Areas · Montgomery County
Reels and spools in Silver Spring: downtown towers and the Purple Line
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Silver Spring, ZIPs 20901 to 20904, 20906 and 20910, runs from a dense downtown on the District line out through older neighbourhoods to the FDA's White Oak campus. Its reels come from tower construction, the Purple Line and house renovation, and the desk handles all three.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Schematic line map, not to survey: Silver Spring marked, with I-95 drawn heavier. The Potomac, the Anacostia, the District line and the Beltway are drawn for bearings.
Fact box: Silver Spring
- ZIPs
- 20901, 20902, 20903, 20904, 20906, 20910
- Main roads
- Colesville Road (US-29), Georgia Avenue (MD-97), Capital Beltway, New Hampshire Avenue
- Transit
- Silver Spring Metro and MARC; Purple Line under construction
- Federal campus
- FDA headquarters at White Oak
Downtown
Downtown Silver Spring, around the Metro and MARC station in 20910, is a district of apartment and office towers, a transit centre and a busy main street. It has been building for two decades and is still adding towers. The Purple Line light rail, under construction for years, passes through downtown on its way from Bethesda to New Carrollton.
Tower reels and transit reels
A residential tower leaves building wire on small reels, plywood reels, and copper feeders on 42 to 60 inch reels. Transit construction adds traction power, signal and communications cable, sometimes on large reels. Steel reels from either go back to their makers under the makers’ policies. Wooden reels come to the desk.
Downtown sites have little room. Expect the desk to ask for the loading window, the dock clearance and a contact.
The neighbourhoods
Beyond downtown, Silver Spring is a large area of older houses and garden apartments: Woodside, Four Corners, Wheaton (20902), Hillandale, Colesville, Aspen Hill (20906). Renovation and rewiring here leaves a reel or two per job. The desk collects them on runs through the area. A photo, the size and the address are all it needs.
White Oak
The Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters campus at White Oak, off New Hampshire Avenue, is a large federal site, and land around it is planned for further development. The Comptroller of Maryland counts about 54,000 Montgomery residents working for the federal government.
Buyers
Silver Spring has many gardeners and many small yards. Common requests: a 24 or 30 inch reel for a patio or a hose winder, a 36 inch reel for a garden table, several matching reels for an event. For delivery to a house, the gate and the steps matter more than the distance.
Getting here
Colesville Road (US-29) and Georgia Avenue (MD-97) run through downtown; the Beltway crosses the area with interchanges at both. New Hampshire Avenue serves the east side and White Oak. East-West Highway connects to Bethesda.
Sending a request from Silver Spring
- 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 pick up from downtown Silver Spring towers?
Yes, within the building's loading window. Send the dock clearance and a contact.
Will the desk collect a single reel from a house in Wheaton?
Yes, on a run through the area. Send a photo, the size and the address.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- Comptroller of Maryland, Impact of the Federal Government on Maryland's Economy (June 2025): $46 billion in federal contracts for work in Maryland in fiscal 2024; Defense and HHS 60%; third per capita
- Maryland Office of People's Counsel, Pepco: Pepco serves 582,000 Maryland customers in most of Montgomery and Prince George's