Streetcar wire support poles - 1st attempt

I've been watching some of the videos about Philip Reed's ship modelling work. One of the things I've noticed in the few I've watched is that he talks about solving this problem and that problem and not so much about creating details. Model building as a problem solving activity as opposed to a detail creation activity? I liked that and started to think about some of the model building related problems I want to solve. The Portacabin Problem is one. Poles to support the streetcar overhead wire is another.

At first I thought I'd take some old Model Power light standards I have, remove their disk bases, paint them more realistic colours, and then insert them in holes drilled in the layout's sidewalk. And that's what I did. It turns out I should have done some measuring and thinking first. The problem is the overhead wire needs to be about 19' above the track, and the poles are too short to allow for that, especially when one factors in the span wires, hangers, and other support do-dads. I pulled up some reference photos I'd taken along the King St. streetcar line, took out my scale, and did some thinking.

One thing to keep in mind: my overhead wires aren't powered and are for scenic purposes only.

On the right is my first attempt at a pole. It's made from a 1/8" diameter aluminum tube I had in my scrap box and the light part from a Model Power highway light standard. The bottom 5mm sits in the layout, and the light is at about the 20' mark. I think the pole needs to be a few feet taller and there needs to be a foot or so more space between where the span wire connects and the light insertion point. I'm also going to try making one from styrene to see what happens.

I read somewhere that these poles are spaced around 30m apart, so I might not need as many as I've drilled for on the layout. Anyway, problem solving continues.