Wig-wag lights

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

Moderator: Site Management Team

Post Reply
User avatar
wrinkly
Member
Posts: 8990
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:17
Location: Leeds

Wig-wag lights

Post by wrinkly »

Sorry if this has been asked before - the search facility doesn't like "wig", "wag" or "wig-wag".

When were wig-wag lights introduced, and were they originally used for all the same purposes they are today? (Level crossings, fire stations, ambulance stations, patrolled crosings - I'm not counting overhead lane control signs on motorways.)
User avatar
Conekicker
Member
Posts: 3754
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2005 22:32
Location: South Yorks

Re: Wig-wag lights

Post by Conekicker »

The first time the current red/white bordered wig-wag first appeared in TSRGD was 1994.

Prior to that the first mention of the various "STOP when lights show" plates was in the 1975 TSRGD. The plates weren't in the 1964 TSRGD, so presumably wig-wags were introduced some time between '64 and '75.

Strangely there isn't any obvious mention of the old-style white bordered wig-wag in the '75 regs, nor in the subsequent '81 regs. Perhaps those wig-wags were covered by some sort of railway regulations, although what they might have been I've no idea.

See also https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... ag_Signals
which mentions the the amber light was added to the previous pair of reds only after a rail crash in 1968.
Patience is not a virtue - it's a concept invented by the dozy beggars who are unable to think quickly enough.

From the SABRE Wiki: Warning Sign/Advance Warning of Wig-wag Signals :


The Advance Warning of Wig-wag Signals sign (colloquially known as a Stop When Lights Show sign) is a supplementary plate used to indicate the presence of wig-wag signals at either a level crossing, swing or lifting bridge, airfield, tunnel, an emergency service station, or other places where traffic has to stop infrequently.

The sign was

... Read More