I recollect the trucks as light olive drab, same color as the neighborhood mail storage boxes.
Stop signs were octagonal with yellow background/black lettering until 1954, when the red w/white lettering was adopted.
Hi,
In the Chicago area, mail trucks and mail boxes (one on most major intersections) were olive drab - more on the dark side. I don't recall the painting to red/white/blue until the '60s.
Stop signs were octagonal and red with black letters. Trust me on this, for I got caught running a few of them.
For the most part, the big cities in the '50s were colored to be functional rather than pretty.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Shilshole wrote:I recollect the trucks as light olive drab, same color as the neighborhood mail storage boxes.Stop signs were octagonal with yellow background/black lettering until 1954, when the red w/white lettering was adopted.
I checked the code book (forgot the actual name) at the library once because we had the STOP sign discussion at the club. According to the Federal Code for highway signs Shilshole is correct regarding the colors and shape.
Per
Some interesting photos and info on Postal trucks can be found in the link below. It's a flash page and a bit tricky to navigate. To find the trucks, go to the transportation section:
Link
The closest model for the 50s in their collection would be the Ford F3. It's in olive drab paint.
Another good link is this one on toy mail trucks:
Toy Mail Trucks
What color to use for mail trucks has been a difficult search for me. It started when I was looking to see if these trucks (truck 1)(truck 2) would be suitable for my G scale layout. The eagle logo on the first truck is too modern, but I never did find out exactly when the switch to red/white/and blue paint occured.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
marthastrainyard wrote: Shilshole wrote: I recollect the trucks as light olive drab, same color as the neighborhood mail storage boxes.Stop signs were octagonal with yellow background/black lettering until 1954, when the red w/white lettering was adopted.I checked the code book (forgot the actual name) at the library once because we had the STOP sign discussion at the club. According to the Federal Code for highway signs Shilshole is correct regarding the colors and shape.Per
Shilshole wrote: I recollect the trucks as light olive drab, same color as the neighborhood mail storage boxes.Stop signs were octagonal with yellow background/black lettering until 1954, when the red w/white lettering was adopted.
As a general rule this is correct but there wasn't as much standardization as there is today. There were minor variations depending on locale. For example, in Omaha where I grew up, the stop signs were octagonal and yellow but there was a rectangular white section in the middle with black letters. While the red stop sign standard was adopted in 1954, the old signs were not replaced over night. It was done over a period of years. I remember the old yellow sign being replaced at the end of our block on 41st and California but I can't say exactly what the date was. My earliest vivid memory was my 3rd birthday in November of 1954 and I remember the old yellow stop sign was a familiar sight at the time it was replaced. My guess would be about 1957.
jecorbett wrote: marthastrainyard wrote: Shilshole wrote: I recollect the trucks as light olive drab, same color as the neighborhood mail storage boxes.Stop signs were octagonal with yellow background/black lettering until 1954, when the red w/white lettering was adopted.I checked the code book (forgot the actual name) at the library once because we had the STOP sign discussion at the club. According to the Federal Code for highway signs Shilshole is correct regarding the colors and shape.Per As a general rule this is correct but there wasn't as much standardization as there is today. There were minor variations depending on locale. For example, in Omaha where I grew up, the stop signs were octagonal and yellow but there was a rectangular white section in the middle with black letters. While the red stop sign standard was adopted in 1954, the old signs were not replaced over night. It was done over a period of years. I remember the old yellow sign being replaced at the end of our block on 41st and California but I can't say exactly what the date was. My earliest vivid memory was my 3rd birthday in November of 1954 and I remember the old yellow stop sign was a familiar sight at the time it was replaced. My guess would be about 1957.
The white band unser the word "STOP" was listed in the code book as being one version of the sign. And you are right that the following version of the code specifically allowed the old signs to remain.
Dan
What about rr stop signs
Alex
Alton Fan,
I am not saying you didn't see a yellow stop sign in the Chicago area in the '60s. However, the "rules of the road" indicated all mandatory signs (i.e. stop) were to be red. Yellow indicated warning signs. It could be that you saw a yellow sign indicating a warning that a stop sign was down the road.
mobilman44 wrote:Alton Fan, I am not saying you didn't see a yellow stop sign in the Chicago area in the '60s. However, the "rules of the road" indicated all mandatory signs (i.e. stop) were to be red. Yellow indicated warning signs. It could be that you saw a yellow sign indicating a warning that a stop sign was down the road.Mobilman44
As I mentioned above, the rules seem to have been pretty lax when it came to replace the old yellow signs with the new red signs, so it is very possible that there were yellow signs still in use in the 60's or even in the 70's.
Jeff But it's a dry heat!