Wooden spools in Moorestown

Main Street and defence electronics

Moorestown Township, in western Burlington County, is known for its historic Main Street, lined with old houses, shops and Quaker meeting houses, and for its leafy neighbourhoods. It is also home to a large Lockheed Martin site, where radar and combat systems for the US Navy have been developed for decades. Around that site and along NJ 38 and NJ 73, office and industrial parks hold technology firms, contractors and distributors. The Moorestown Mall, on NJ 38, anchors the township's retail.

Reels from technology and industry

Engineering and technology sites use a lot of specialised cable: power, control, data and fibre for labs, test facilities and offices. Their contractors leave mid-size reels and spools in loading areas and yards. Industrial and office parks along NJ 38 and NJ 73 add reels from tenant fit-outs and building upgrades. Large secure sites usually handle reels through their own contractors; we collect what those contractors release, at a gate or yard outside the secure area.

Homes and Main Street

Moorestown's older houses are renovated and rewired with care, and newer neighbourhoods have solar panels, generators and car chargers fitted. That leaves small reels and spools in garages and driveways. Shops along Main Street and the shopping centres refit regularly. Those small pickups are added to runs through Burlington and Camden counties.

Roads

NJ 38 runs east–west through the township, from Cherry Hill and Pennsauken to Mount Holly. NJ 73 runs along the western edge, toward the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and the Turnpike. County Route 537 runs through the centre as Main Street, toward Mount Holly and Camden. I-295 runs just to the south and east. For runs to Philadelphia, NJ 73 to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge is the usual route.

Historic houses

Older houses in Moorestown often have narrow driveways, old garages and outbuildings. Reels stored there may be decades old. Some are sound and make good tables; others are rotten. Send a photo, and we will tell you which.

Security and access

For pickups at secure sites:

• arrange for the reels to be released at a gate or outside yard;
• tell us who will meet us;
• give us the times we can come;
• tell us if any reels must go back to a supplier.

A Quaker town with a long memory

Moorestown was settled in the late seventeenth century by Quaker families, and the township still has two historic Friends meeting houses and a Friends school. Main Street's mix of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses, nurseries, churches and shops gives it the feel of an old country town, even though it sits within a few minutes of busy highways. Restoration contractors here are careful about historic fabric, and they often pull new cable through old walls in short, fiddly lengths. The leftovers are typically part-used spools of building wire, coils of low-voltage cable for alarms and thermostats, and the occasional small reel of underground feeder for a detached garage or barn.

Engineering campuses and their cable

Radar and combat-system work involves test ranges, labs, antenna structures and high-security buildings, all of which use specialised power, signal and fibre cable. That cable is often expensive and comes on sturdy reels built to protect it in transit. When the job is done, the reels are just wood, plywood and steel, and they are often in better condition than ordinary contractors' reels. Where a site's contractor releases them outside the secure perimeter, those reels are some of the best we see for reuse as tables, re-spooling or display.

Nurseries, farms and garden centres

Moorestown has a long tradition of nurseries and farms, and some still operate. Growers use reels to hold irrigation hose, drip line, fencing wire and rope, and they sometimes ask for extra spools in spring. If you run a nursery or farm and want reels, tell us how many and roughly what size; if you have surplus, we will happily take them off your hands.

Shopping centre turnover

When a store at the mall or along NJ 38 is replaced, the new tenant usually strips out the old lighting and power and starts again. Those fit-outs move fast, often over a few weeks, and the reels are left in the service corridor or the back lot. A pickup the week the electricians finish keeps the corridor clear for fixture deliveries.

Winter storage tips for homeowners

An old reel kept as a garden table weathers fastest where the bottom flange touches soil. Lifting it onto bricks, brushing on a coat of exterior oil each autumn and turning it a quarter-rotation every season spreads the wear. When the rim finally crumbles or the centre drum sags, call us: a spent reel still yields firewood-grade timber and scrap bolts.

Questions

Do you cover Maple Shade, Mount Holly and Cinnaminson?

Yes, along with Delran, Riverside and the rest of western Burlington County.

Can you collect from Main Street businesses?

Yes, early in the day if possible, when parking is easiest.