Today's moment of old school
(You'll have to turn the sound up for this one -- it's the whole point of this very short clip.)
Scattered around Albany there are these old-school traffic signal boxes, like this one at Myrtle and South Allen. If you stand next to them you can hear the components inside whirr and click and clack as the lights change. Green light (click-brrr-clunk) yellow light (click-brrr-clunk) red light.
There are probably all sorts of reasons why these boxes are now something less than great. But we kind of love them because of the sounds. It's like the city is built atop a layer of gears and levers and switches.
By the way: Crouse-Hinds -- the manufacturer of this box -- was a company founded in the late 19th century in Syracuse and ended up specializing in traffic signal equipment. It's since melted away in a series of mergers.
One of the founders of the company had a great name: Huntington Beard Crouse. (It sounds even better if you say it as if it was italicized... Huntington Beard Crouse.) The family would end up dropping some coin on Syracuse University -- there's a building on campus named after him. People just call it HBC.
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Comments
Fun fact, my dog HATES the noises these make!!! She gets spooked every time.
... said HM on Mar 4, 2016 at 7:50 AM | link
Love this story
... said Rick on Mar 4, 2016 at 8:10 AM | link
Love it! Like that one trolley post on Hamilton, these boxes are relics from a different era Albany and will likely be completely gone someday.
I always think of Me, You, and Everyone We Know when I pass by a particularly loud one.
... said Paul on Mar 4, 2016 at 11:12 AM | link
My memory of the signal box at Dove and Chestnut is a bit less charming.
Dark painted metal box + Forehead level installation = A dusk trip to Albany Med to attend to a split open head.
... said Eric on Mar 4, 2016 at 2:15 PM | link