You can see some LEDs on the corners of this sign. I've seen a few stop signs mounted like this in rural Oklahoma before that light up at night. One such intersection even had the regular flashing signals in addition to the sign.
Those LED stop signs are made by TAPCO out in Wisconsin. They are $1,700 per sign. That's insane for a sign that flashes but you gotta pay for the electronics to run them as well. A standard stop sign is only about $200 for a high reflective grade, large size.
Hey Nick, are you familiar with "TOD" branded signals? I saw a traffic signal with TOD stamped in a rectangle on the backside of a black 12-12-12 signal in an antique car store. I asked if i could buy the visors but he said no.
Did it look similar to this one . This is marked LFE TCD... Laboratory for Electronics Traffic Control Division. LFE's traffic division was called "Automatic Signal" which merged with Eagle Signal in 1991.
You know, my black signal that I obtained from Jacksonville, FL looks like that...can't remember for sure though, will have to dig it (and my others) out tomorrow from the shed.
@ Nick: yes that's it! I thought it said "TOD AUTOMATIC SIGNAL" The LFE logo was no where on it though nor did it mention anything other than "TOD AUTOMATIC SIGNAL". It had cut-away visors and was all black.
That seems like the one you saw was a very late model in the production. Here is a little history...
When Mark IV bought Eagle Signal from Gulf and Western Industries and Automatic Signal from LFE, the housing molds for the signal in the link above were sold to Winko-Matic. They removed all the LFE/ Automatic Signal logos and replaced it with "WM". Winkomatic only made these for a short time and then the molds were destroyed. The one you saw was most likely in logo changing.
ahh that makes sense. about what year would you guess it to be from? Also, does someone still make this style signal or one similar to it? I saw a pair of spot replacement signals here and was surprised that they weren't siemens signals.
That is the plastic version of the LFE head that is still in production. Its being made by Eagle/Siemens. The logos still say LFE because the molds were never updated. These are equipped with the same guts as the DURASIG and same lenses and visors. LFE was a big company with many electrical products. But they went out of business.
Toronto occasionally uses the poly LFE signals for spot replacements, I know of some installed within the last couple of years that replaced some old CGE 8-8-8 signal heads.
There's also some older aluminium LFE signal heads here but they all have the "Winged Tire" logo instead of the newer LFE logo on it.
Just dug up my signals out of the shed and my black one is in fact one of those Eagle/Siemens LFE models with the conical backs. Will post pics shortly (when I can figure out how).
@ Nick, ah i guess it makes sense for it to be an Eagle/Siemens signal since that's all that RIDOT really seems to use now. I wonder why they used polycarbonate sections instead of aluminum like they normally do...
When Mark IV bought Eagle Signal from Gulf and Western Industries and Automatic Signal from LFE, the housing molds for the signal in the link above were sold to Winko-Matic. They removed all the LFE/ Automatic Signal logos and replaced it with "WM". Winkomatic only made these for a short time and then the molds were destroyed. The one you saw was most likely in logo changing.
There's also some older aluminium LFE signal heads here but they all have the "Winged Tire" logo instead of the newer LFE logo on it.
Just dug up my signals out of the shed and my black one is in fact one of those Eagle/Siemens LFE models with the conical backs. Will post pics shortly (when I can figure out how).