The Traffic Signal Museum

First we will start off in the Detroit Metro area. Here are three signals that I never thought I would find in this area! Crouse Hinds Four Way Caution/Stop beacons. I found these in the nearby cities of Hazel Park and Ferndale on April 14th, 2002.

Here are two pictures of the first 4 way beacon I came across and a close up cropped from each picture.


Here is a picture and a close up crop of the second 4 way beacon I found. The beacon is still in service, I just snapped the picture between flashes.

UPDATE!

Some time during 2004 or 2005 the above beacons were updated with LED's. As of 7-16-2005, they were still in service, but the classic smiley lenses are all gone now.

Here is the last 4 way beacon I found. Unfortunately, this one is not in the best of shape. All of the visors are missing. I was very surprised to find an embossed STOP lens on the north side of the signal. I have never seen any of the command lenses in Michigan. Another unfortunate thing was that the lens was cracked, but it still was cool to actually find one of these near where I live.

On June 16, 2006, I took the pictures below of some Crouse Hinds 3 way 
beacons that are being used on Daimler Chrysler property in Warren.

The nearby city of Royal Oak, Michigan used to have many Eagle 4 ways, but they disappeared somewhere during the mid 1990's. On 4-27-2003, I went on a signal hunting road trip and I found the first three of five known Red Yellow Green 4 way signals still in use in Michigan! Two of these are in the town of Holly, Michigan which is about 10 or 15 minutes south of Flint. The other one is in a very small town called Metamora, Michigan which is 10 or 15 minutes east, southeast of Flint.

First, we will visit Holly, Michigan.

Once the 4 ways in Royal Oak disappeared, I didn't think I would ever see any 4 ways in use in Michigan again. This was a beautiful day as far as the weather was concerned, and a great day for a signalfan like myself!

These two Eagle 4 ways are at the intersection of North Holly Street and East Holly Street in downtown Holly, Michigan. The signals surrounding this area are all modern 12 inch poly signals, some already sporting LED upgrades, so it seems as if the town of Holly has intentionally kept these 2 classics in place in order to maintain some of the historical value of these signals. They are in fine shape and although the paint is somewhat faded, they were very clean almost as if they get a regular washing! My hat is off to the town of Holly for keeping these classic 4 ways in place.

UPDATE!

The following pictures of the Holly Eagles were taken on August 6, 2006...They are still in service!

Here's another UPDATE! I am sad to report that I have been told that the Holly 4 ways have been removed from service sometime in 2008.

I have never seen an intersection, other than in pictures, where there was only one signal for the entire intersection. If a bulb burns out, there is bound to be a problem! Still, this is a great find! My feeling is that this small town maintains this signal set up as a piece of history just like the town of Holly does with its twin Eagle 4 ways.

UPDATE!

 Regretfully, I must report that somewhere during the month of March, 2004, this classic signal was taken down and replaced with 2 modern 12" Durasig clusters.

Sargent Sowell signals were made with their own fixed timing controller built right into the base of the signal, so all that was needed was 120 volt AC and the means to hang the signal. I doubt that the controller in this signal was in use since a modern NEMA controller was mounted to a pole nearby.

First we visit the town of Croswell, Michigan.
I was surprised to find that there is another intersection with only one signal controlling the entire intersection. It seems that this may have been a very common practice in small Michigan towns back in the 50's and 60's.

Update! Here is a recent picture of this signal still in service taken in August 2021!

This is a Crouse Hinds type M signal. Crouse Hinds made the Art Deco era signal in the 40's and 50's, then this model followed it and ceased production somewhere in the early or mid-sixties.

As you can see, this signal is very unusual. It has the only full circle visors I have ever seen in Michigan on the yellow indications.

Again, this signal is the lone signal for the intersection! It was in flash mode when I found it. The side streets that it controls have such light traffic that it could be that this signal is always in flash mode!

UPDATE! Someone emailed me after seeing the pictures of this signal and they noticed a permanent stop sign in the picture on the sides of the signal that flash red. This means this signal must be in flash mode 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Why would they put up a full RYG signal and just use it as a flasher? Still, it was great to find yet another one of these classic signals in use.

This poor beacon has seen better days. The visors were a bit dented and the bottom has a piece missing on the far side. The controller for this beacon on the nearby pole was in excellent condition and almost looks brand new!

On 9-23-2003 I received an email containing pictures of another Eagle 4 way beacon similar to the one in Gilford.

This beacon is located in East Lansing. It sports tunnel visors as you can see below.

Thanks to G. A. Vandercook for the pictures of this classic!

The following signals are not true fixed face 4 ways, but they are a rare site these days, so I had to add them to this page.

In the area of Grand Blanc, Michigan, these old Eagle 12-8-8 clusters are still standing guard at the intersection of Torrey Rd. and West Grand Blanc Rd.

Thanks to the Internet, I have found 2 more 4 way signals in use in Michigan. A guy named Nathan Nietering, found 2 GE 4 ways in the small town of Cold Water, MI at the intersection of S. Clay and W. Pearl streets. Thanks Nathan for taking these great photos!

Update! On 10-16-2010, 3 other Detroit area Signalfans and myself went to Western Lower Michigan looking for some signals and we stopped in Coldwater, MI and found that these signals are still in service! Below are some photos that I took of them.

Here's another UPDATE! Sometime between 10-2010 and 7-2011, these classic 4 ways were removed from service.

And here is yet another UPDATE! After being in storage in Coldwater for 5 years, these classic signals were purchased in November 2016 by two Michigan collectors and will be preserved!

Here are the Cold Water GE signals after being picked up by a Michigan collector One has been sold to another collector..

Here is the one he kept on display.

After stopping in Coldwater, we headed west to Burr Oak, MI. At the intersection of S. Third St. and W. Front St. we found this Darley beacon, which still had its original Darley lenses!

Finally, we stopped in Hanover, MI on our way back home and found this Eagle 4 way beacon with tunnel visors at the intersection of E. State St. and S. Jackson St.

On 11-12-10, 3 other signalfans and myself when signal hunting in Flint and found a couple of 4 way beacons.

The first one is an Eagle with tunnel visors at the intersection of Iowa and Leith streets.

The other one is a Crouse Hinds D/DT at the intersection of Mason Street and Pasadena Avenue.

On 1-12-13 I received an email from Mike, of Oakland County, MI informing me of an Eagle 4 way beacon in use in the small town of Calumet, Michigan 
way up in the upper peninsula! Here are some pics of the beacon. Thanks Mike!!!

You can see vintage pictures of downtown scenes from many Michigan towns on this site.
Some pictures even contain some traffic signals and even some old 4 ways!!!

This page was originally posted on 6/3/2003.