay. They are all generally in the shape of a bell, with some modifications. Hundreds of them are set up on Scafe’s lawn, in rows and rows of display racks.

Scafe’s collection specializes in foreign insulators, and particularly those made in Britain and used around the world, exported from the U.K. to its colonies. In the golden age of railroads, Britain was number one in railroad building and operating. Telegraph lines were put in so signal operators could communicate, and with them, transformers.

Scafe pointed to a sampling of beige-coloured insulators from Uruguay. “Uruguay invited Great Britain to come and build a railway, so the British builders went back to England and ordered British-made insulators for use on the Uruguayan railway.”

He and his wife Bev have been having collectors over to his Merritt property since 2005, and before that at their Fort Langley house. In the past, some attendees have come from as far away as France and California.

He said the numbers were low at this year’s event. “This year was our smallest show that we’ve ever had,” he said. “I think we had something like 40. Last year we had 90, including 20 first-timers to Merritt. This year it’s primarily our regulars.”

Despite the low turnout, Scafe said he wasn’t too worried. “It’s funny, I kind of anticipated this with such a large show last year. These things ebb and flow, they’ll be back next year,” he said optimistically.

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