Industrial area street signs and "tow-away" zones... information please and pics would be good :-)

[Anonymous]

GREAT help so far! [8D][8D][8D]
I would like to revive this thread and plead for pics for myself and other "out of town" modellers who never get to see the real thing.

Thanks again in advance

Recent helpful answers on street signs (raised and painted on the pavement) started me wondering about both types of sign that might be specific to industrial areas - both public and private roads.

Then I wondered about tow-away zones... I don't think I've ever seen accessories to model one or seen one modelled. Then again... where do they occur??? Around fire houses? schools? Hospitals?
I beleieve that you are not permitted to park close to a fire plug... how close?

Now I'm wondering whether there are any specific signs to warn of track in pavement?

Thanks in advance for help [8D]

[ezielinski]

I think it is within 15 feet of fire hydrants (if you are going to have the sign, don't forget to paint the curb red).

As for tracks in the road, only a railroad crossing sign is used (the round yellow one).

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

As far as curb colors, they may be red or yellow, it depends on the local ordinances and preferences. Tow zone signs can be placed at other appropriate places such as near intersections, at places where street trackage is near the curb, etc. If street running is involved, crossbucks are occasionally in place facing the cross streets at intersections.

[wt259]

Tow-away zones are also used in front of buildings with high volume pedestrian traffic, so one by a school or hospital would be right. Fire houses and police stations also. Traffic engineers usually place tow-away zones close to major intersections, like two car lengths from the corner, for visibility.

[tomikawaTT]

In an industrial area, where parked cars might interfere with maneuvering trucks, entire streets can be marked as tow-away zones.

Curbs are painted red (no parking, no standing) at fireplugs, bus stops, close to driveways and grade crossings, in front of fire exits from buildings and anywhere else that a stopped vehicle would interfere with normal or emergency traffic. Yellow curbs usually mean no parking, but stops for deliveries or pickups are permitted. (Tow-away zones often but not always, have yellow curbs.) Parking is generally permitted where curbs aren't painted, but there may be restrictions (2-hour parking, no parking 6AM - 9AM...) which are posted on rectangular signs adjacent to the curb. The same design of sign, with either lettering, international traffic symbols or both, is used to identify no parking, no standing and tow-away zones. "No parking, here to (corner, tracks, driveway) is a much-used variant.

The same kind of signage, for the same reasons, is common in business sections and downtown urban settings.

Chuck

[Jetrock]

Don't forget white zones for passenger loading and unloading (common in front of hotels, restaurants and churches) and blue zones for handicapped parking. These are all modern uses, of course--earlier than the 1970s or so you wouldn't see these. Doesn't Blair Line do a series of streetsigns from various eras?

[Anonymous]

When curbs are painted (red, or whatever) is the actual curb painted or the road surface just outside of the curb...or can it be either depending on local practice?

Thanks for all the help.

Any chance of some pics of examples PLEASE! That would be most useful...

Thanks again.

[Jetrock]

The curb, not the road surface. Curbs get re-done a lot less often than roads get re-paved.

[leighant]

I just today modeled a "red curb" no parking zone restricted to parking school buses in front of a school. In my case, it is on a street which has curb and sidewalk only for about 90 feet length in front of the school, the rest of the street/drive has no sidewalk and gravel shoulders. Will have I should say.

I made the street out of .01" styrene sheet (for N scale). To make the painting easier and neater I used a separate piece of styrene .04" x .04" for the curb and painted it separately. The nearest color to red I had was "tomato spice" craft paint but colors change and shift and get weathered....

(I had an injury a couple days ago which left me idled, immobilized and on crutches. I can't drive to get supplies, must do all my painting with acrylic paints in the house, and must put a bag around my neck to carry supplies from the train room to the kitchen table since I cannot carry much while driving crutches. Hence the paint compromise...)

I then used .04" sheet styrene cut a scale 5' wide for the sidewalk and butted it against the curb. Looks good so far.

By the way, I will have school buses parked and no kids at school because my layout represents the time period when I was a schoolboy. I didn't dislike school, but I got to see trains and play and explore when school was out. So school will always be out on the layout.
There will be a flagpole for the American flag but no flag, because school is out.

I DO have flags flying at the courthouse and the post office. With 48 stars, since this is a 1950s layout.

I will be posting a picture in a few days on the www.atlasrr.com Sunday Nigh Foto Fun. Maybe I can also post it here if this thread is still active.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by leighant


(I had an injury a couple days ago which left me idled, immobilized and on crutches. I can't drive to get supplies, must do all my painting with acrylic paints in the house, and must put a bag around my neck to carry supplies from the train room to the kitchen table since I cannot carry much while driving crutches. Hence the paint compromise...)

OW! I feel for you! That is SO frustrating!
Thanks for the post... I wasn't even aware of the flags issue [:I].
[Here if someone put up a flag outside a school except when the queen was going to pass some left-wing counciller would almost certainly scream that it was racist. For the World Cup (REAL football... soccer to you guys) some English councils have banned their vehicles from having flags on the grounds of "Health and Safety"... and an Assistant Police Commisioner in Wales has said that English flags shouldn't be flown in Wales as they "might" be provoctaive to the Welsh. So... tell a Taff not to fly his dragon next time he comes to Twickenham??? That should be a laugh![(-D][(-D]
The help I get here is really great. Not only that but it cheered me up this morning after exploding at the Utility Company. [The problem is NOT too many people phoning to pay it is too few staff being provided to take the calls[banghead][censored][banghead][censored][banghead] ]

Anyway... hope you recover soon. I will look out for your pics [8D]

[tjsmrinfo]

Ive lived in the same house for over 30 yrs and have a fire hydrant outside my window and the curd IS NOT painted at all, also have 1 a half block away also not painted

tom

[Anonymous]

As an ex signalman (UK towerman) I really like this sign ...

http://www.dhke.com/schs/ejesign.jpg

[eridani]

Don't forget flags on hydrants.[:)]

Sorry couldn't resist, but seriously, in areas where there is heavy snow, you fill find metal flags, usually painted red, constructed so that the pole/support can be added between the hydrant outlet cover and its outlet as winter approaches. The idea is that the flag will stick above the snow (if there is a blizzard or even the snow from a street cleaning snowblower covers the hydrant ) and then the firefighters can locate the hydrant.

RR

[Anonymous]

Any chance of some pics to provide examples anyone PLEASE![:)][:)]