Yes, the ealier number for what is now the M602 was M64, once it had given up being M52. Then M64 was attached to the Stoke - Derby Motorway, then that got cancelled. So M64 never has actually seen the light of day!
www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/M64_(Ec...
On this day 95 years ago: the Ministry of Transport published the first edition of The Highway Code. At a cost of 1 old penny, it had 21 pages of advice, information and adverts for motoring organisations heritagecalling.com/2021/02/12/t...
More Motorway Simulator is always a good thing. Cue hours lost looking at signs that aren't even real, and making sure that Chris can spell in Welsh...
OS map extract from the Ordnance Survey Half Inch map of the Island of Skye from 1932
Our next stop in our journey through the Ordnance Survey Half Inch #maps of Great Britain and Ireland on this #MapMonday is to 1932. Here, we've added three new maps, and they illustrate just how much of a mess OS Half Inch mapping was!
Yes, it's not on any "standard" OS sheet that we know of - and the first, roundabout junction just to the north isn't on anything at all. And the photo record of both appears to be very silent.
Definitely too good to not share. Incidentally, the second temporary terminal as the south end of the Penrith Bypass is caught on SABRE Maps at www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.p...
B/W image from Manchester Libraries & taken by the Manchester Corporation's official photographer. It shows a brick built two storey farmhouse, Hey Head Farm on the gate, with road in front - a concrete street lamp to right, a finger post in front of a gable end. This shows Gatley and Styal to the left, with under hanging additions for Manchester and Wilslow below, and Ringway and Hale to the right. On the wall a street name sign reading "City of Manchester Ringway Road". The road and the hamlet of Heyhead has now been mostly swallowed up under the modern Manchester Airport.
Ringway Road, Manchester in 1972 showing a very adapted finger post. I suspect this is the junction of Ringway Road & Moorhouse Lane at Hey Head Farm now, like the rest of the hamlet, swallowed under Manchester Airport. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @maps.sabre-roads.org.uk
(Pic/M'cr Archives)
Extract from the 1927 Ordnance Survey OS #map of London at the Half Inch scale, showing the Watford Bypass as "in course of construction"
Happy Easter Monday to all who celebrate it! For this #MapMonday, we're adding three more OS maps at the Half Inch scale, one from 1927 and two from 1928. We particularly like the 1927 London sheet, as it captures the Watford bypass "in course of construction". buff.ly/pOyMfro
B/W photo taken by Manchester City Council's official photographer looking down on the new Princess Road heading north towards the junction with the Mancunian Way - the overbridge of which can be seen in the distance. A double deck bus heads towards the city joining the road alonmg a slip road - no other traffic is visible. The earthworks of the central reservation look to be newly levelled suggesting construction has just been completed. In the centre is a large standard design traffic direction sign with "City Centre A5103" ahead and the roundabout displaying "Warrington A57 Preston (A6) Liverpool (A580) left and "Sheffield A57 (A616) and Ashton-u-Lyne (A635) to right.
A very new Princess Road, Manchester, looking north towards the junction with the Mancunian Way as seen by the Corporation's official photographer in 1971. #manchester @roads.org.uk @showmeasign.online @sabre-roads.org.uk
(Pic: Manchester Libraries)
Extract from Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) #map showing Drogheda at the Half Inch scale from 1918
It's time for a whole load of new #maps at a new scale - so let's talk about the Half Inch. Between the wars, they were common in both Great Britain and Ireland, but after WW2 they became the primary scale in Ireland but mostly disappeared in GB in favour of One Inch maps.
A faded direction sign pointing to Aberdeen and Inverness on the A96. To the right of it is a fat-blue bordered local sign pointing to Moyness.
Some elderly signs here!
Screenshot of a graphic from the Simulator, showing a Smart Motorway gantry sign at junction 6 of the M6, Spaghetti Junction.
The M6 has just arrived on the Simulator, ready for you to take a virtual drive to Carlisle (or Rugby). I've also added the M69 so you can get to and from the north when you reach the M1. Just open the Simulator to give it a spin: sim.roads.org.uk
Extract from a US Army #map from 1959, showing Berlin and the surrounding area, including the occupation sector boundaries.
A conversation had elsewhere reminded us to point out this #MapMonday that whilst SABRE Maps does focus on #maps of Great Britain and Ireland, that we do have some historic mapping of elsewhere, for example, these lovely US Army maps of Europe from 1959. buff.ly/OWZtNQJ
Graphic showing a red-coloured map of the M4 passing through West London, overlaid with the text "The forever bottleneck, part 2: The M4 in West London may have been bold and innovative, but if you've never built a motorway before you're bound to make some mistakes."
Just published, the second part of my deep dive into a surprisingly experimental road project - the M4 in West London, with its lane drop and associated permanent traffic jam. open.substack.com/pub/roadsorg...
Spotted in Gibraltar @roads.org.uk @showmeasign.online
Photograph of a road viaduct under construction, with beams being lifted into place to form the deck. An array of sliproads cross up and down between the top and bottom decks.
Black and white photograph of the Chiswick Flyover and Great West Road with work in progress to build foundations for the M4's viaduct.
Black and white photograph looking up at the Brentford Viaduct under construction. An apparatus called the "octopus" - a sort of large crane - stands on top of the incomplete structure and is winching huge concrete beams up from a lorry on the road below.
Some pictures from the construction of the M4 Brentford Viaduct circa 1963. On Friday I posted part 2 of my history of this pioneering, highly experimental project that got so much right - and one very important thing very wrong. roadsorguk.substack.com/p/the-foreve...
Map showing the newly introduced one-way traffic system in Oldham, Lancashire, that came into use on 22 March 1965. It shows the triangle of King St, West St amd George St with traffic flows and new bus stops. The area has changed massively with the construction of a '70s inner ring road and the complete closure of George St/High St with shopping centres.
Leaflet issued by the County Borough of Oldham regarding the new Town Centre One Way Scheme that came into use on 22 March 1965. The front gives notes for drivers, notes for pedestrians and notes for parents. The back sheet (left) has route and bus stop changes caused by the new system and is by Oldham Corporation Transport Dept who then ran the town's bus services.
On this day, 22 March, in 1965 #Oldham in Lancashire joined the Modern Age with the town's one-way system. The leaflet from the Borough Engineers's Dept. showing the changes, the alterations to bus services & helpful advice for the unwary. @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk
↘️ flic.kr/p/bn18zw
Collyhurst Road, junction with Eggington St, in Manchester captured by the Corporation's official photographer in 1964; the black & white image shows a marvellous traffic sign "Bends of 1/2 Mile" and is on a striped post behind safety railings. Houses line the street and on the corner of Eggington Street on the left someone about to pop-in to the corner shop. In the distance a 'School' traffic sign with red triangle and a railway bridge spanning the road. A large mill chimney is in the distance.
Collyhurst Road, junction with Eggington St, in Manchester captured by the Corporation's official photographer in 1964; marvellous traffic sign & someone about to pop-in to the corner shop. @showmeasign.online @sabre-roads.org.uk @roads.org.uk #Manchester #1960s
(Image/Manchester Archives)
I'm not sure we've got this sheet online yet. Does anyone have a copy that we can scan and share? 🤣
Things that didn’t fit into my recent M4 posts, #1: when the Chiswick Flyover was built it was known the western ramp was temporary and its brick walls would be extended upwards to support the road at its final upper level. 🧵 1/5
Sign saying: no parking, no stopping in entrance, no broken down vehicles, keep clear at all times
Good luck with the third one
Extract from an Ordnance Survey map from the OS One Inch Fifth Edition from 1940 showing Swindon now on SABRE Maps
#MapMonday is here again! And with it, we bring a whole new #map layer - the Ordnance Survey One Inch Fifth Edition from 1940-41. Yes, civilian mapping continued to be produced well into World War 2, so here are three of those maps for your delectation and delight. buff.ly/B8p5Fcn
After all the fun of Bolton West years ago, people ask me what the current worst service station is. Honestly, none are in that league.
But if we're looking for the 'most depressing entry', Knutsford gets let off way too lightly.
Most of it was once brown brick. Who signed off the cladding?!
Photo taken by Manchester Corporation's official photographer and now part of the city's Libraries & Archives Collections. It shows a pre-Worboys Committee standard road traffic direction sign - two bi-furcating arrows (on a yellow background) with the left fork reading "A5081 Trafford Park Barton Eccles" and the right "A5063 Docks Bury Oldham & North". The sign is fixed to a span between two black & white striped poles.
Trafford Park 1963 - a pre-Worboys traffic direction sign, with its yellow background, as seen by Manchester Corporation's official photographer.
(Image/Manchester Archives)
B/W image taken by Manchester Corporation's official photopgrapher in 1959 showing an old style road sign in Chortlton-cun-Hardy. It shows "ring road" ahead & to the A616, Ring Road left to the A6 Salford, A56 Bury and A62 Oldham, and right to the A34 to Cheadle and A6 to Stockport. A row of shops on the left include a branch of Mac Fisheries. Behind the sign a queue of people wait at a bus stop. It is winter as the trees are bare.
Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1959 captured by the #Manchester Corporation photographer. A lot of folk waiting for a bus, a branch of Mac Fisheries & a rather splendid pre-Worboys traffic sign. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk
(Pic. Manchester Archives)
#Map extract from Ordnance Survey OS map at the One Inch scale covering part of Gloucestershire and the original Severn Bridge from 1938
We're adding another small set of OS One Inch Fifth Edition #maps from southern England (and a small part of Wales) to SABRE Maps today, this time three maps from 1938. What can you find on them? #MapMonday
buff.ly/jq2eLbw
Thorn/Atlas Beta 3 street lighting lantern : Brentwood, Essex, UK : 29 February 2026. I never recall seeing many of these stylish 1960s Atlas Beta 3 Group B style lanterns in real life and to say that they are rare now is an understatement. Yet here is a small installation of them in real life around an office block on Brentwood, Essex. Photo shows a rusting column with a faded "10" mph sign attached and inspection cover missing. It stands by a brick wall with steel gates. In the background a 1960s office block.
Thorn/Atlas Beta 3 street lighting lantern : Brentwood, Essex, UK : 29 February 2026. I never recall seeing many of these stylish 1960s Atlas Beta 3 Group B style lanterns in real life and to say that they are rare now is an understatement. Yet here is a small installation of them in real life around an office block on Brentwood, Essex. A close up showing the rusting steel post/bracket and the lantern with a large white overhanging plastic canopy and underneath a "V" shaped perspex bowl.
Never common lanterns but now, out in the wild, very rare. A small installation of Thorn/Atlas Beta 3 street lighting on private land in Brentwood, Essex. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk
↘️ flic.kr/p/2rZ1ERW
Approaching Hyde Road from Mount Rd by Belle Vue in 1967 & the Manchester Corproation photographer has made a good job of capturing that rather fine pre-Worboys style road sign. I don't think a single building seen here survives. I think that the prominent structure is the old Gorton Town Hall. There are road works with ramps signs and, on either side of the road, Manchester Corporation Transport bus stops.
Approaching Hyde Road from Mount Rd by Belle Vue in 1967 & the #Manchester Corporation photographer has made a good job of capturing that rather fine pre-Worboys style road sign. I don't think a single building seen here survives. I think that the prominent structure is the old Gorton Town Hall.
Screenshot of the SABRE Maps Sheetfinder, used to identify which maps we have of any specific location. Search term of "Manchester", looking at Quarter Inch and 1:250k Ordnance Survey OS maps.
This #MapMonday, using our Sheetfinder, can you discover just how many Quarter Inch and 1:250k scale #maps we have that include Manchester city centre, or for any other location in Great Britain or Ireland?
(the current answer is 43...)
buff.ly/ndDcnFQ
