Areas · Prince George's County
Reels and spools in Hyattsville: Route 1, the Purple Line and the arts district
HYATTSVILLE, Md. — Hyattsville, ZIPs 20781 to 20784, is a dense inner suburb on Route 1 just over the District line, with new apartment buildings, the Purple Line under construction and an older town centre. Its reels come from building and transit work, and the desk picks them up on regular runs through the area.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Schematic line map, not to survey: Hyattsville marked, with Route 1 drawn heavier. The Potomac, the Anacostia, the District line and the Beltway are drawn for bearings.
Fact box: Hyattsville
- ZIPs
- 20781, 20782, 20783, 20784
- Main roads
- Route 1 (Baltimore Avenue), East-West Highway, MD-410, Queens Chapel Road
- Transit
- Hyattsville Crossing and West Hyattsville Metro; Purple Line under construction
- Utility
- Pepco
A changing inner suburb
Hyattsville grew up as a railroad suburb and now mixes old houses and a historic Route 1 main street with new apartment buildings around the Hyattsville Crossing Metro station and along the corridor. The Route 1 stretch through Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and Brentwood has a designated arts district, and University Town Center and the Mall at Prince George’s sit at its north end.
The Purple Line
The Purple Line, a light-rail line from Bethesda to New Carrollton, runs through Hyattsville and Riverdale and has been under construction for years. Transit construction uses large amounts of cable for traction power, signals and communications, and the stations and the buildings planned around them add more. That is a steady source of reels in the area while the work continues.
Apartments and renovation
New apartment buildings leave the usual mix: building wire on small and plywood reels, copper feeders on 42 to 60 inch reels. Renovation of older houses in Hyattsville, Riverdale and University Park leaves a reel or two at a time.
How pickups work here
Hyattsville is dense, and sites have limited room. The desk usually:
- Collects from apartment sites on a schedule during construction, timed to the site’s gate hours.
- Picks up single reels from houses on runs that also cover Mount Rainier, North Brentwood and Riverdale.
- Asks for photos and flange sizes first, so the right truck goes out.
Makers and gardens
The arts district and the area’s community gardens are where buyers come from: people who want a reel to rebuild into furniture, a hose reel for a garden plot, or a table for a backyard. Small reels, 24 to 36 inches, are most of the requests.
Getting here
Route 1 (Baltimore Avenue) runs north and south through the city; East-West Highway (MD-410) runs east to west; Queens Chapel Road connects to the District. The Beltway is a few minutes north at College Park.
Sending a request from Hyattsville
- 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 Purple Line build produce reels the desk can take?
Transit construction uses a lot of cable. Wooden reels from it can come to the desk; steel reels go back to their makers.
Can I get a small reel for a garden plot?
Yes. Ask for a 24 or 30 inch reel with a sound arbor hole for a hose winder.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- Maryland Office of People's Counsel, Pepco: Pepco serves 582,000 Maryland customers in most of Montgomery and Prince George's
- Southern Maryland Chronicle, Maryland unlocks $79.1M to close final broadband gaps (6 February 2026): NTIA approval announced 4 February 2026: about 9,000 locations in 18 counties