New sign collector/road geek from MA

[RJ145]

Hey everyone,

I just joined this site, I've visited it in the past but for some reason I never noticed that there was a forum. I'm from just outside the Boston area. I've been slowly collecting signs since I was a kid, and I've always been a little bit of a sign/road geek. I'll post pictures of my collection as soon as I can upload some photos. I look forward to talking to you guys and hopefully learn some stuff.



- Ryan

[Ian]

Welcome from a fellow sign collector! What part of Boston do you live in? My grandparents live in Wellesley, and have always loved to go up there. I'm looking forward to see what signs you have!

[RJ145]

I live just outside of Logan Airport. Here are some photos of my collection. Its not very big by any means, but its slowly growing. I also have a few other misc signs that aren't in the picture, mainly a 36" stop sign ahead sign a railroad cross buck sign, and some no parking signs. Nothing too spectacular. I also collect airport lighting equipment, such as obstruction lights and taxiway/runway lights, which probably stems from living in the shadow of the airport my whole life. Most are on display in my basement, but for the time being I've run out of wall space. I apologize if the pictures are too big.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Is that a railroad "Whistle" sign I see on the floor, next to the Hist-66 shield?

Welcome, and nice collection!

[RJ145]

Is that a railroad "Whistle" sign I see on the floor, next to the Hist-66 shield?

Welcome, and nice collection!

That it is, and thanks!

[Ian]

I do like the MBTA bus stop signs!

[RJ145]

Yeah I love those ones, especially because they aren't used anymore. I've had those the longest too out of anything. I think I got them when I was 10 or 11

[joseph1723]

Nice collection, and welcome from another sign collector in Ontario

[ctsignguy]

Welcome aboard from another sign collector, from Ohio

[Scott5114]

Never thought of collecting runway furniture before. Do you have any of the red/green runway end lights? Any taxiway or runway identification signs?

[BrynM65]

Hi there, a lovely collection of signs there.

My own collection, as a highways engineer, is stuff I've removed myself on the grounds of it being either wrong or out of date. Therefore my box of signs is quite dull...

I personally would love to have an Interstate shield for my wall. I may have to see if a UK sign shop can fabricate me one as I expect transatlantic shipping is not cheap!

[J N Winkler]

I personally would love to have an Interstate shield for my wall. I may have to see if a UK sign shop can fabricate me one as I expect transatlantic shipping is not cheap!

Actually, shipping tends to be fairly cheap from the US to the UK (and western Europe in general).  It is in the other direction that the costs become back-breaking.  I think the costs are more likely to come from the size and packing requirements (Interstate shields are 18" x 18" minimum, with 24" x 24" more likely from a US fabricator, plus the sign itself has three points and is on flat sheet aluminum which must not be bent in transit or subjected to sharp compressive force on any of its surface area).

If you go for local fabrication, UK signs green (Worboys green) is not the same as US federal green, but I would expect the blue to match.  I'm not sure about the red though.

[RJ145]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Never thought of collecting runway furniture before. Do you have any of the red/green runway end lights? Any taxiway or runway identification signs?

Not at the moment. Hopefully some day. I've found some runway/taxiway signs in the past, but all are too far away and sellers were unwilling to ship.

I'm trying to get my hands on some green semi-flush end lights at the moment.

Some day when I have property that will accommodate it I hope to use some of the elevated lights, and possibly the semi-flush lights as pathway lighting, to give a nice effect.

I once almost drove to South Carolina for an auction of 100 blue and white elevated edge lights for $50, but I couldn't justify taking the time off or putting wear on my car. But I came very close to it.

[Ian]

My own collection, as a highways engineer, is stuff I've removed myself on the grounds of it being either wrong or out of date. Therefore my box of signs is quite dull...

You should think of selling some of the signs you take down off the highway

[Alps]

My own collection, as a highways engineer, is stuff I've removed myself on the grounds of it being either wrong or out of date. Therefore my box of signs is quite dull...

You should think of selling some of the signs you take down off the highway

Yeah, wrong and out of date aren't as bad as you think.  There's not one sign on my wall that doesn't fit one of those two criteria.  Though from a quick check, I don't think any of them meet both.

[RJ145]

Got a couple of new signs for my collection today. An Arizona SR186 sign, and a Business loop 10 sign. The great thing about ADOT signs that I noticed is that they put an inventory sticker on them, which states date of manufacture, and the city it was shipped to.

[RJ145]

New signs:

[Ian]

Looks good! I like the AZ 186 shield.

[RJ145]

Yeah its got a lot of character to it. I looked up the pictures of that road on here, but that one must have been taken down before hand. Another reason I love this site, I can see exactly where it came from.