Wooden spools in Plymouth Meeting

Where the Blue Route meets the Turnpike

Plymouth Meeting is an unincorporated community, shared mainly between Plymouth and Whitemarsh townships, that takes its name from an old Quaker meeting house on Germantown Pike. Today it is best known to drivers as the place where I-476 (the Blue Route), the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276) and the Northeast Extension meet at the Mid-County interchange. That junction made Plymouth Meeting a magnet for office parks, hotels, a regional mall, big-box stores and distribution buildings, all of which keep electricians and their reels busy.

Reels from office parks and retail

The office parks off Germantown Pike, Chemical Road and the roads around the interchange are full of buildings from the 1970s to the 2000s. Many are being refitted for new tenants, converted to other uses or upgraded with new lighting, power and data. That work leaves plywood spools and mid-size reels in loading areas and contractors' trailers. The mall and the big-box stores add their own steady fit-out work, with reels taken away overnight or left in a corner of the dock.

Reels from the interchange itself

Highway projects on the Turnpike and the Blue Route, and the utility lines that run along them, use large cable reels and leave them in staging yards near the roads. These are sometimes stencilled returnables, owned by the utility or the cable maker, and sometimes one-way reels the contractor is happy to see go. We check before taking anything. If a yard holds both, we take the one-way reels and leave a note listing what we found on the returnables.

Getting here

There is no easier place in Montgomery County to reach by highway. From the Mid-County interchange, the Turnpike leads east toward Bucks County and I-95, and west toward King of Prussia; I-476 leads south to Conshohocken, the Main Line and Delaware County, and north up the Northeast Extension toward Lansdale. Germantown Pike and Ridge Pike carry local traffic toward Norristown and Lafayette Hill. A load bound for New Jersey usually takes the Turnpike east and I-95 south to the Betsy Ross Bridge.

Fitting into a busy schedule

Because Plymouth Meeting is central, it is often a stop on runs between other parts of the region. A truck heading from Lansdale to Conshohocken, or from King of Prussia to Bucks County, can stop here without a detour. That makes it easy to collect smaller amounts, a few reels from a shop or a stack of spools from an office refit, without waiting for a dedicated trip.

What to tell us

• Building name and address, and whether there is a loading dock.
• Number and approximate sizes of reels, or a photo with a tape measure.
• Any markings: stencils, numbers, deposit tags.
• Access windows, especially at retail sites with delivery schedules.
• Whether anyone needs a certificate of insurance before we arrive.

Turning reels into something useful

Reels collected here go in several directions. Sound one-way reels go back to contractors and wire shops for re-spooling cut lengths, or to farms and landscapers for hose and rope. Clean reels with good flanges go to makers and event companies, who turn them into tables, displays and signs. Broken reels go to wood recycling, and their bolts and tie rods to metal recycling. The guides section covers each of those uses.

The historic village

Away from the highways, the old village along Germantown Pike has historic stone houses, the meeting house and a few small businesses. Work there is renovation and restoration, and leaves small spools rather than reels. Those are collected too, usually alongside a larger pickup nearby.

IKEA, Metroplex and big-box retail

Plymouth Meeting and neighbouring Conshohocken have some of the largest stores in the county, including the IKEA near the Blue Route and the Metroplex shopping centre on Chemical Road. Big stores refit regularly and use a lot of lighting, power and data, and they produce reels in quantity.

Corporate headquarters

Several regional and corporate headquarters and technology firms have offices near the interchange. Office conversions and laboratory fit-outs leave spools and mid-size reels.

Quarries and the Schuylkill

Limestone quarries along the Schuylkill and in Whitemarsh have operated for generations. Quarry equipment uses heavy cable for crushers, conveyors and pumps, and old reels from that work occasionally appear.

Abolitionist history

Plymouth Meeting was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and Abolition Hall, beside the Quaker meeting house on Germantown Pike, is a reminder of that history. Historic properties along the pike are carefully restored, and their electrical work is modest.

Whitemarsh and Lafayette Hill homes

Large older houses in Whitemarsh, Lafayette Hill and Blue Bell are often renovated top to bottom. Those projects leave spools, small drums and, sometimes, a reel of generator feeder.

Hotels near the interchange

Business hotels clustered by the Mid-County junction refresh guest floors, ballrooms and conference suites every few years. Engineering managers often store emptied drums in a back car park until a hauler appears.

Questions

Do you cover Lafayette Hill and Blue Bell?

Yes, along with Conshohocken, Whitemarsh, Whitpain and the rest of the townships around the interchange.

Can you collect from a Turnpike or PennDOT contractor's yard?

Yes, with the contractor's agreement. We do not take reels that belong to the owner of the job without their permission.