Does anybody know why peel region made this change?

[Model25FanForever]

I don't understand why Peel Region stopped making the signals hang down.  They've used these centered ones for at least 5-10 years here. They look tacky on some poles. I just wanted to know why they made this change.

[joe_347V]

York Region changed over from the cushioned hangers (left pic) to the plumbizer mount (right pic) around ten years ago too.

I think they changed them over for several reasons, the hanger mounts get misaligned easier and sometimes swings up in strong winds which reduces the signal visibility. The plumbizer also reduces stresses at the top section as the signal is supported from the centre instead of the top. The old aluminium heads didn't have a problem with this but the plastic heads that they use now has less tensile strength and break easier so they switched the mounting. The final reason is that the with the plumbizer, signals not in use can be rotated around the arm to face down so the driver's don't see the not in use head. Signals mounted on the old hangers had to be covered up with burlap.

When York Region switched to the plumbizer mount around ten years ago they mounted the signal arms lower on the pole to account for the different mounting position but they didn't do that for poles that had a fixed arm position.

I prefer the older hangers too, on some arms like the double guy arms the new mount looks really tacky. 

[Model25FanForever]

Thanks Joe. I have actually wondered my whole life here why they changed them over. I have seen one fall off a pole due to a thunderstorm. Strong wind gusts broke it off. I do prefer the hangers over the plumbizer. I saw in Bolton, they use plumbizers on double guy arms. It looks horrible to say the least.

Some of them are really odd. Its like they removed the hanger mounts and then put it back on as a plumbizer. I never saw what they did but I bet you have seen it before.    

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=Williams+parkway+and+dixie&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x882b161e7a572205:0x480e82df2b4f8aaf,Dixie+Rd+%26+Williams+Pkwy,+Brampton,+ON&gl=ca&ei=2ffQUYqND6m2yAGmgIHYAQ&ved=0CC8Q8gEwAA

[joe_347V]

No problem, the stuff I got was from what other collectors said and some of my own guesses.

The intersection you linked too has the old CGE aluminium heads (which never originally used plumbizers from what I know) so I guess someone took the time the time to uncouple the red from the amber and stick the plumbizer in. I have no clue why though and plus half the CGEs there still sport the original hangers. 

When York Region retrofitted their signals in 2003-2006, the poly incandescent heads got LEDs and stayed on hangers (few got switched to plumbizers) but the CGE and Eagle Mark IV aluminium heads were scrapped and replaced with Eagle Durasigs on plumbizers.

Even though the plumbizers are supposed to be better, I still like the hangers too. They look better too. Toronto still uses them for 12-8-8 heads and some 12-12-12 heads. And plus plumbizers slapped on to double guy arms look like wrong. Markham has some intersections like that.

[Model25FanForever]

I still see a lot of the hangers. They are disappearing really fast and Plumbized signals are the majority here for a while.  Most of the intersections with the original hangers got replaced by LED plumbizers with Cooper OVX's. York region I don't see CGE hangers there at all. Toronto uses both, except they only use plumbizers for advanced turns. Thanks for answering my question though.

[joe_347V]

Yeah, Toronto does use the plumbizer but only on 12-12-12-12 turn signals and on some 12-12-12 heads.

Here's one of the only pics of a York Region I found before the LED retrofit was done:

Note the hanger mounted CGE signals, incandescent lights, and CGE two section ped signals.

Now, it looks like this:

All the old CGE heads were replaced with Eagle and Fortran heads and the pedestrian signal was orginally replaced with a single section Eagle which later got a Fortran countdown section added in. The right hand light which had a hanger also got swapped with a plumbizer. (Click pic for Streetview)

Also of note are these two intersections in York Region which had hanger mounted CGE heads for almost 10 years after the others were scrapped. They only stayed until recently was because the signals were under MTO jurisdiction (who later retrofitted them) at the time of York Region's signal replacement. That stretch of Hwy. 7 is now under York Region so when the second round of retrofits came last year, they were removed and replaced with Fortran heads.

[Model25FanForever]

The 12-12-12-12 turn signals were put higher because of trucks getting too close to hitting them. I see intersections like that older picture with the CGE's still up and untouched by workers. I think they look a lot nicer than the Fortran and Eagle signals. There aren't many CGE's left here. Especially the Ped signals. Most got replaced with Fortran or Eagle Signals. I thought they scrapped them all at the same time. 

[joe_347V]

Yeah York Region scrapped almost all their CGE signals the same time they did their LED retrofit. Only CGEs left are the flashing beacons and most of those are LED now.

Anyway I think Mississauga and Toronto still have a fair bit of old CGE signals still in use. 

The old CGEs were probably better built than the Eagle Durasig and Fortran signals too. I see some from the 50s and 60s still in use.

[Model25FanForever]

Brampton still has some old CGE's in use. The look of the CGE ped signals are so much better than the Fortran and Eagle Durasig. I live near a a few CGE's across the road all in the center. There is even a b2255 there.

[joe_347V]

Yeah, the CGE ped signals had a sleeker design than the new signals they've put up here (especially the mixed Eagle/Fortran ones ugh). Pretty well built too, mine weighs around 35 pounds with glass lenses.

There's only CGE beacons left in my neighbourhood, all the CGE ped signals and traffic lights got scrapped in the mid 2000s.    

[Model25FanForever]

Yeah I don't think I have ever seen CGE signals and ped signals in York Region. Barrie still uses CGE signals. I think only signals.

[joe_347V]

I recall seeing some incandescent arrows in Barrie too, I wonder if they're still there.

[Model25FanForever]

They might be I think they're yellows are still Incandescent.

[joe_347V]

Toronto also still has a ton of incandescent yellow lights and flasher beacons. They're slowly changing them over to LED yellows though.

[Model25FanForever]

I don't recall seeing anymore incandescent reds or greens. My street has LED flasher beacons. The old ones are still Incandescent. I only know of 3 that have been converted to LED since 2005.