I'd like to know what was wrong with this arm lol. A-frames seem a little overkill for lightweight LEDs. Connecticut Light & Power used big steel A-frames (like 20ft long) with 250W HPS M-400R2s and AE 25s. Now THAT's a job for an A-frame lol. Those things sag big time too. But CL&P still keeps those droopy rusty arms. They used almost all aluminum arms here so they basically remain ageless. Many are from the 60s, 70s, and 80s and still look like new. Narragansett Electric did use 4ft steel arms back in the 40s and 50s. The few remaining ones are very rusty. They also used 6ft steel arms in the 90s to replace 4ft incandescent arms but those were all galvanized so they still look relatively new. Other than that all aluminum though.

I never understood why they changed out the arms, these 8' arms were more than sufficient for the road. I mean that little LED fixture probably weighs only 5 pounds lol. Some of the other streets that were changed out, had the original arms left! Lol.

I've seen Grid use 8' steel arms in a few areas during the 90's and I've also seen 6' steel up sweeps in Grid territory as well.

Narragansett Electric used this style arm a lot to replace incandescents in the 90s. They also used similar looking arms like this, which have a higher rise. I've also see those curved steels arms you're talking about. Like this, right? They have a flat piece against the pole. These are the only three steel arms they used here aside from ancient incandescent arms. All installed before NGrid took over.

This style arm was super common in Mass Electric and Narragansett Electric in the 1980s. Most had these FCO M-250A2 FCOs, which had 240V 100/175W ballasts with 120V PC sockets. Really cool lights! Not many left now.

NECo also loved these tapered arms from about 1968 through the late 70s. They used them mostly in 6ft and longer 10ft ones. There are also uncommon 8ft ones like this one with its original OV-25!

In conjunction with the tapered arms they also loved to use 12ft truss arms. I've seen a few 10ft ones too and 15ft. The earliest truss arms NECo used were tapered and held OV-25 flatbottoms, so they're from the late 50s or early 60s.

And of course NGrid's current arm is the HAPCO 2" upsweep aluminum. If you look at the M-250R2, you'll notice it's aimed way up and tilted toward the camera. That's ALWAYS how NGrid installs lights on new arms. They're always tilted up and to one side. Probably because they bolt the light to the arm on the ground before putting it on the pole. Looks kinda silly IMO. You can clearly see it from this shot. It's not a little bit off, it's WAY off like they didn't even try lol.

Yes those are the exact upsweeps I'm talking about. I've only seen them on Grid poles. Those other steel cantilever arms you showed are the exact ones my company uses today.

Ah yeah they're not super common around here. Warwick, RI has quite a few though. One arm type I forgot to link was the 1-1/4" upsweep aluminum. Those were used until the 70s for 1000L incandescent lights. In the mid-late 70s and early 80s many got M-250R1s installed on them and in the 90s most gor M-250R2s installed on them. They're nice arms too; they don't sag down from the weight. Only thing I notice is the lights bounce around on them on very windy days.