All 12 sockets needed the sealant pryed out with a flat head screw driver, then drill the solder out of the rivits, pull out the old wire and replace with new wiring and solder in place. Repeat 24 times. Not as easy as it sounds as the existing solder was difficult to heat up with oxidation. But it got done!
I see this was originally green. Are you going to keep this yellow or is this being restored? It's in remarkable shape for its age! (at least it appears that way in the pic).
It was factory green. That was the standard color provided by GE in the 1940s. The yellow was brushed on and there are at least a few coats. Fortunately the brush job is pretty good. Its not common to see decent brush paint jobs on signals...especially that quick field maintenance. The signal that I keep will be left as is with this photo of the exact signal framed next to it
That's fascinating to see old stuff like this! I work on industrial machinery and come across stuff from the 40-50's and it's really cool to examine up close how things were made back then. In many ways, so different and even higher quality. As for wiring, that's always problematic. I do like modern MTW over the old cloth wiring in many cases. Even the early generations of MTW has ridiculously thick insulation though, lol.
Looks like the now hard to find GE cereal bowl reflectors are still in great shape too.
Yeah, not that big of a fan of cloth wiring in my signals. Although the only signal that had cloth wiring was my Eaglelux. I replaced the sockets and wires with a set pulled from a newer Eagle but eventually, I'll get around to rewiring using the original sockets.
The cereal bowls just has some minor discoloration. Cloth wiring works well....when its fresh. A few other of my signals use it. This wire was definitely past its prime. I am surprised it didnt burn up in service
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Yeah, not that big of a fan of cloth wiring in my signals. Although the only signal that had cloth wiring was my Eaglelux. I replaced the sockets and wires with a set pulled from a newer Eagle but eventually, I'll get around to rewiring using the original sockets.