This is very frustrating

[traffic light guy]

Exactly when did Philly start using mast-arms to mount their traffic signals? I keep searching for old photos of philly, and no luck. I haven't found a single photo taken between 1968 and 1974. In '60s photos, I find all pedestal setups. The earliest photo of a mast-arm I've seen, was a B&W photo taken in 1974. All the rest are from the '80s!!!

Here are some people's Flickr photos to convey my evidence:



All pedestal setup in Philly, taken in 1968



Older Eagle traffic signal mast-arm setup, picture taken in 1987



Older mast-arm setup, taken in 1978



Pedestal setup, taken in 1966, as you can see at one point during the '60s, Philly's signals made a transition from blue to yellow.



Older mast-arm setup. Also taken in the 1980s.



This is from 1988, another old mast-arm signal.


Help, are there any older members here who remember seeing old mast-arm traffic signal setups in Philly?

[jeffandnicole]

If you look up YouTube videos of various Mummers Parades, that may help clue you in a little. I found videos from New Year's Day in 1971 & 1972 and it doesn't appear Broad Street had mast arms at that time.

[traffic light guy]

If you look up YouTube videos of various Mummers Parades, that may help clue you in a little. I found videos from New Year's Day in 1971 & 1972 and it doesn't appear Broad Street had mast arms at that time.

My safe bet is that the setups were installed in 1973 or 1974. Most of them include Eagle flatbacks and Crouse-Hinds signals. I'm gonna have to say 1973, since that's the same year the Flatback ceased production. The rest of PA starting using their mast-arms a few years earlier.

[traffic light guy]

Now, this is pinned down to only a few possibilities:

Between 1972 and 1974

I'm gonna make another topic based on this

[traffic light guy]

If you look up YouTube videos of various Mummers Parades, that may help clue you in a little. I found videos from New Year's Day in 1971 & 1972 and it doesn't appear Broad Street had mast arms at that time.

About thats, Broad Street started installed all of their traffic signal mast-arms during May 1975. I know this since I examined old photos of the 1975 Flyers parade. In one the May 1975 photos, I saw a new signal mast-arm, with a leftover pedestal pole next to it. The pedestal pole appeared to have had removed signals. The mast-arm, however had new functioning signals. Some parts of Philly started to install their mast-arms in 1974. The suburbs of PA, started installing their masts a few years earlier, but to be sure, I have to observe more old photos.



This is from the May 1975 flyers parade, on the mast-arm, you can see a set of Eagle flatback traffic signals. This is odd since the flatback ceased production two years before this was installed, they may have had a lot of leftovers.



Taken in May 1975, the signals might be Eagles, I'm not sure. But, you can see a leftover pedestal pole, this may indacte that these signals may have been installed only mere weeks before this was taken. This is on Broad Street.

[traffic light guy]

If you look up YouTube videos of various Mummers Parades, that may help clue you in a little. I found videos from New Year's Day in 1971 & 1972 and it doesn't appear Broad Street had mast arms at that time.

Here are more pictures to convey my evidence:



This was taken during the 1975 Stanley Cup Parade. You can see freshly installed mast-arm signals in place. I'm assuming these were out up around this time.



This was taken during the 1974 Stanley Cup Parade. In Spring/Summer 1974.
Crouse-Hinds Type M signals. Looks like there's a shiny new pole in place, which may mean something is about to replace these. A mast-arm could possibly be included with the replacement.



More newly installed mast-arm signals. Taken in May 1975, during the Stanley Cup Parade. These were installed around 1974 or so, replaced by McCains in 2008.



Taken in 1975. Eagle Flatback and Crouse-Hinds Type M..


Alright now we're down to few possibilities of when Philly installed their mast-arm traffic signals.
Summer 1974
Summer 1975

I'm gonna go with my gut and say Spring 1974. Which is weird, since the rest of PA had already adopted the use of mast-arms during the Late-1960s.

Most of these are replaced by now, but there are a few sets of 70s-era mast-arm installs left on the northern tip of Broad Street, right before Cheltenham.
I'm guessing that they were installed in the Summer of 1974.

[Treliazz]

And what about Backplates? When they start to go to Philly?

[traffic light guy]

And what about Backplates? When they start to go to Philly?

1974-ish is when Philly begun using them, the rest of the state adopted the use of backplates during the very very late 60s..I'm talking 1969.