Old speed limit signs: colours?

[NSEFAN]

Hi,

I've recently bought some old speed limit signs. They were from the ECML, and came from a now demolished box between Hartlepool and Seaton Carew. They are 15, 35 and 70 mph.

They are in a bit of a need of repainting. Obviously, I can make out some of the colours, but I was just thinking if there are any exact colours they should be in? Or does it not really matter too much?

(Note to the mods: Hope this is posted in the right place!)

 

[driver9000]

They should be yellow. Not sure on the actual shade, but I think it could be the same shade as the warning panel on the trains.

 

[mrcheek]

I think Del Trotter had a few cans of that stuff...

 

[507 001]

warning panel yellow with a black post i think, could be wong though.

 

[FusionRail]

You want to be careful with those.. Im assuming you have the correct documentation from Network Rail to say their yours? Otherwise you can get done if your caught, as you could have stolen them.

 

[Phoenix]

You want to be careful with those.. Im assuming you have the correct documentation from Network Rail to say their yours? Otherwise you can get done if your caught, as you could have stolen them.

As long as he keeps them in the Garden he is alright I think.
But I don't think they even want those signs anymore on the network as I have seen them dissapearing.

On a separate note I managed to buy a speed limit sign but it was a sqaure black panel with a white circle and a black 90 in the middle of it I think it used to be inserted into a lamp speed limit box can anyone confirm this.

 

[robvulpes]

On a separate note I managed to buy a speed limit sign but it was a sqaure black panel with a white circle and a black 90 in the middle of it I think it used to be inserted into a lamp speed limit box can anyone confirm this.

Sounds like it came from an old-style temporary speed restriction advance warning board.

Rob

 

[driver9000]

Phoenix: It will be an advance warning board for a TSR from around the 1950s/1960s. The commencment board was the same but the letter C in the circle. Obviously yours is an advance warning of a 90mph TSR.

 

[AlexS]

Stencil speed limit indicators are not used for reinstallation and I believe renewal now - group standard requires retroreflective signs.

Therefore I can't see NR being too bothered!

 

[Phoenix]

Ah right cheers guy's for all the help I was told it is from the ECML not to far off Grantham.

 

[FusionRail]

Stencil speed limit indicators are not used for reinstallation and I believe renewal now - group standard requires retroreflective signs.

Therefore I can't see NR being too bothered!

Same goes for 4 aspect colour lights, they are for renewal and youll get a right bollocking from the BTP/NR if found with those. Same goes for ay railway property, the only way legally to get rid of it off the railway is for NR to dispose of it, or give it to someone along with the official paperwork.

Dont even try to sell them on ebay, as the NR peole who look through ebay for any railway items will soon pick up on it.

 

[P156KWJ]

Same goes for 4 aspect colour lights, they are for renewal and youll get a right bollocking from the BTP/NR if found with those. Same goes for ay railway property, the only way legally to get rid of it off the railway is for NR to dispose of it, or give it to someone along with the official paperwork.

Dont even try to sell them on ebay, as the NR peole who look through ebay for any railway items will soon pick up on it.

interesting how some guy was selling the bogies of an APT then

 

[FusionRail]

interesting how some guy was selling the bogies of an APT then

Thats a slightly different thing. The APT isnt owned/used by network rail.
Also it has nothing to do with track/railway objects.

Signals, speed boards, magnets, sleepers, point motors, NR corporate clothing (not TOC uniform) etc are however.

 

[AlexS]

You won't find A.N.Other gimp carrying away a point motor however.

A speed limit stencil on the other hand can be carried in one hand (although it might bounce off the ground if it still has the spike on the bottom!).

There's very little to tell between NR ones and ones that have been got rid of historically anyway, I've never seen asset stickers on them as far as I remember!

 

[metrocammel]

Same goes for 4 aspect colour lights, they are for renewal and youll get a right bollocking from the BTP/NR if found with those. Same goes for ay railway property, the only way legally to get rid of it off the railway is for NR to dispose of it, or give it to someone along with the official paperwork.

Dont even try to sell them on ebay, as the NR peole who look through ebay for any railway items will soon pick up on it.

You can't really get a bollocking, unless they can prove the identity of it, and find it has been stolen.
For all we know, the speed restriction signs may have been removed and sold legitimately when Network Rail / Railtrack was a twinkle in the governments eye! If you went to collectors corner- they had lots of 'railwayana', including signals etc, most of which didn't have paperwork, but were probably disposed of through the correct channels by British Rail. So basically, unless it's easily identifiable as being stolen, it's unlikely that Network Rail / BTP would have a case.

I found it quite amusing when someone tried to sell 'Plymouth- City of Discovery' HST nameplates on Ebay once. Now, if they aren't identifiable, I don't know what is! Needless to say, I think they got visit from the law...

 

[FusionRail]

Well, things have changed. The BTP/NR are interested in such crimes, and this is from my own experience, and from management level at NR. I do have 2 4 aspect signals, ground aspect signals and other bits and bobs and I can assure you its not taken lightly.

They have all been taken away and confiscated until time arises when official paper work can be sorted out and they have been signed off. I even have a letter saying as such.

I also believe that speed limit signs are quite easily identifiable as railway property as they are reasonably obvious.

"Collectors corner"? Yes your talking about things like nameplates, which are sold off. Bardic lamps, are not NR property. They are BR and are quite common to buy. Tail lamps are the same. Etc Etc.

 

[metrocammel]

"Collectors corner"? Yes your talking about things like nameplates, which are sold off. Bardic lamps, are not NR property. They are BR and are quite common to buy. Tail lamps are the same. Etc Etc.

That's the point you seem to be missing!

As well as 'nameplates etc', Collectors corner also sold ex- infrastructure items, such as old speed limit signs and signals. These would have been removed by BR in the 1980s, and could quite easily be identical to the signs that went onto become Railtrack property in the early-1990s. This would cause a headache for Network Rail/ BTP to solve- as how can you tell if a '75' sign has been removed legitimately in 1984, or stolen in 2004?! Unfortunately, you can't, and if everyone who'd bought infrastructure items in the past were contacted, and have their items confiscated, it would be ridiculous- and a waste of police time I would have thought!

 

[FusionRail]

Maybe so. Just ignore good advice.

 

[D9521]

Could even be off a pres railway signs like that i can't actually see how NR would proove its theirs in all fairness..

 

[FusionRail]

Could even be off a pres railway signs like that i can't actually see how NR would proove its theirs in all fairness..

But your just a know it all Pres railway volunteer..

Dont you think when items are transferred from the modern network to pres railways there is some sort of official paperwork involved..

 

[metrocammel]

But your just a know it all Pres railway volunteer..

Dont you think when items are transferred from the modern network to pres railways there is some sort of official paperwork involved..

Well, in a perfect world, everything would be black and white- and everything would have paperwork. Sadly, there is a big grey area, where 'paperwork' didn't exist in BR days. This is why rail employees cannot act like vigilantes if they see someone with a speed restriction sign- assuming it's stolen!
Thankfully, paperwork is more common these days, so I suppose you can assume if someone has an LED colour light signal in their house, it's probably stolen, or dropped off the back of a Network Rail lorry!!

 

[AlexS]

But your just a know it all Pres railway volunteer..

Dont you think when items are transferred from the modern network to pres railways there is some sort of official paperwork involved..

Not always, nope.

Depending on where you go preservations staff seem to be more capable than the so called professionals who do the job for money.

We were undertaken recently to clear a branchline in Nottinghamshire for NR, completely officially. In this case we were officially told to simply take what we wanted and leave the rest for the skip in the cess. No items removed were inventoried as far as I am aware, so I doubt NR themselves know which items have ended up in the skip or have been taken away for reuse. They didn't care what was done with them, only that they disappeared and ceased to trouble them with their new project for the line.

That included items like stencil speed limit signs.

Your case Rich is slightly different as you took an item marked for disposal from a skip and put it in your bedroom on an NR training site without asking anyone, which is bound to have got their backs up slightly!

 

[FusionRail]

Your case Rich is slightly different as you took an item marked for disposal from a skip and put it in your bedroom on an NR training site without asking anyone, which is bound to have got their backs up slightly!

And that story is totally incorrect.

Your case is slightly different, as in you have been given 'Duty of Care' of the items you are taking down, and have been asked to dispose of them.

 

[Craig]

A lot of old railway items can legally be bought as scrap, you'd be lucky enough to get a receipt never mind an itemised list of everything you've bought.

 

[WillPS]

Unless these items are numbered or something like that - there's no criminal case whatsoever. The law works so that Network Rail would have to provide evidence that these items were stolen - not that the individual must proove ownership of an item.

Network Rail probably don't like it, but there's nothing them or the BTP can do without proof of theft. As has been said before, it's not just them who have held responsibility for these items.