Motorway signs gone !!!

[GRPCruiserman]

I was travelling along the M55 from Preston towards Blackpool yesterday when I noticed the 'Lancaster Canal' sign has disappeared from it's posts as you cross the canal.

 

On the return journey I noticed that the sign has gone altogether from the Eastbound side.

 

Has this happened at other motorway/canal crossings?

 

I'm wondering if BW had to pay the highways agency for these signs and they've decided to economise; I finf it hard to beleive that the weather is responsible as the supporting posts are still there of the Westboard carriageway; and surely the sign is/was too large for anyone to steal.

 

Or is it health and safety gone mad to stop motorist distractions as they strain to view the canal whilst driving the car; using the sat nav; having a hands free phone call etc??

 

It's a poor do if we are to loose all the canal signs from road crossings.

 

I think there used to be a lovely old railway indicator on the Middlewich Arm of the Shropshire Union where the railway crosses it; I wonder if that's still there?

 

Anyone know the answer or has anyone noticed these signs disappearing elsewhere??

[carlt]

They are tiny, compared to some I had nicked when I was a highways engineer.

[MikeV]

I was travelling along the M55 from Preston towards Blackpool yesterday when I noticed the 'Lancaster Canal' sign has disappeared from it's posts as you cross the canal.

I'll have to look and see if the L&L signs are still on the M65 near Blackburn. It always amuses me that there is a huge sign at the first bridge over the canal as you come from the M6 towards Colne, but the next 6 crossings (including two aqueducts) are completely unsigned.

 

Not sure what the purpose of the signs are TBH. It's not likely people are going to take the next exit so they can go and look at the canal! Very few other canal crossings are signposted like that.

[GRPCruiserman]

I'll have to look and see if the L&L signs are still on the M65 near Blackburn. It always amuses me that there is a huge sign at the first bridge over the canal as you come from the M6 towards Colne, but the next 6 crossings (including two aqueducts) are completely unsigned.

 

Not sure what the purpose of the signs are TBH. It's not likely people are going to take the next exit so they can go and look at the canal! Very few other canal crossings are signposted like that.

 

You do have a good point as to wht they are there! I just assume they are to raise the profile of the canal system with the general public. The affore mentioned M65 crossing is a huge sign, but bizarrely at a point where the canal is very difficult to see from the motorway; the reason it is signed and the later crossing are not is that the section of the M65 with the sign was only built a few years ago; whereas the stretch after Whiteburk (Blackburn) was built many years ago and was obviously never blessed with signs.

 

I do enjoy that stretch (or did when I had a boat!!); so much variety and beauty combined with history and dereliction; a bit of everything that makes canal cruising interesting.

 

Rishton is a cracking overnight stop for those thinking of travelling that way.

[Hair Bear Bunch]

I think the strangest motorway sign is on the M6 toll road where there are signs proudly proclaiming 'Litchfield Canal', but just what one assumes is an aqueduct with nothing attached to either end. Haven't been that way for a while so don't know if the signs are still there. (I think it's the Litchfield?!)

[carlt]

Doesn't everybody want t know the name of every waterway they cross?

 

I do get off motorways and explore, btw.

[NB Alnwick]

Doesn't everybody want t know the name of every waterway they cross?

 

I do get off motorways and explore, btw.

 

BW used to erect signs where canals ran parallel to railways - I recall a big sign saying 'British Waterways, Grand Union Canal' that was visible from the LNWR main line somewhere between Wolverton and Euston and I think there may still be a similar sign on where the Oxford Canal runs parallel to the former GWR main line between Banbury and Oxford.

[Hairy-Neil]

I think it's the Litchfield?!

 

It has a silent T.....

 

 

Very few other canal crossings are signposted like that.

 

Lots are signed in the East Midlands and Yorkshire on the A1/M1/M62 route I use regularly.

 

 

Anyone know the answer or has anyone noticed these signs disappearing elsewhere??

 

Scrap metal thieves have been clearing them up round our way, especially the cast aluminium street names.

[ChrisPy]

They are tiny, compared to some I had nicked when I was a highways engineer.

you nicked your own department's signs ?

 

shame on you ....

[carlt]

you nicked your own department's signs ?

 

shame on you ....

Funnily enough, if you watch a "New traffic signals ahead" or "new road layout" sign, which is supposed to stay up for 3 months, you will notice they invariably come down just before xmas, to be weighed in for the staff xmas meal, whether they were erected in february, or november.

[Neil@CanalVoyagers]

... I think there may still be a similar sign on where the Oxford Canal runs parallel to the former GWR main line between Banbury and Oxford.

 

It's still there at Somerton.

 

The one on the Middlewich branch is still there too, although both are barely legible as they are covered in dirt.

[Proper Job]

Funnily enough, if you watch a "New traffic signals ahead" or "new road layout" sign, which is supposed to stay up for 3 months, you will notice they invariably come down just before xmas, to be weighed in for the staff xmas meal, whether they were erected in february, or november.

A lot of road signs disappeared around us a few months back. The local press reported as a theft (for scrap) by the local travelling community. Apparently the original ones were Aluminium. Newer ones are now a relatively worthless alloy (allegedly)

[Machpoint005]

It always makes me wonder on the M40 going south - the River Cherwell is signed three or four times, but the Oxford Canal not at all. The motorway crosses both of them several times around Banbury.

[Richard Fairhurst]

At one point the Highways Agency expressly refused BW's request to have (navigable) waterways signed on motorways. Don't know if that was ever rescinded.

[alan_fincher]

BW used to erect signs where canals ran parallel to railways - I recall a big sign saying 'British Waterways, Grand Union Canal' that was visible from the LNWR main line somewhere between Wolverton and Euston........

One was in Berkhamsted, between the "Gas 2" locks.

 

Long since gone, and in those days there was a very clear view of canal from railway, and vice versa, that is now very much obscured by tall trees.

 

I'm fairly certain I can recall similar signs on the BCN, where the railway line into Wolverhampton ran alongside it.

 

Alan

[carlt]

A lot of road signs disappeared around us a few months back. The local press reported as a theft (for scrap) by the local travelling community. Apparently the original ones were Aluminium. Newer ones are now a relatively worthless alloy (allegedly)

Every chevron sign was nicked, on the B4036, between Daventry and Market Harborough, in one night, when it was my patch.

 

I replaced them, at a cost of thousands, out of my budget, with identical aluminium signs, but with a sticker on the back,saying they were made from a "worthless" alloy.

 

They've never been nicked again but I'm not sure it was the sticker that did the trick.

[MikeV]

At one point the Highways Agency expressly refused BW's request to have (navigable) waterways signed on motorways. Don't know if that was ever rescinded.

Probably afraid the freight boys might get the idea to use them again!!!

[Hairy-Neil]

Every chevron sign was nicked, on the B4036, between Daventry and Market Harborough, in one night, when it was my patch.

 

I replaced them, at a cost of thousands, out of my budget, with identical aluminium signs, but with a sticker on the back,saying they were made from a "worthless" alloy.

 

They've never been nicked again but I'm not sure it was the sticker that did the trick.

 

Every scrote knows the magnet trick, even if they couldn't read the sticker.

 

Even steel (light Iron) got up to £200/ton last summer. Cast iron drain covers were dissappearing all over when heavy iron got over 300.

[GRPCruiserman]

Probably afraid the freight boys might get the idea to use them again!!!

 

I dont think a moderm wagon would float too well.

[Tim Lewis]

Every chevron sign was nicked, on the B4036, between Daventry and Market Harborough, in one night, when it was my patch.

 

I replaced them, at a cost of thousands, out of my budget, with identical aluminium signs, but with a sticker on the back,saying they were made from a "worthless" alloy.

 

They've never been nicked again but I'm not sure it was the sticker that did the trick.

 

From Royal Docks:

 

 

Tim

 

Every chevron sign was nicked, on the B4036, between Daventry and Market Harborough, in one night, when it was my patch.

 

I replaced them, at a cost of thousands, out of my budget, with identical aluminium signs, but with a sticker on the back,saying they were made from a "worthless" alloy.

 

They've never been nicked again but I'm not sure it was the sticker that did the trick.

 

From Royal Docks:

 

Photo

 

Tim

[carlt]

From Royal Docks:

 

Photo

 

Tim

But the sign must be worth a few pence.

[Rojo]

It has a silent T.....

 

 

Lichfield has no 'T' silent or otherwise, even so I have been to two shops in the city that both used a T on their receipt. You would think they would know better.

 

.

[Dave Hannigan]

All back now, no mystery, all the signs along the M55 are being replaced at the moment.

 

Don't know when they went back but spotted today.

 

Dave

[Dominic M]

Lichfield has no 'T' silent or otherwise, even so I have been to two shops in the city that both used a T on their receipt. You would think they would know better..

I hope you sniched on them.

[MartinClark]

Lichfield has no 'T' silent or otherwise, even so I have been to two shops in the city that both used a T on their receipt. You would think they would know better.

It might not be the fault of the staff in the individual shop. It might be a glitch in head office. When I visit Morrisons in Dukinfield, my till receipt and credit card bill shows that I had instead been to "Dunkinfield".

 

[edited to add "till receipt"]

Edited March 7, 2009 by MartinClark