Questions about the Motus Alustar

[k7magi]

Hi everyone,
I know the Motus Alustar has been around for a while, but I haven't seen many.
In my recent two trips to London, the best I could find was Telent 4G's (and loads of bike nearside signals).

To traffic engineers in the forum:
- How popular is the Motus Alustar?
- Is any non-inline-configuration >3 aspects possible?
- Are there any Alustar box signs ? (except the one in Dun Laoghaire)

Many thanks

david

[traffic-light-man]

I remember way back when the AluStar was starting to be seen. Liverpool City Council installed mast-arms on the Queens Drive/East Lancashire Road junction in Walton (now replaced with Ultra LED heads) and the Broadgreen Pedestrian Crossing on Queens Drive which were AluStars. Obviously dubbed by the local paper as 'revolutionary' or words to that effect being the first mast-arms within the City Council area, and being LED which, as far as I know, had only been used in temporary (i.e. not portable) Microsense LSH heads at long-term roadworks until that time on a number of sites, where the LEDs afforded the ability to not require redundancy.

The City Council then installed this full junction in Wavertree. I remember other engineers I know from neighbouring Merseyside boroughs mentioning how the City Council were struggling to keep the junction in useful working order, so they were reluctant to use them. Dispite looking worse-for-wear, missing lots of visors and one casual replacement, they haven't bitten the dust yet. They were altered a few years ago when the City Council abolished bus lanes en-masse. They turned the original through lane in to a right turn only lane, and the bus lane/gate became the through lane. Right arrow masks were fitted at this point, so the heads must still be serviceable.

After those, all the LED sites in the City seemed to be Helios until a spate of Motus Ultra and then Dinniq Elite LEDs came on the scene.

I think the main problem with the AluStar is the lack of flexibility, including it's ability to do in-line signals with box signs, and it's unfamiliar shape and size. Having said that, the Futura/4G effort that Telent is providing is quite the opposite, and although it harks back to Mellors for me, I just find it too ghastly on today's roadscape.

[k7magi]

Hi Simon,
I saw some all-black Alustar in downtown London a while ago (forgot where it was.. ugh)
That junction in Wavertree. The heads have either been not serviced since 2012, or the hoods have been falling off constantly since 2012.

I got a Helios head last week, they are just so well-designed, so over-engineered. I watched a few youtube videos of a guy (dis)assembling a Euro Alustar. It looks like a pain in the arse to maintain! On the other hand, the 4G(Futura), while bearing similar design with the Alustar, is now super fragile (I guess, you're supposed to replace the entire signal head when something goes wrong).

I hope they made a 300mm version Alustar and make a UK-version out of it, just like they do to the Futura.

P.S. The NRT box sign at Dun Laoghaire is actually a 300mm white aspect with coloured tape. Sorry!

[AndyB]

No danger of that - only 200mm aspects and 250mm box signs are now authorised. The adaptation for British use was from the continental 210mm aspect.