Mushroom Lights

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Mushroom Lights

Postby signalfan on Wed May 27, 2009 8:43 pm

I have a request from someone who e-mailed me about this item. Not remembering these lights myself, I was wondering if anyone here may have some info to share. Here is his e-mail:

Hello-

Came across your web site and you may be able to help me.

Here in Milwaukee Wisconsin, we used to have a type of "mushroom street lamp" which were placed to mark
around traffic islands. They were painted yellow and measured 12inches high X 12inches wide ( estimated), and had 4 amber lenses. They were wired in to the street light system so they came on when the street lights did.

I dont know what the trade name was for these type of lights, so we always called them "mushroom lamps".
I am looking for some photos of them but cannot find them, but also dont know who made them.

They began to dissappear in the 1970's-80's as reflective materials replaced them.

My goal is to have them re-produced for my model railroad layout. It would be helpful to have some color photos which
would aid in the design process.

Thank you,
James


Any ideas :confused:
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby OldCarcelero on Wed May 27, 2009 8:59 pm

Have him go to the city traffic or street bureau and ask about them, look for an old timer...
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby jab8356 on Thu May 28, 2009 10:22 am

I got the same email maybe a month ago. I wasn't much help to him since I am not from Milwaukee.
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby made in china on Sat May 30, 2009 9:59 pm

Seattle still has quite a few of these mushroom lights in service. Ours are a little different.

I have personally restored a few, it's amazing how tough they are. We also call them mushrooms.
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby SignalLab on Sat May 30, 2009 10:02 pm

made in china wrote:Seattle still has quite a few of these mushroom lights in service. Ours are a little different.

I have personally restored a few, it's amazing how tough they are. We also call them mushrooms.


would love to see soem photos of yours if you could post please?
thanks
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby Kilted_Econolite_Nut on Sun May 31, 2009 12:34 am

Not sure if these are the ones that Jason is talking about, but the ones I remember seeing were yellow and had a yellow flashing beacon inside. There used to be one at Corwin Place S, right where it met up with the Atlantic ST viaduct that carried I-90 (formerly known as US 10) over Rainier Ave S. When the new I-90 overpass was built in 1988, it remained for a few days, flashing stubbornly away, even though it was unneeded by then.

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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby Crunge98 on Sun May 31, 2009 9:08 am

there was a couple different manufactures of these. Crouse Hinds even offered them in there 79-80 catalog
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby Buttoncopy on Sun May 31, 2009 2:10 pm

Is this a photo of one or a beacon top?

This was on the bay for like $200 a year or two ago. :wave:
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby LarryC39 on Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:55 pm

Tony,
No that one is a railroad item I believe. Maybe mounted trackside, Probably mounted up on a post.

John, yeah Mushroom is the accepted name of them, derived from the popular ESSCO brand of that trade name (although many of their traffic signals were sold under the same name). Not sure there ever was a common name, "Hamburger lights" was what Sessions called them in the traffic signal history book. One type is shown here: http://wiki.signaltraffic.com/index.php?title=Essco

12" is a bit tall in my thinking. They were meant to be run-overable in many cases, I'd guess something like 8" tall and 14" or so around. There's also some photos of them in my Virtual Motor City Revisited thread.
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Re: Mushroom Lights

Postby Curbside Collector on Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:26 pm

Tony,

That is the optical housing off of an early American Gas Accumulator (AGA) Company beacon. It was the begining of the AGA traffic signal line. The beacon was lit with a flame rather than electric lamps. The optical housing sat on top of a tall square pedestal that housed the acetylene bottle, gas accumulator and burner. The pedestal had "DRIVE TO RIGHT" signs on all four sides. Models of them show up frequently on eBay for model railroading under the usual traffic signal/light searches.

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