Areas · Loudoun County
Reels and spools in Sterling: supply houses and substations on Route 28
STERLING, Va. — Sterling, ZIPs 20164 to 20166, sits along Route 28 at the eastern edge of Loudoun's data-centre corridor, with two electrical distributor branches, contractor yards and new substations. That makes it a steady source of returned and job-site reels, and the desk collects them every week.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Schematic line map, not to survey: Sterling marked, with Route 28, Route 7 drawn heavier. The Potomac, the Anacostia, the District line and the Beltway are drawn for bearings.
Fact box: Sterling
- ZIPs
- 20164, 20165, 20166
- Distributors
- Graybar and Shepherd Electric, about 1.4 miles apart
- Transmission
- BECO to Firehouse; Global Plaza Extension (proposed)
- Main roads
- Route 28, Route 7, Route 606, Loudoun County Parkway
Two supply houses
When Graybar bought Shepherd Electric in 2023, trade press noted that its Sterling branch was 1.4 miles from Shepherd’s Sterling location. Two distributor branches that close together, at the edge of Loudoun’s data-centre corridor, tell you how much cable moves through Sterling. Branches end up with stacks of returned and stripped reels of every brand and size. Few ever hold a full truckload of a single maker’s nailed reels, which is what most maker programs want. A weekly or monthly pickup keeps the lot clear.
Substations
Loudoun’s transmission page describes BECO to Firehouse: two 230 kV lines of about a mile between the BECO substation in Sterling, near Gloucester Parkway and Pacific Boulevard, and a new Firehouse substation off Russell Branch Parkway between Gloucester Parkway and Kincora Drive. The application was filed in May 2026. The same page lists the Global Plaza Extension, from the W&OD Trail to the Global substation west of Route 28, not yet filed. Substation and line work uses large reels of conductor and cable, many of them steel and returnable, plus wooden reels of control and distribution cable.
Data centres and flex
Sterling’s industrial land along Route 28 and around the airport holds data centres, flex buildings and contractor yards. Their electrical work leaves the same range of reels as Ashburn’s, from small building wire reels to medium-voltage reels.
Pickups here
- Branches: standing pickup, mixed loads accepted, steel set aside.
- Contractor yards: sorted rows, counts by flange size, forklift on site for reels over 42 inches.
- Campus sites: badging and gate hours with the request.
Buyers
Sterling’s older neighbourhoods and Cascades and Countryside to the north have homeowners who want table and garden reels. Small contractors want working reels.
Getting here
Route 28 runs north and south past Dulles Airport to Route 7; Route 7 runs east and west through Sterling; Route 606 and the Loudoun County Parkway link to Ashburn.
Sending a request from Sterling
- Count and measure. Count the reels and measure the largest flange edge to edge across the face. A photo with the tape in it is better than a guess.
- Check the build. Nailed lumber, plywood sheet, steel or plastic. Look for a stencil or tag naming the maker and the reel number.
- Set aside steel and tagged returnables with their serial numbers. Those go back to the maker, not to the desk.
- Say where they stand: yard, dock, garage level, alley or curb, plus clearance, gate hours, badging or escort a driver needs.
- Say what loads them: forklift, pallet jack, loader, ramp, or only people. Reels over 42 inches weigh more than 100 lb empty.
- Say how often: one time, weekly, monthly or at each job close-out.
- Buying instead? Give the flange and height you want, how many, and how the reel gets from the truck to where it will sit.
- No form handy? Email info@dcwoodenspools.com with the same details and a few photos.
Reels you are likely to have
| Reel | Build | Flange | Traverse | Drum | Lb | Usually carries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-5 | Nailed wood | 23 | 17 | 12 | 34 | Copper building wire, grounding |
| A-10 | Nailed wood | 30 | 22 | 16 | 66 | Service drop, bare aluminium |
| N-24 | Nailed wood | 36 | 28 | 14 | 83 | Insulated and multiplex cable |
| A-29 | Nailed wood | 42 | 28 | 21 | 154 | Overhead conductor, feeders |
| A-38 | Nailed wood | 48 | 28 | 24 | 212 | Aluminium and ACSR, large feeders |
| A-62 | Nailed wood | 60 | 28 | 28 | 397 | Utility conductor |
| A-76 | Nailed wood | 66 | 28 | 30 | 473 | Heavy conductor |
| S-120 | Steel, returnable | 84 | 36 | 42 | 895 | Transmission and medium voltage |
Other makers' reels differ by an inch or two. All flange sizes · How to measure
Questions the desk gets
Does the desk collect from distributor branches on a schedule?
Yes. Weekly or monthly pickups suit branches with returned and stripped reels.
Are substation reels accepted?
Wooden reels are. Steel reels from transmission work go back to their makers.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- inside.lighting, Graybar expands in Baltimore-DC, acquires Shepherd Electric (2023): Graybar branches in Lanham and Sterling; Shepherd locations in Baltimore, Laurel, Frederick, Washington and Sterling
- Loudoun County, Transmission Lines in Loudoun County: status of Aspen to Golden, Golden to Mars, BECO to Firehouse, Evergreen Mills, Global Plaza Extension, Mars to Wishing Star and the Potomac Edison Goose Creek rebuild
- Loudoun County, Data Centers: The Loudoun Story: counts as of 1 March 2026: about 233 data centre buildings, 56.5 million sq ft; over 10 million sq ft permitted in 2025; 35.7 million sq ft approved but not built; by-right development ended in 2025