Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

We have the Harmon fading traffic lights here in Arizona, and I hate them. So many green ones have burned out, and if they aren't pointed in the right places, they appear very, very dim.

Ball LEDs do not have this problem. I may take some pictures next time I'm out to show what I mean.

weatherdan882002 wrote:BTW, you know they DO make LED lights for that 3M model shown?

Yes... I was going to say the same thing. Although it's not easy to tell on StreetView, here is an intersection that has two 3M models and I am positive they have LED's in them. I'll try to get some better proof soon.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 6075949315

I can confirm that. Two traffic lights in town have 3Ms, and on each signal, the green lights are a different tint, one being incandescent, and the other being LED.

Anyone have photos or videos of this setup.Ya'll remember this setup from the old forum.

AndrewFields wrote:Then you'll probably hate me when I show you this...my pride and joy is my 3M HVS M-131.

Wow, that's an awesome signal . And to get one in such mint condition for only $25 is a really great find. I always thought those signals were so cool, the way the circle of light would just "appear" when you got the right distance away. In my opinion these work a lot better than those cheesy screens or louvers they stick in regular lenses. The screens/louvers seem to work particularly poor with LEDs, too.

3M signals are very rare around here. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is this one at the corner of MacArthur and Murl in Irving, TX:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 4642857143

I have a traffic light as well, though not anything as cool as a 3M Programmed Visibility! It's a basic unit from Eagle Signal, with an aluminum body and 12" polycarb lenses. I bought it for $50 on Ebay, back in 1998 when Ebay was "the new thing". This particular light in it's previous life was in service in the city of Cary, NC. I repainted it, built a wooden base for it and wired it to a simple controller, I've got set up in my office at work. It's a great conversation piece. (photo below)

mlgillson wrote:Couple other things. Most traffic signals that I've ever seen on a single pole, seven. Dual left turn lane, three thru lanes, dual right turn lane, a signal for each lane.

Mlgillson, that intersection with the seven signal heads on one pole is the best I've ever seen!!! I've never seen one with more than 5. That's one disadvantage with using horizontally-mounted signals, you just can't cram as many on a pole!

Hey, has anyone ever seen something like this: (I wish I had a picture, but I'll just have to try to describe it) It's a combination turn signal arrow, with both green and yellow in the same lens section, except it used fiber optics to display the arrows. Plano, TX had a ton of these back in the 80's and early 90's when they used vertically-mounted signals. But they have all been removed and replaced in the last several years. I am guessing that these were somehow not compliant in that color-blind people would have a very hard time telling what arrow was lit since they were in the same lens. But they looked very cool, especially the way the arrow would shift slightly up and right to the next set of "dots" when it changed from the green arrow to the yellow arrow. Anyone else ever seen these?

Josh wrote:Hey, has anyone ever seen something like this: (I wish I had a picture, but I'll just have to try to describe it) It's a combination turn signal arrow, with both green and yellow in the same lens section, except it used fiber optics to display the arrows. Plano, TX had a ton of these back in the 80's and early 90's when they used vertically-mounted signals. But they have all been removed and replaced in the last several years. I am guessing that these were somehow not compliant in that color-blind people would have a very hard time telling what arrow was lit since they were in the same lens. But they looked very cool, especially the way the arrow would shift slightly up and right to the next set of "dots" when it changed from the green arrow to the yellow arrow. Anyone else ever seen these?

Yes... I remember we had a few of those around here. I always thought they were neat as well. The last one that I can remember was removed probably about 4 or 5 years ago when they started converting all of our signals over to LED.

I'm sure there are still a few hanging around somewhere, but they would be tough to find.

i think there is one in Phoenix, ill have to check

Prescott Valley uses those extensively. Except these aren't fiber optics, they are LEDs. Prescott used to use fiber optics in the past, but since LEDs came in, they disappeared quickly.

cabman701 wrote:

Josh wrote:Hey, has anyone ever seen something like this: (I wish I had a picture, but I'll just have to try to describe it) It's a combination turn signal arrow, with both green and yellow in the same lens section, except it used fiber optics to display the arrows. Plano, TX had a ton of these back in the 80's and early 90's when they used vertically-mounted signals. But they have all been removed and replaced in the last several years. I am guessing that these were somehow not compliant in that color-blind people would have a very hard time telling what arrow was lit since they were in the same lens. But they looked very cool, especially the way the arrow would shift slightly up and right to the next set of "dots" when it changed from the green arrow to the yellow arrow. Anyone else ever seen these?

Yes... I remember we had a few of those around here. I always thought they were neat as well. The last one that I can remember was removed probably about 4 or 5 years ago when they started converting all of our signals over to LED.

I'm sure there are still a few hanging around somewhere, but they would be tough to find.

There is at least one of those around here in Overland Park. It's damn near impossible to see in direct sunlight so I can see why they have been removed.

There were two different types in Prescott.

One had only one row of lights, and was very hard to see. The other kind had two rows of lights, and was much easier to see. The colors of those lights also matched the incandescent yellow and green colors too.