New signs made a bit like old ones

Discussion about street lighting, road signs, traffic signals - and all other street furniture - goes here.

Moderator: Site Management Team

User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

This one is dodgy in as many ways as you can think, but as such quite a good conversation point. I think the one way system was put in on Old Oak Common Road in Acton in the 70s, so while traffic previously hit the A40 and turned left or right at the existing lights, a little road was upgraded and the traffic was diverted into East Acton Road for a bit (where this was taken) and back onto the A40 for an exclusive left turn, freeing the flow quite a bit.

How many ways is it wrong? Of course diversion signs are yellow, except this one. My guess is it may have once been blue, but that would be for a motorway. Then diversions are temporary, but this was put up to stop people getting in the left lane and finding they could only go straight on when the route had been completed. 30 plus years later it is still considered a diversion, although I agree without that word would still be required to stop new arrivals going straight ahead.
Were it not for the giveaway Worboys arrow and the slightly harder to spot 4, if you squint a bit you could almost think this was an old one, mainly as they haven't used Transport but a font far closer to the original.

Image

The back confirms the relative recent age as has modern rails. Does anyone know when they were introduced? The first Worboys signs had bars all round the back and seem to see the modern method from about the early 70s when this was probably made.
User avatar
Chris5156
Deputy Treasurer
Posts: 16896
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2001 21:50
Location: Hampshire
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Chris5156 »

DavidNW9 wrote:This one is dodgy in as many ways as you can think, but as such quite a good conversation point.
Yes, that's quite deliciously naff! (For bonus points, the parking restrictions below it are in Helvetica I think - definitely not Transport.)
My guess is it may have once been blue, but that would be for a motorway.
I think you're right - blue which has now faded away to a metallic grey. Is it actually completely grey or is that a trick of the light?

White-on-blue signs are used on non-motorway roads for miscellaneous written information - things like advance warning of weight restrictions or "unsuitable for motor vehicles" and so on. In my view they should match the direction signs for the class of road - black on white or white on green as appropriate.

I think it's a bit of colour confusion: if it was really a temporary diversion, it should of course be black on yellow. If it's actually a piece of written advice, white on blue is OK, but it should of course be mixed-case, it should omit the word "diversion" and, come to think of it, a better way of signposting the junction should have been found!

I think it is Transport, but it seems to have been squashed up horizontally, making it appear narrower and taller, more like old-style MOT lettering.
User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

That's exactly the colour it was in reality. Proper diversion signs are capitals though so it does follow that rule (or has my memory let me down yet again?) and the diversion looks like Transport but the letters above on the middle line are definitely narrower, probably to fit it all in. I'd never have noticed the parking restrictions difference though, that must be a subtle one and one which also caught the makers out.
User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

This is a first (I doubt there are any seconds but if so I am still the first to find one), not a sign made a bit like old ones, but exactly like one. Sadly they ended up wrecking it by proudly adding the London borough which dates it as modern of course. But who else used MOT font post-1964 let alone with raised letters as well? No one is my guess.

Image
User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

I thought I'd show this one here (distant as blocked by a gate) to see how you could get everything wrong by handing over the job to amateurs. It was in a school yard and has a font like the modern one but not quite, and an arrow from a car accessories shop by the look of it. I've no idea how old it is but probably not that old or they couldn't have found that awful font.

Image

Compare the genuine article

Image
User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

A truly nasty effort in Surbiton, would look better with a damp cloth but I couldn't reach it, normally restricted to building sites this temporary wooden type of sign has been placed there as a permanent offering rather than anything which could cope with the weather.

Image

I have no idea why what is normally used as a temporary sign during road works was used instead of a normal one, even less the mystery choice of font which looks like it should be used for the winter sales rather than on a road.
ajs design
Member
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 14:16

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by ajs design »

boing_uk wrote:
Haydn1971 wrote:Why the sign shop doesn't actually question these replacements is another thing...
If they were as good as Signways in Basingstoke then they *would* enquire as to the legalities or otherwise.

Thats why I would trust Signways to put up any of my signs and no other. And their guys are a brilliant third-hand check because they know what its going on, even if its managed to pass through a first and second check at the customer end.

At the end of the day, if a sign manufacturer has let a crap sign be erected on street, what does it say about THEIR quality control? There are plenty of companies out there who can manufacture signs... but how many are suitably qualified to make CORRECT signs..??
Is Bert Brett still at Signways??
SC2
Member
Posts: 2560
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:55

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by SC2 »

There's a bit of interbreeding going on here:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=derby&o ... 1,,1,23.93

It reads St James' Infant School with an old fashioned arrow beneath.
User avatar
B4591
Member
Posts: 462
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 15:34
Location: Newport, S Wales
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by B4591 »

That Cross Roads sign upthread is still there

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... .41,,2,4.1

The font appears to be Gill Sans.
Mattsignmaker
Member
Posts: 435
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 08:57
Location: Potters Bar (or j24/M25)
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Mattsignmaker »

My permanent roadsigns are always perfect.

My temporaries are another matter.........
Image
User avatar
Jonny A46
Member
Posts: 894
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 19:29

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Jonny A46 »

There used to be an old road sign in Saughall Massie (Wirral), where one arm was signposted to Birkenhead, and the other to Hoylake and West Kirby. However, part of the Birkenhead arm had fallen off, so the road was signed to 'Head'. I think the sign was later replaced by one that was similar to the original, albeit a bit more modern and with Birkenhead in full.
User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

I was extremely disappointed to find this abomination after spending the usual hour weaving round traffic jams going around Enfield after seeing the low-res version on Streetview. No access signs were probably council made but in PW style back then, but the last known one left Aldwych before I could get there myself. This is a random fancy font apparently replacing what was there originally going by the two proper old ones above.

Image
User avatar
Lockwood
Member
Posts: 3182
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 14:44
Location: Liphook

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Lockwood »

User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

I've seen that one somewhere else, it's so disappointing when they copy a sign and get it wrong, as technically as long as it's built like the original it counts, but if they spoil it it's nothing, like the one in the middle of Knockholt.

Here's my official poor copy thread in case you haven't added it there as well as it did warrant its own collection.

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/vie ... =1&t=23403
User avatar
Bryn666
Elected Committee Member
Posts: 35714
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2002 20:54
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Bryn666 »

Here's one.
Attachments
Screenshot_2013-07-19-07-08-39-1.png
Bryn
Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already.
She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.

Blog - https://showmeasign.online/
X - https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@BrynBuck
User avatar
RichardA35
Committee Member
Posts: 5691
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2002 18:58
Location: Dorset

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by RichardA35 »

This AA sign near Langport looks in too good a condition to be original but might be.
User avatar
Lockwood
Member
Posts: 3182
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 14:44
Location: Liphook

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Lockwood »

DavidNW9 wrote:I've seen that one somewhere else, it's so disappointing when they copy a sign and get it wrong, as technically as long as it's built like the original it counts, but if they spoil it it's nothing, like the one in the middle of Knockholt.

Here's my official poor copy thread in case you haven't added it there as well as it did warrant its own collection.

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/vie ... =1&t=23403
Yeah, I put a load of shots of it up in the Pre Worboys thread and you pointed out that it's a fake.
Feel free to copy them round to whichever galleries/threads you want
User avatar
nick_dunn
Member
Posts: 1075
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 13:06
Location: Wordsley, West Midlands

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by nick_dunn »

DavidNW9 wrote:Here's another replica in North Finchley, but besides the N possibly being a bit too wide (someone will know) it really looks like a proper one from a distance. I'm glad they've tried to get the font right unlike the dodgy one a couple of miles away in Finchley Central made by the council. Although it has modern rails on the back they appear to have been added later as the rivets on the front show.

Image

By the way, does anyone know when reflective signs first arrived?
Just noticed your post of nearly 4 years ago! There are a pair of similar signs outside Kidderminster Station in front of the Severn Valley ticket office. I'm not sure if they are originals or not - the N you refer to looks as wide as in your photo, yet somehow different!
Attachments
PICT0017.JPG
PICT0018.JPG
User avatar
DavidNW9
Member
Posts: 1632
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:16
Location: London NW9
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by DavidNW9 »

I expect this replaced a real example, but had they not put the date on it I'd never have know it wasn't. Luckily I'd not taken photos in Caterham before so had another reason to spend an afternoon on the road.

Image
User avatar
Nicholas
Member
Posts: 4695
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2006 18:37
Location: Bournemouth
Contact:

Re: New signs made a bit like old ones

Post by Nicholas »

This sign has the arrow designed like a PW version.
Voie Rapide / Mótarbhealaí
Updated 1 November 2019!
Post Reply