Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

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rhyds
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Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

Post by rhyds »

This is probably one of the nerdier SABRE questions, but that's why we're here!

In short, did the shade of green used for Warboys era primary route signs change at some point? What I mean is, when you look at older primary route signs versus newer ones there's a significant colour difference which I don't believe is all down to UV fading or other aging processes.

Exhibit A: A494

As we can see the original set of signs (which are original to the early 80s) are a dark shade of green, however the later Welshpool/Trallwng sign was an add-on in the late 90s/early 00s, and is a lighter shade of green. If it was UV fading I'd expect the newer sign to be darker and the older one lighter.

You see the same thing further south in Aberystwyth as well
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c2R
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Re: Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

Post by c2R »

Yes, the older signs use a darker, non reflective green. If I recollect correctly, the reflective green signs started to appear in the late 80s...
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Bryn666
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Re: Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

Post by Bryn666 »

Same as motorway signs - you can see this very clearly on the M65 here:

https://goo.gl/maps/xg9vtC48zB5zTpzZ7 - 1984 vintage
https://goo.gl/maps/WAjmntzMG7qTqBca9 - 1997 vintage

Reflective sheeting changed the colour of signs for sure - Worboys green was very dark, as was Anderson blue which was commonly referred to as "interstate blue", being lifted from the 1957 USA interstate shield. The only reflective part of signs originally was lettering, borders, and arrows/chevrons. The backgrounds always faded to nothing in the dark hence why old ADS installations were floodlit - a requirement only dropped in stages from 1994/2002.

The change will have started coming in with BS 873 from 1983, now replaced by BS EN 12899.
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jonnyf90
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Re: Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

Post by jonnyf90 »

Yes, the original Worboys green was very dark, so much so that at night, the background appeared black.
A good example is here on the old A22: https://goo.gl/maps/PmkPyd5kEBQLmKyP6

Newer reflective green signs went through a stage of various shades, with some absurdly pale, like these: https://goo.gl/maps/JdnrJ359zSpq8y6r7

Thankfully, the newest of signs seem to be reverting a more pleasing darker shade like this: https://goo.gl/maps/7dSMwBsonNm34JRf6

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Re: Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

Post by Rambo »

Adding to the previous comments. I've noticed some that some have turned turquoise such as here https://www.google.com/maps/@53.1913597 ... 680!8i3840 although i can't exactly say what they were like when new but i would guess these are late 80's / early 90's?
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Re: Warboys-era Primary route green: Did it change at some point?

Post by jonnyf90 »

Rambo wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 19:42 Adding to the previous comments. I've noticed some that some have turned turquoise such as here https://www.google.com/maps/@53.1913597 ... 680!8i3840 although i can't exactly say what they were like when new but i would guess these are late 80's / early 90's?
Early 90s I would presume, but yes, not a "pleasing" shade of green by any stretch of the imagination.

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