[Colorado Doug]

While I was working for a blasting company, one of the drill operators didn't see any good reason to lower the boom for tramming the rig. He also didn't see the overhead power-lines. A track drill only trams at a speed of a couple miles an hour, tops. He evidently didn't see the initial sparks before the electric companies overloads blew. I would assume that he probably had to give it more power too while he was dragging some 12,000 feet of power line behind him, breaking the tees off of the power-poles as the wire stretched tight on each 300 foot section. I don't remember how far he had to go before he broke a full two and one half miles of cross tees on every pole along the line. The power was out for about a twenty-five mile radius for several days.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!

[capt. norm]

At a TV station where I worked we had the live remote truck with it's extensible microwave antenna at a local high school football field where they had just finished a live interview with the coach. It was only about 8 blocks from the studios so they returned to the station's inside garage during the newscast.

Near the end of the newscast there was an audible crash, even through the studio soundproofing. The driver of the live truck had forgotten to lower the microwave antenna all the way. It was (or had been at this point) about 20 or so feet up.

The police were right behind him because he damaged two traffic signal lights along his route to the station.

[Clinging Bitterly]

I've seen some really messed up iron. One outfit we do work for had a track drill out on a job and left it parked too close to a railroad track. A train sideswiped it and messed it up pretty good, but everybody involved (it was rented) decided to have it fixed. So we are calling the Gardiner-Denver folks and they are saying "You want a what?", because trains running into things tends to break stuff that doesn't usually get broken. It was in our shop for a month (mostly waiting for parts) and the bill came to 60 grand.

But wow, 2.5 miles of power line and cross tees, that's pretty good.