Has anyone modelled Police lines?
We see the plastic tape these days but IIRC they used to use wood horses paintes blue and white ???
I’m modelling the 80s in H0 (Chicago-ish and west) but anything would be interesting.
Do Fire Departments put up barriers?
Utility companies?
AAAARGH! Help please?
Pics`please?
Is there a Federal standard?
[:P]
I still see a number of wooden barriers used, mainly for roadways. Otherwise, numerous traffic cones might be used to block the path. Police lines are more to restrict pedestrian access to a property, or at least indicate that the area is under police investigation.
Water Company’s, Phone Company’s, Hydro, Township’s, City workers all use wooden barriers.
Depends on what you’re modeling. The police use the yellow tape for crime scenes and designating temporary “off-limits” areas. Barricades are used to close off streets for parades and crowd control. Contractors and utility companies use tape to mark excavations and such but generally use portable barricades and traffic cones for site protection and traffic control.
Wooden sawhorses were still used into the 1980s (and, as noted above, are still in use in some areas), but were being replaced by newer types of barricades. Police departments began to use metal fences that could be more quickly deployed, were more difficult to move, and were less likely to hurt someone than a sawhorse which could collapse. Utilities and contractors shifted to smaller, folding barricades that were capable of being deployed by a single person.
Sawhorses were painted a variety of colors but yellow and orange were most common for utilities, etc., while colors like white, gray, green or blue were used for police traffic control use. Sawhorses were generally marked with the agency or owner’s name. NYPD sawhorses were gray and stenciled “POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS” in black paint.
Fire departments generally rely on police barricades as traffic and crowd control are a law enforcement function. On residential or smaller fires, the police will often simply use a patrol car as a roadblock to close off the street. At larger fires, the police may deploy barricades but will more often simply have several officers on-scene. This is because by the time the barricades are set up, the fire may be under control. However, a fire department will use tape to mark the site of a fire investigation and sometimes around on-scene apparatus to dissuade the too-curious.
Yes, there are federal and state standards, such as those applying to projects like highway construction where not just the site, but the approach to the site must be marked. However, a lot of other uses are
Fire depts here do the same thing the construction companies do. They station a man at each end of the section of road in question, give him a radio and a stop sign and leave him to do his job.
Here are some:
Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light
Roxanne
You don’t have to sell your body to the night
Sorry. [:-^]
[(-D][(-D] Neat… but H0 or N?
[8D]
Well, I think if you catch the drift of the whole song, Roxanne was definitely a HO. [:-^]
Oh, man that has to qualify as the worst pun of all time on this forum. [:)]
This is only from experience in California. Police barricade tape was used as a temporary measure to mark off crime scenes. If it was going to be a long term thing, we called public works and had them set up those striped barricades with the flashing yellow lights. In any case, it was the cop on the barricade line that kept people out - everything else was just to show where the limits of public access was set.
What is very commonly used but I’ve yet to see modeled is orange plastic construction fencing. It’s used to keep construction equipment away from things they’re not supposed to disturb, like trees and underground utilities. I also haven’t seen the ubiquitous orange barrels for sale anywhere. I’ve seen them on a few layouts but I don’t know if they were scratchbuilt or if someone sells them and I just don’t know about it. Seems like about a million places sell orange cones but not the orange barrels.
I am a police officer with Chicago and we still use wooden barricades for crowd control. Ususally for functions that we know are going to happen, like Taste of Chicago, sporting events , marathons etc. (The ones waiting for the cubs world series are still in their protective crate [(-D]. ) But for crimes scenes and "spur of the moment " things we use the yellow tape like everyone else. The wooden barricades are a 3 piece design. The horizontal piece is made of 2x8x8 and the triangle legs are 2x6 i believe. Painted sky blue with white lettering “cpd -police line do not cross -cpd” The fire dept. here just blocks the street with their rigs:)
I’m working the desk today, I just asked an “old timer”, he said in the 60’s the barricades were yellow with black lettering. I know you model the 80’s, just thought i’d throw that in. If you want, i’ll set one up in back and take a picture tomorrow.
Here too. We use cones, a few horses and yellow “fire line” tape to control the curious. We have “Fire Police” who have peace officer status but only while on duty. When we are extremely lucky, State PD or Sheriff’s office will help out. They don’t seem to like traffic duty very much. [sigh]
Being in the outside plant communication biz myself, I have used many different things in many different situations. I have marked off open splice pits and trenches by using yellow “Caution” tape supported by rebar and/or cones. I have also used the orange fiber optic warning tape. For open manholes everyone should be using a manhole guard. That is the yellow, metal fence looking contraptions. For marking off work zones, cones are a really good thing, and mandated in many instances, along with signs that say “Men Working” or “Utility Work”, or any other various warning phrases.
For really quick work on a pole, I would normally just use cones. One cone per MPH for the speed limit spaced 10 feet apart behind my vehicle or work area. Barricades are such a pain, but needed for larger jobs. Those types of barricades are tyically orange and white. The plastic ones are easy to work with, but look out for high wids.
Another thing. Sometimes you will see a police detail at utility work sites. Some states mandate it, such as Mass. It was funny because certain cops would always call us while we were working in Mass because of the high pay they got for the detail work.
From my police experience (41 years) in New Jersey, red traffic cones could be carried in the back of a patrol car and were used for a quck road closure for example an accident. If the road would be closed for an extended period of time the traffic department would bring wooden (now plastic) barricades. Crime scenes would always have the yellow tape. Immediate need for traffic direction in emergency situations would be provided by road flares which are always kept in the trunk of the patrol cars.
Doc
[banghead] [(-D] [banghead] [(-D] [banghead] [(-D]
I walked right into that one! [B)]
[#ditto] I’ve got to agree with that [:o)]
Terrific answers everyone! (even Dallas Model Works) [8D][:D][:D]
There’s several ideas that I’ve not heard of… like the California orange barrels (almost resisting comments about Tropicana…[swg]).
Road flares I’ve heard of and seen in the movies… are they like RR flares (fusees - I think they were called around 1900)? Do they leave a mark or stain on the pavement?
Some time ago I (or maybe someone else) kicked off a discussion of flare “pots”. I think these are different from the flares used by Traffic Police.
Nice crack about the Cubs [:-,] How long do you think they’ll stay in their wraps?
Pics of any and all of these systems of warning would be good… with any guide to dates and locations possible please.
Friday oart of my work put me on a narrow bridge over six tracks at Bushey. We had trucks dropping off materials so we used mobile phones to communicate between each end of the bridge (the approaches and bridge made a Z - backwards) and let one direction squeeze by the trucks at a time except when the hoists were swinging stuff around. I guess that construction and RR people do much the same for short periods over there. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen that brief moment when a truck - maybe a firetruck - blocks the road to back into an access made as a model scene… would seem like a nice detail if you could find the figures.
I’ve seen pics of RR staff flagging grade crossings both on switching lines and where the MoW have ripped up part of the crossing for repairs.
I love it when one of my daft questions kicks off a string of answers of people’s experience.
[8D]
PS when did everyone start wearing the high visibilty tabards?
T
That would be terrific if you could please. [8D] Would this type have been in use in the 80s? How long / tall / wide are they please?
TIA
[8D]
Same thing. Some of them are shorter (less than 30 minutes). They leave small white globs and some smoke blackening on the pavement.
Unless there was an extended road closure for a big wreck or crime scene. Then we’d pile the flares up in a big square so one lit off by itself before the other one went out. You’d end up with some monumental piles of flare debris from this. [:O]
Dave, I assume you’re asking about the orange high visibility vests that you see on construction workers now. That started in the early 70’s when 3M came out with a cheaper beaded reflective material that could be sealed in clear plastic. This has since spread to a lot of fields including rail workers, police, fire fighters, crossing guards, and just about anyone with a need to be seen in a dangerous situation. I recently read a report that estimates these vests have reduced accidents and deaths by almost 30% since they were mandated in the mid 80’s.