Roadways help please

it is reasonable to state, the typical width of a lorry or bus since WW2 is around 8 foot 6"....certainly over the mirrors.......2.5 metres in Napoleon's parlance.

Allowing for a typical yard of clearance on a typical main road carriageway width...ie 18" either side [or less]...ought to give you a reasonable road width of 23 feet or so.....maybe a tad more.

roadmarkings are a vital part of road detailing.....their absence is like using unballasted,unpainted track.

However over the years they have changed considerably in style and purpose.

I find many [modern] layouts spoilt because insufficient correct attention has been paid to the road signage...which is a rather obvious detail?

wouldn't DREAM of having an innappropriate signal, would we?

With UK villages and towns, much of the road layout/size is actually dictated by historical reasons.

But it is as well to remember, back in the 50's vehicles like lorries had nothing like the length of modern trucks......so this inhibiting feature need not be accounted for.

Incidentally....if modelling a road that climbs a hill..if that hill is in the region of 1:3 or 1:4 then, if a BUS route,may be considered as a 'plated' hill......ie, there would be [handsome] signage at bottom,and top, in the corporate identity of the prevailing big bus company, warning bus drivers [and others who might benefit], to 'stop here' and engage low or 'crawler' gear, before proceeding to the next sign [at the top].....disciplinary offence for drivers to ignore.
(Example,Ruswarp bank, outside Whitby, North Yorkshire........where road narrows at bottom was a little swelling in width,the sign was on teh side of the building there....one engaged crawler until up near the bus shelter at the top.........I have had the 'experience' of having a Bristol FLF Lodekka go poorly on the first bend........and having to get the conductor to decant the passengers in the rain, to walk to the top.....whilst I got the darned thing moving again...those large ladies were a fearsome bunch!]

I also recall as a kid, riding my bike up Telegraph Hill in Devon...beating the Royal Blue Exeter-Plymouth service to the top!

for the 50's..a zebra crossing (could be an 'animated' one? flashing belisha beacons].....would consist of the stripes, within metal studs.

prior to the crossing , half the carriageway would have a double row of studs going out to the centreline.

this studded area had much the same meaning as the area today within the zigzag lines.

traffic lights existed [can be functional].....with a 'stop' line....but don't forget the pneumatic traffic sensor strip some yards before the line?

not seen these days...with induction loops etc.

street lights would not be orange....

and the copper on point duty would have the white forearm sleeve....or stripes in same place.

no neeh nahs either.

Not certain...but yellow lines weren't thought of then, either.

just having a re-read through some past issues of Model Railway Journal.......#144.......discovering a photo [of a train on Newhaven Harbour branch].....dated 27/8/1957.......no obvious white lines, but that isn't conclusive....however there IS a good view of a typical 'direction' sign preceeding a crossroads.....and of interest is that it has been [permanently] erected by the RAC [Royal Automobile Club]...rather than as in more recent times,by the local authority,or highways agency.......it consists of a large rectangular sign....colour I ''assume'' would be RAC blue(?).....cantilevered off a large [striped, b&w,again???) pole.

the routes...ie road numbers, and [major] place names are in rectangular boxes,superimposed on top ofthe stylised black line symbol for the 'roads'....little arrow on each end of thick line.....

the 'straight on' route box has a black border, with white background, lettered for the A 259, above the name 'Seaford', which is in smaller letters.
[I assume this box format was good for all 'A''roads?]...lettering black.

the \turn right' road is a similar box, but black background, with white letters........lettered for 'B2109', with 'Newhaven Harbour'' again in smaller letters underneath.
This I assume was the format for ''B'' roads and their route signs?

The 'left' turn was an 'unclassified' road......again a rectangular box, black border,white background.........but with large empty space [where road number would have been?]....with ''Lewes'' in small letters along the bottom....again I assume this was the format adopted to sign an unclassified road?

In the top left corner of the road sign, was a large, diamond-shaped logo for thee RAC...the old style one familiar to oldfahrt UK drivers?

I cannot remember if this direction sign layout was universal,or whether organisations like the AA also had a hand in things........BUT, somewhere, I have a 'road' atlas belonging to my grandad, all pre motorway.....and that will give a clue.

nothing to do with roadwidth, I know......but I thought the above might prove useful to someone...right detail,and all that?