50 year old Mellors in Liverpool

[L.J.D]

Spotted this earlier

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... 0-10470195

Looking on street view though the mellors don't look that old is this just an exaggeration ? I don't know if they mean the actual heads and poles or just the cabinate. Good information on the article though for signal lovers.

[brummie_rob]

They don't look that old, even the newer ones on that list look older than the oldest mainly due to rust.

[Gareth]

^^ That's because they're not that old and indeed, are almost certainly younger than some of the others on the list.

I'd just call it poor journalism. For a start, there were no mellors being installed 50 years ago. Other than possible test sites, the first mellors appeared in 1970.

I'd love to know where they got that list from. Some do appear to be right. For example Rathbone Road/Binns Road being 42 years old because I know for a fact the signals there replaced a zebra crossing in that year.

Others seem odd though. There's no way those mellors on Mather Avenue/Booker Avenue are 48 years old. I can only assume the site has the ducting of the original tin installation that was installed 48 years ago.

Also, I grew up around the corner from Town Row/Melwood Drive and they were mellors on tin/ATE poles painted grey from when I first remembered them. The poles were changed to modern ones in the 90s. Tin/ATE poles makes the site much older than 32. It may have been 32 years ago when the signal heads were changed over but it wasn't a full refurbishment.They may well have replaced the ducting when they changed the poles in the 90s, leaving the signal heads as the oldest current hardware on site, which gives us the 32 figure.

The Echo's wrong, of course, with its picture of supposedly 48 year old mellor signals. I'd say they're no more than 30 years old.

[traffic-light-man]

There were a few sites around that I'd have estimated as early 70s given the equipment, but most have been replaced recently with Helios LEDs. AFAIK, they left the rest of the infrastructure intact.

For example, the lanterns on this site were the original one-piece Plessey Peds and the Plessey badge was simply the word 'PLESSEY', not the more common 'PLESSEY AUTOMATION' one with the little logo.

The Booker Ave lights did have old terminal connections on the lighting columns for Tin heads, so it's very possible it's the infrastructure that's 48 years old. Those lanterns are in incredibly good condition if they are that old! They also haven't got hoods on the box signs, which I've noticed is often a tell-tale sign of older installations.

[Bryn666]

That's nowt. We still have a pair of tin police hat poles in Blackburn dating back to the mid 1950s.

The installations in Liverpool are probably referring to cabling as well. You can have a 48 year old site that's like Trigger's Broom.

[Gareth]

^^ Yes, that's what I was getting act: ducting with the cabling runs being essentially the only remaining thing from the original installation, whilst poles, signal heads and controllers have all been changed over once or more. Clearly, Booker Avenue had tin lanterns installed in 1967. About 20 years later, the tin poles and signal heads were replaced but the ducting & cabling wasn't upgraded. No doubt the controller has been changed over more than once in that time.

Looking at the list, St Marys Road/Dock Road is the second oldest and originally installed in 1969, which means this would also have been a tin lantern installation. 3rd is Rathbone Road/Binns Road, installed in 1973 and will have been mellors. Although I think there's been the odd casual replacement or two, these are truly the oldest signals in Liverpool...

Rathbone Road/Binns Road

[dragonv480]

^^ Yes, that's what I was getting act: ducting with the cabling runs being essentially the only remaining thing from the original installation, whilst poles, signal heads and controllers have all been changed over once or more. Clearly, Booker Avenue had tin lanterns installed in 1967. About 20 years later, the tin poles and signal heads were replaced but the ducting & cabling wasn't upgraded. No doubt the controller has been changed over more than once in that time.

Looking at the list, St Marys Road/Dock Road is the second oldest and originally installed in 1969, which means this would also have been a tin lantern installation. 3rd is Rathbone Road/Binns Road, installed in 1973 and will have been mellors. Although I think there's been the odd casual replacement or two, these are truly the oldest signals in Liverpool...

Rathbone Road/Binns Road

Even this site appears to have a fairly modern (and modular) controller box?

[Gareth]

Of course. Has possibly been changed more than once even.

[traffic-light-man]

I think the cull of Tin poles and old controllers that LCC had a few years back got rid of most of the visible interesting old bits of equipment off the streets.

There's still quite a few of the old cream coloured WATC boxes knocking around the Merseyside area though, if you know where to look.