HUNTING FOR RARE CANADIAN INSULATORS! Exploring Abandoned Northern Railways! Sudbury Ontario

Today we have a bit of a different video for everyone! We are in Sudbury Ontario Canada exploring old abandoned railways for antique telegraph insulators! It's my first time hunting for them and I hope you guys enjoy watching out adventure as much as I did on my first time out!
We found some really sweet insulators and 1 really big heartbreak!
thanks for watching everyone!
#treasurehunting
#insulatorhunting

[@allanpeck8523]

This video was a real treat because I hunt insulators too. I loved hearing your excitement as you found them & it sounds to me like you're hooked..... Whitall & Tatum was in business from 1854 to 1939, Brookfield ( sometimes marked with just a "B" ) was in business from 1898 to 1921. Those Hemingray 40s were made from 1910 to 1921 & some of the rarer ones have a big number on top of the dome. Those two white porcelian CPRs were awsome, I don't think I'm likely to find any of those here in Michigan 😃..... Lastly, always closely examine every insulator you find & strive to have perfect examples in your collection - no cracks, no chips & ( if they've got them ) look for examples with 100% complete & full drip points. Drip points come in sharp & rounded styles, the sharp pointed variety chip & break off easily especially when carrying them out in a backpack with other insulators. Bring several old hand towels to wrap & protect insulators with sharp drip points as you pack them out. You can sometimes find insulators with errors like misspellings & what look like double die stamping errors so look each one over before you pass on it & move on to the next one..... Thanks for the upload - I really enjoyed it.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Some great info thanks!! We did find a few with double stamped numbers and fire brick embedded in the glass! It was super fun for my first fime out and cant wait to get out again! Sadly i dont think it will be till the fall though so all the undergrowth is gone! That and bugs in the bush lol! Really liked the comment and info thanks again!

[@allanpeck8523]

@@Adventurous4Life I'd like to see a close-up of the one with a piece of red brick in the glass. I have a Whitall Tatum No 4 & a Hemingray 19 each with a small chunk of white flux trapped inside the glass & another Hemingray 19 with an inch long half melted metal wire encased in the glass. I've seen an insulator on the internet that was recovered from a downed pole that had a coin in the glass.

[@napaquatics3639]

Nice to see kids out there interested in the Insulators. Especially getting excited over Dominion aquas ( who ended up making ashtrays for malls and also made the glass for oil lamps. I was a pony collector myself. Remember don't get excited for just the color. Look for milk , bubbles and amber in them.

[@Adventurous4Life]

We basically do it all lol. Anything old is fun. Exploring and finding lost history is some of the funnest stuff you can go do. Not really insulator guys but got a few interesting ones, the hunt is always fun!

[@THEBULK1023]

yes i like , really fun

[@Adventurous4Life]

Glad to here it! Keep a eye out for more adventures this summer!

[@kepvalley]

Great hunt guys! You’re so lucky to find a line where poles were just dropped with everything left on them. Usually they are completely cleaned up. You find that more on former CP than CN lines. Nice Hamilton base purple 162! Too bad it was broken. That’s a $100+ piece! Lots of nice 152’s in great shape! I would also be snipping off all the copper tie wires. I have collected hundreds and hundreds of those over the years and they add up to good $. Awesome pickaxe head! Definitely take that home! Likely dates from when it was built. I got to get back to doing a few insulator hunts! Take care, ATB&HH!

[@Adventurous4Life]

We will for sure be back out in the fall doing another insulator hunt Im sure! We are hopping to find a intact purple one but they are hard to find! And yes cp lines are normally clean lol! Was really fun for my first hunt and we are scouting more areas for the fall! Thanks for watching as always!

[@SuperKabookie]

Cool I love insulators. I never knew that they were made in purple.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Yep! They are really hard to find and expensive! Lets hope we can find one this fall when we go back out!

[@railfanadam1944]

Yeah you gotta get lucky to find one in the wild.

[@cynthiaswearingen1037]

Guys, however could you leave even one of those??? I love them, and they are scarce as hen's teeth in my area! Wow! I do love that purple one. And man, what a pickaxe! Nice little cobalt to round out a successful day! I enjoyed this very much!😊💖

[@Adventurous4Life]

Lol! Gotta leave ones for future explorers too! We got quite a few so we past up a few crosd sections! And that pickaxe was 100% a random unexpected find! Makes a great display item! Thanks for watching till the end as always!

[@jfseal38]

That old radiator frame is worth money. Tony.

[@Adventurous4Life]

It's just getting them outa the bush is what's so hard lol!! Gotta leave lots of different thing due to the walk to get to them lol!!

[@evbryans9709]

excellent video, I really enjoyed your exploration! Please make more insulator hunt videos! You inspire me to get out and find treasure!

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thanks! Always great to hear when others enjoy the treasure hunt!! We made another video for high voltage insulator if you're interested! Here's the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJSanYiBh9Z_iq8 Hope you have wome good luck going out treasure hunting!! It's a fun hobby when you get thev time!!!

[@evbryans9709]

we love your insulator video! please make more, you have inspired us to go looking and adventuring

[@Adventurous4Life]

We try! Just most areas around here have been hunted quite heavy back in the 70s and 80s! Hard finding a good area! When we do we'll film it!!

[@lizmbrad]

Definitely love this one. I would love to see more videos of you hunting down history's relics. Those can be used in so many different ways.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Good to hear! We did another insulator hunt but for high voltage multiparts! You can watch it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJSanYiBh9Z_iq8

[@lizmbrad]

@@Adventurous4Life I actually watched that one first. To bad y'all didn't find any complete. They would make awesome garden art. I would love to get into hunting them. I just don't think they have any out here anymore. Not like you do up there. It's not quite as rural here in the states. Canada has way more open space. One of these days I'm going to take a trip up there. Keep the videos coming and happy hunting!

[@Adventurous4Life]

Definitely lots of open space up here! We got a few different areas we are planning on scouting this coming spring! Going to hope for the best! Bigger cities can be harder to do much in. Most of the space has been built over and it owned by somone or another. Kinda sucks. Areas up here have also been built over, but to a smaller extent.

[@lizmbrad]

@@Adventurous4Life you will totally score something... I just Know it. Looking forward to watching the video of it.

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@lizmbrad fingers crossed!!

[@TheNoisePolluter]

Great finds! It's too bad about the purple one.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thank you!! Was fun finding them! One day we'll find a nice purple one! We got a few areas to search still this spring so we'll see what happens! Sorry, i didnt see your comment sooner!!

[@harryhumstone3149]

Outstanding finds Great stuff thanks for sharing

[@Adventurous4Life]

No problem! Was fun to film! We will be searching for more insulators next spring!

[@iftheseoldbeastscouldtalk7796]

Nice finds. There are actually a bunch of clear insulators on an upright pole in my town in michigan (AA Line removed most of them all when they downed the poles pre end of glass insulator use) due to the fact that it is used as a no trespassing sign. Funny part was, I found better things. Came looking for insulators, left with a broken yet display able cast iron signal finial. Also found a complete porcelain Edison battery lid and the internal electrode.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Very cool. And ya the clear insulators are still all over the place up north here. Loads of old poles still set up on different areas of track!

[@4321kylerobinson]

I have some from my woods but they say brookfield ny on them all aqua color . Pretty good finds gentlemen! Love the video

[@Adventurous4Life]

Great to here you enjoyed watching! Cant wait for our next insulator hunt this fall!

[@Travelling..Bottle..Digger]

Great hunt, guys ! Friggin' shame that purple was broke !! GL&HH on the next

[@Adventurous4Life]

Maybe we'll find one on our next hunt in the fall! Fingers crossed bevause they are super cool and rare! Still glad i found one a couple years ago! At the time I had no idea how rare they where lol!

[@Travelling..Bottle..Digger]

@@Adventurous4Life At least now you know where to look... where there's one, there's likely more.

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@Travelling..Bottle..Digger lets hope! Man we'll both me pumped to find one! Hopping Jay finds it because he doesnt have one yet!

[@charlesconnell8051]

Love insulators, I have alot of them. Those white and purple ones you guys find are really cool. Would like to have one of those. Very cool stuff.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Ya thoughs ones are awesome to find! Just harder to find lol. We are hopping to find more this fall when we go again!

[@digginghistorytasmania3897]

Awesome video mate absolutely love insulators love the colours only ever found one myself and it’s just a clear one from 1929 thanks for shearing 👌👌👍👍

[@Adventurous4Life]

Idk how many if any rail roads are in your area but that could be way sadly. Glad you enjoyed the video though :) can't wait to go exploring the bush for more!

[@amyreadman4555]

This is exciting those are cool

[@Adventurous4Life]

Glad you enjoyed!!! And your glass in shipped out and on the way to ya!!!

[@amyreadman4555]

Thank you so much and please keep these awesome videos coming

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@amyreadman4555 will do! Thanks for watching them!!!

[@mandybrown7758]

Love the video

[@Adventurous4Life]

Glad you enjoyed watching! 😄😄 We dont get out insulator hunting very often!

[@johnricheson8465]

Çoól insulators guys!👍👍 Your B is a Brookfield insulator.🙂

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thanks for the info :) any information is appreciated! Was my first time hunting!

[@secondchancesinpajen4582]

That’s awesome how many you found in one day! Congrats!

[@Adventurous4Life]

Definitely an area no ones been before which is nice! But theres one track around our area where they took all the poles down and left half them in areas lol! Makes for a fun time out!

[@Enskoennedag]

Would love to see the entire collection of insulators that you hauled out of there.

[@Adventurous4Life]

I can share it on the community feed if you're interested! We found quite a few that's for sure!

[@phoenicianlocal2363]

Did you guys like...walk home with a whole bucket of insulators? 😄🤙

[@Adventurous4Life]

Quite literally yes lol!!! Our bags weighed over 50 pounds each no word of a lie lol!!!

[@phoenicianlocal2363]

@@Adventurous4Life wow!! Thats crazy, glad ya'll found the goldmine!

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@phoenicianlocal2363 we'll be heading out again this fall to hunt for more insulators so keep a eye out for that!

[@phoenicianlocal2363]

@@Adventurous4Life well i just subscribed to ya, so youtubes gonna let me know when thats up. Till then, the best of luck to ya two and your future treasure hunts. 🤙

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@phoenicianlocal2363 Thanks man!! Hope to see you around more too! Got loads of videos comming this fall!!

[@CoinandRelicOntario]

Great video, nice to see them still in situ. I've got a few in my collection I found as a kid along the rail lines along with some bottles. Keep it up, what's not fun about finding those?

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thanks! Glad you liked the video :) was my first time out too so good time! I've found yet another hobby that involves old glass lol!

[@jsteelsadventureandvariety4545]

was good☺ enjoyed this one liked the ⛏ wonder if its a railroad tool with that flat end on it..

[@Adventurous4Life]

We where wondering that too. Maybe used to build/work on the tracks! It's a cool display peice non the less!!

[@NickRanger]

Awesome

[@Adventurous4Life]

Indeed it was awesome! We cant wait to get out this fall and look for more!

[@jfseal38]

I hate you guys! Lol! It is a dream of mine to stumble across an insulator find like those. Unbelievable. I was yelling at you guys to "take 'em all"!!! They're very expensive in the antique stores here. Tony.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Lolol!!! There's areas we know of that has probably hundreds of the clear and light aqua ones! One area we walked out with over 20 insulators each of the dark aqua ones! Weighed a ton!! Well worth the workout though lol!!! If we could carry more we would!!

[@furryboots5629]

You have to find a purple one👍

[@Adventurous4Life]

Found the one digging a few years back but we are really hopping to find a full purple one this summer too!

[@wildexploration6487]

Nice vid!

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thanks! We'll be back out searching for insulators this fall!

[@railfanadam1944]

Not much insulator hunting videos on KZbin, keep making more until you find a whole purple!

[@Adventurous4Life]

We will definitely be back out this fall and next spring. Makes it so much easyer walking and looking with no undergrowth, furns and leaves everywhere lol! And not to mention the bugs in the bush! We are really hopping to find a purple one walking the tracks! Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed watching.

[@JohnNack]

The b on that insulator means it was manufactured by Brookfield

[@Adventurous4Life]

Yes indeed! We have found quite a few of them like that now! Very common in the area!! 😄😄

[@TennyG]

BOI, those are some THICCCC insulators

[@Adventurous4Life]

HEY! get to work i hear you on the radio!

[@TennyG]

@@Adventurous4Life disliked because you mentioned CT, I dont make the rules here! YEEEET

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@TennyG BOI thats ILLEGAL!

[@4everdc302]

Cool vid👍 I have a purple one😁

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thanks!! The purple ones are really nice arent they!? Maybe we'll find one this summer, who knows!! Thanks for watching!!

[@lunden7483]

ou guys should try geocashing

[@cooldudexvi]

I didn't know there was purple insulators.

[@Adventurous4Life]

Yep! There are quite a few different styles out there! The purple colour ones are so lovely and a treat to find!

[@DIUBrandon]

I live in niagara Ontario and have been looking for insulators. Would love to join you guys!!

[@Adventurous4Life]

We gotta start looking again this fall if we get time! If not we'll be out again this spring for sure! Things get so overgrown you cant find anything anytime else! That and northern Ontario bugs lol!

[@D.Smagnetfishing]

cool walk... wow..they are cool.. think in uk we only have the porcine ones.. iv found two and both were broken lol

[@Adventurous4Life]

The porcelain ones are normally on the ends of the poles here. The last 2 spots. Other then that it's glass ones! We had fun exploring though and cant wait to go out again. Not gonna be till the fall until we can insulator hunt again.

[@D.Smagnetfishing]

@@Adventurous4Life cool.. Urs are better then.. Be cool if we had glass too.. I look forward to the next hunt

[@Adventurous4Life]

Thanks. We habe quite a few bottle digging adventures lined up so keep an eye out for thoughs in the meantime!

[@D.Smagnetfishing]

@@Adventurous4Life sweet

[@stevetalkstoomuch]

There were early glass ones in England but they are extremely rare. There's a collector group in UK. nia.org or insulators.info for more info.

[@nathankeske5697]

I want some so bad I got my first one today when I was Railfanning but there’s only like 2/3 of it left

[@Adventurous4Life]

You'll find one soon enough if you keep looking! And once you find a full one it's great! Best of luck on your next hunt!!

[@daphnedechambeau424]

I do

[@Adventurous4Life]

We have been meaning ro make more videos like this but not a lot of areas to look that havent been hunted already! Been trying to find areas to check out though!

[@severeweather_yt1070]

Hey man awesome video, I have a KZbin channel called relic digger but I’m using this channel to currently watch the video, anyways you guys are so lucky! The stuff you found was incredible! Do you have any tips for finding good spots? I walked part of a railroad in my town in northern NY and couldn’t find anything at all, not even any pole stubs. Thanks and take care!

[@Adventurous4Life]

Best idea for finding good spots for insulators is to attempt to get to parts of rail that are hard to get to. Most people stop when the going gets rough or the areas hard to walk into. Thoughs are the sweat spots! Also check areas where theres a large embankments off from the tracks. Most times workers wouldn't bother bringing stuff back up the big embankments and left insulators behind. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[@severeweather_yt1070]

Adventurous 4Life Thank you! I really appreciate it! I hope to go out walking the railroad sometime soon. I have an insulator dump near one of my bottle dumps, but it’s just tons of Whitall Tatums with like no variety haha. So it’s not very fun to dig at

[@SoonerStateSirens1]

I’m new to insulators, I only have 2, a Hemingray 42 and 45 and was wondering what I should look for and how I should go about hunting

[@Adventurous4Life]

Hey man, I gotta say I'm not an expert at all when it comes to insulators! But what I have noticed when hunting is the farther away from a town you go, the more luck you'll have. Just like when it comes to bottle digging! Another good tip is if it's flat ground beside the tracks we tend to not find much. When there's an embankment down from the tracks more shows up. They where to lazy to bring stuff up the steep embankments lol! That's just my experience though, hope that helps!

[@SoonerStateSirens1]

@@Adventurous4Life uh bro. Took your advice and came home with 11 insulators

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@SoonerStateSirens1 heyyyy nice! Great to hear!!! Glad I could help!

[@SoonerStateSirens1]

@@Adventurous4Life I’m going hunting again today, Theres a big Telegraph pole with a whole bunch of 42s on it and I got permission to cut it down

[@SoonerStateSirens1]

@@Adventurous4Life 1 year later and i have over 200 insulators, i have 2 purples, an amber and multiple greens, i have a large porcelain insulator collection and over 50 blues and 100 clears. i go hunting every few weeks and usually come home with some awesome stuff

[@dogurasblox]

Hi i want to ask something: i love antiques especially insulators and railway antiques, in my vacations i go to an abandoned train line fron 1890, that Is abandoned since 1986, Is it legal to take parts from the railway?

[@zinnia3684]

Follow the budcar CPR rail line you’ll find hundreds.

[@Adventurous4Life]

We both aren't familiar with that term budcar for a CRP lines around us. But again we arent experts on that kinda stuff! More of a side hobby to digging when we can get the time to get out!

[@zinnia3684]

@@Adventurous4Life I’m in Sudbury, on. And it runs from here to white river. Have fun.

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@zinnia3684 well try giving parts of the line a look somtime! Got los of other areasto search as well when we get time!

[@zinnia3684]

@@Adventurous4Life please seek the Lord for Salvation. Bless you nerds. Check Chuck Missler Series on Genesis and prepare to be amazed.

[@porto_bowls2807]

That car looks 30 to 40s

[@Adventurous4Life]

I think 30s would seem correct! You'd be surprised on how many random cars show up when walking in the bush, lol 😄😄

[@Theconductor607]

Do you think you can find purple insulators along the bala subdivision?

[@Theconductor607]

Or they could be any where?

[@Adventurous4Life]

Not to sure what area you're referring to? But depending on the insulators it can be on telegraph lines or power lines! Depends on the style!

[@Adventurous4Life]

Purple beehive insulators where used on the CPR line im pretty sure! That ran across Canada. Im not the most knowledgeable on insulators but I cant see why there wouldn't be any in your area. But I've noticed on CNR lines they aren't old enough around our parts for purple ones!

[@Theconductor607]

So they are more common on CPR

[@Adventurous4Life]

@@Theconductor607 from what we have seen, yes! Id focus more on them then anything! Especially for purples!

[@thelast1900]

Do you get any insulators?

[@Adventurous4Life]

We dont go insulator hunting too often. Hard to make time for it! Also pnly really good to go in the spring! 😄😄 We have been trying to go to a few spots just no time too!

[@coltonetmanski2583]

Why do people want these? What do you do with them? Are they worth money?

[@Adventurous4Life]

You'll get a different answer from different people! Mainly because they are antiques! They have great colour to some of them and shape! Personally I like them for their colour. I also collect old glass so these fit into my collecting! They can be worth quite a bit of money yes! The clear ones can be around 5$ to 10$ and the dark aqua ones 10$ to 20$! When you get into purple ones they can be worth ovet 100$! The broken purple one in this video if it was complete it would have been around the 100$ range!

[@DavidK.-ut8rz]

I have one with No. 40 but no company brand?

[@Adventurous4Life]

Pretty sure thats just a Hemingray No40. Some have the name, some dont 😄