Sorry, Dave, wasn't ARRRGGGHing at you - just at the beauracratic ineptitude that would require bi-lingual text signs to explain (supposedly) universally understood graphic signals. That and the fact that the government thinks we are so stupid that we cant cross a street with out a government instruction manual!
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
Okay... so the next part of this...
A rider comes into the station on a commuter shuttle (running left to right on the layout as seen from the viewing side) on his/her (PC) side there are warehouses...
1. Would these have been being turned into "lofts" by the 80s?
Getting off at the station he (Non PC) finds himself on an embankment and has to take a subway type stair to street level. (Oops... that's subway as in street underpass not Underground railway/metro/U Bahn).
2. How bad might the graffitti be in the mid 80s?
Coming out the station front... horrible glass fronted 70s Amtrak thing... He has the buses in front of him, shops to his left and right for just a couple of fronts and then the main drag across his path.
If he does a U turn he can walk back under the track.
3. If the track is on a string of bridges would there be small businesses under them - like we have here?
Straight on he can go down a narrow street opposite. To the left of this is a factory and to the right a demolition site. You may have figured that he is walking toward the viewer so he is about to fall off the edge of this world. It occured to me that, used on the front edge of a baseboard "background structures" like Walthers' "Fireproof storage and transfer" (933-3189) could make excellent demoition sites... most of the building has already been "removed"/knocked down...
So then the area might have some housing like their "Parkview terrcae Apartments" ((33-3176)... among other things...
Would housing mix with industrial/commercial/storage like this... at least as the area changed character? Bothe changing structures in some places and usage in others?
TIA
Wow! Just three & half hours and all this good stuff! Thanks all!
I probably should have said "mid 80s west-of Chicago" as usual but the answers are great anyway.
One thing they remind me of...
When I was in Yugoslavia in about 1969 the pedestrian lights showed white outlines. The "Dont walk" was like a cross between a skittle and a Christmas tree and the "Walk" light was like the sign on a "Gents" door. They were "Walk" at the top - reverse to our normal of Red "Don't walk" figure very like the "Gents" sign and Green profile figure clearly striding/leaning forward "Walk" sign. Don't know about anyone else but to me that Gents sign of a head-on figure could be read as a profile of someone walking... some nice stranger reached out and grabbed me and pulled me back from a rather large truck.
Writing this makes me realise just how hard it is to describe the images with the meanings in just words... so please don't "AAAAARGH"! too loud with Charlie Brown! (Without looking at an old sign that you see every day try to describe it... it's amazingly hard... this also goes to noticing the detail that we put into our layouts... there are so many things we "see" every day that we don't notice at all.
It's really weird to recall this after all those years! All my posts here...and one or two other things... might never have happened.
Anyway... thanks for the great answers... keep them coming please!
millrace wrote: A typical small town American Downtown: http://www.enlasnubes.org/aug2004/Maquoketa/pages/0069_downtown_Maquoketa.html Well-constructed buildings clustered close together along a network of streets that is conducive to pedestrians. Usually serves as the traditional "public face" of a community A typical look at the montronsity that has, unfortunately, replaced downtown: http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/files/reno.jpg A landscape of look-alike backlit plastic corporate logos and oversized boxes filled with chain stores. Dependent on automobile travel and generally hostile to any other form of transportation.
A typical small town American Downtown:
http://www.enlasnubes.org/aug2004/Maquoketa/pages/0069_downtown_Maquoketa.html
Well-constructed buildings clustered close together along a network of streets that is conducive to pedestrians. Usually serves as the traditional "public face" of a community
A typical look at the montronsity that has, unfortunately, replaced downtown:
http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/files/reno.jpg
A landscape of look-alike backlit plastic corporate logos and oversized boxes filled with chain stores. Dependent on automobile travel and generally hostile to any other form of transportation.
reno.jpg can't be too terribly hostile to pedestrian traffic. There's a NO (raised, closed hand) showing on the pedestrian signal box attached to the traffic light pole in the photo.
One variant sometimes seen is a pushbutton operated signal at a point where there is no intersection. There will be standard three-color traffic signals positioned to control the motorized traffic and box-style pedestrian signals facing along the crosswalk.
The latest signal sequence here in Sin City goes - green traffic signal, green "walking man." "Walking man changes to yellow "hand," flashing once a second, with countdown from 20 to 1 alongside. Yellow traffic signal and red 'hand.' Red traffic signal.
Hope that didn't confuse the issue too greatly
Chuck
First, one thing you should know is that New Yorkers don't pay attention to traffic signals - pedestrian or otherwise.
Second, you've hit one of my "pet peeves".
When I was a young man growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the late 50s and 60s the larger towns and, of courese, the cities had "walk/don't walk" signals at intersections. The electic signs lit up with either WALK (in white lights) or "DON'T WALK" (in redish/orange) as appropriate.
Simple? Yeah, too simple!
In the late 70s, early 80s it occured to the powers that be that not everybody in this grand land could read English. So the text signals were replaced with graphic ones. For "Walk" there was a simple graphic of a man walking (in white lights) and for "Don't Walk" there is a graphic of an upheld hand (in red/orange).
But wait, it gets better!
Somewhere in the era of politcal correctness that was the 1990s (or thereabouts) it was decided that the graphic pedestrian signals were not good enough. Some people still did not "get" it. Nowadays, these graphic signals are supplemented with text signage (usually on the pole that supports the signal) explaining the meanings of the graphic signals in both English and Spanish!
In the words of Charlie Brown, "AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"
They're all over the place around here in Canada, mostly push button activated as noted. Saw some while in the US this year that had digital count down timers, giving the amount of time left to get across the street.
Some busy intersections have sound signals too, for vision impaired people. The ones around here sound like "cuckoo, cuckoo".
One day a guy asked me what the sounds are for, and I told they were for blind people, and he said he was amazed that blind people were allowed to drive! (just a joke I heard somewhere that seemed appropriate here!)
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
For the most part pedestrian crosswalk signals are in areas where both vehicular and pedestrian traffic is heavy. It allows time for pedestrians to get across busy intersections. Most, I've seen, seem to be with traffic signals. Sometimes on the same pole.
Occasionaly, there have been pedestrian only crosswalks(schools), usually like above, due to heavy pedstrian traffic. A lot depends on size of "downtown", amount of traffic, and how many people got hit by traffic.
As for a model. I don't know, check Walthers.
A question that might be of interest to other foreigners as well...
We've all seen the pedestrian crossing lights in the movies and on TV...
How common are they?
Are they in all major cities?
Do they appear in towns?
Are they just at crossroads with traffic lights?
I'm planning a downtown (I think... what exactly is "downtown? ... I'm planning edge of industrial slighty run-down suburb - but "brownstones" (so long as they're not just New York) not low rise. [Boy is a "foriegn" country complicated???] - passenger/commuter station as part of the next layout. Out front there will be a bus turn-around/stop and a crossroads between a very small side street and a main-ish drag -with switching lines down the middle -
Now the question is... how do all those nice commuters get from the station to their factories without getting run over?
Would there be pedestrian lights? In with traffic lights? Pedestrian without traffic lights?
And of course, the important question... does anyone make a model?