50-60s traffic lights

Rrman,

I'm just talking about NYC. 

Very little back then.

Not sure about Pittsburgh .

Don't forget its your layout, its what you want it to be that works.

Good Luck, John 

I'm not sure if this answers your question, RRMAN, but I know in the town I grew up in, down in "the village" where all the stores are, there was a single, three-lamp traffic light suspended over the center of each intersection, through the 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, they got replaced by sets of two traffic lights. I can't remember the last time I saw an intersection with only a single traffic light fixture. Some intersections have many, especially in multi-lane situations, particularly with left and right turn lanes.

Oh, and I remember many old two-lamp traffic lights (red and green only; no amber light) in Brooklyn as late as the late-1960s. The green lamp would be on, then the red would come on, with the green remaining lit for a few seconds, then the green would go off, leaving only the red lamp lit. I don't recall if there was a delay when both directions displayed red back then.

Hope this is helpful.

Chris

Single heads were the norm in your time period.  The signal housings were NOT yellow either.  Green was very common and I know some were gray.  A single 4-sided signal suspended over the center of an intersection was very common.  Signals differed by geography as well.  The signal below (Syracuse, NY) has "high green" on top.  Railroad personnel would feel right at home.

One day of summer work, 1969, for a small TV cable company with a bucket truck,  we added the second flashing blinker to the intersection, Sigel, PA.  Part of the project was to paint the existing light yellow.

Where I grew up (Mobile, Alabama - a medium-sized city) the "single-head" was typical, as I recall. The newer (late 50's) highways around the city had "double-heads", at least at major intersections, I think. Most were painted green or gray I suppose; not yellow.

In downtown Mobile (laid out in 1711; narrow streets; lots of one-way traffic) the lights were mounted on poles at the curb/edge of sidewalk, not overhead. Green poles/lights.

In one of the then-small suburbs of Mobile there were 2 traffic lights "downtown", and in order to save money with a lower-priced unit, I was told, the red/green were reversed on either side of the light so a single bulb could be used.  Not a problem - except that a friend was color-blind and always had to be careful when driving through Fairhope, Alabama until the 1970's "Now, on which side of the signal am I?"  Fairhope has a just a tad more than two traffic signals these days.... 

The Syracuse NY light, above, is interesting. I've never seen a "high green" highway signal. 

Bob posted:

Single heads were the norm in your time period.  The signal housings were NOT yellow either.  Green was very common and I know some were gray.  A single 4-sided signal suspended over the center of an intersection was very common.  Signals differed by geography as well.  The signal below (Syracuse, NY) has "high green" on top.  Railroad personnel would feel right at home.

As I recall, these were called "Irish lights", in Syracuse, NY.

http://gizmodo.com/the-story-b...fic-light-1545301615

I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 50's and 60's. Signals in the Pittsburgh city limits were 4 phase (Green, yellow+green, yellow, red). All other boroughs were the standard 3 phase. It was always easy to know when we crossed the city line. Red was always on top. Most signals were 8" back then, just major intersections had 12". Signal style varied with the size of the intersection and amount of traffic. There were some green arrows for left turns even in the 50's. Housings were black, dark green or a few yellow. Signals were on cantelever arms as early as the late 50's along route 51, route 19 and Brownsville road in the south hills.

AmFlyer posted:

I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 50's and 60's. Signals in the Pittsburgh city limits were 4 phase (Green, yellow+green, yellow, red). All other boroughs were the standard 3 phase. It was always easy to know when we crossed the city line. Red was always on top. Most signals were 8" back then, just major intersections had 12". Signal style varied with the size of the intersection and amount of traffic. There were some green arrows for left turns even in the 50's. Housings were black, dark green or a few yellow. Signals were on cantelever arms as early as the late 50's along route 51, route 19 and Brownsville road in the south hills.

Ah HA!!, I was not dreaming the green+ yellow phase.  I mentioned this to several people and got a you're dreaming that look.  I always thought it was neat to give driver anticipation of light going yellow.  But then somewhere a MUTCD "outlawed" them.

Since you were/are a Pittsburgher I grew up in the Fox Chapel/Sharpsburgh/Etna area. Always fun to connect to other Pittsburghers.

And to John DeAlto, thanks for your reply.  I know that I can do what I want but I am somewhat trying to be protypical in my operation.

Here are my traffic lights for the intersection of County Road, Main Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue in Weirton, circa 1953.

The lights were done by Greg Leonard. 

George

RRMan,

Please send us some pictures then once you get started.

Also on Shapeway.com

I scene some Traffic Signals there too. 

Also. I  prototypical NYC Transit Subway Signals just like the same ones  that are used through out the NYC Subway System.

Please take a look at Integrated Signals Systems.com

Type in "O" Gauge Signals :

Good luck on your project: John

Since you are in Pittsburgh, I would suggest contacting "stuff that's gone" through facebook. They specialize in preserving history of the "burgh" and western PA. They have a large archive of pics of many western PA cities and towns, including downtown pics from the past.

Borden Tunnel posted:

Since you are in Pittsburgh, I would suggest contacting "stuff that's gone" through facebook. They specialize in preserving history of the "burgh" and western PA. They have a large archive of pics of many western PA cities and towns, including downtown pics from the past.

Nope been in Iowa for almost 35 years.  However I do have all those wonderful Things that are not here anymore videos.  Great way to reconnect.  May re run them to see traffic lights if any in videos.  Remember WQED educational TV with Mr Rogers.  Ah the memories.....