With many posts about the problems we have in Sheffield with the amount of traffic lights does anyone know where the first colour lights were located and which year ???

I believe the first lights were at the junction of Matilda St and Sidney Street I dont know exactly when but it was around 1900 to 1910.

I think it is true that the Matilda Street/Sidney Street traffic lights were the first in Sheffield. I'd be surprised if they were there as early as 1910 but they were certainly there by the 1930s according to the description of this picturesheffield.com photo (http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=u00450).

I think it is true that the Matilda Street/Sidney Street traffic lights were the first in Sheffield. I'd be surprised if they were there as early as 1910 but they were certainly there by the 1930s according to the description of this picturesheffield.com photo (http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=u00450).

The years I stated were only a rough guess but I was only 20 years out,but thanks for the picture.

There were no traffic lights in the UK until 1926 when the first ones were installed at Piccadilly Circus in London. I think Exeter was the next city to have them (in 1929) and by the mid-1930s they had been introduced in Sheffield. My late father - a keen motorcyclist in the 1920s and 1930s - mentions in his diary that he was "surprised" to see traffic lights in Matilda Street in February 1937. I think this would have been at the junction with Sidney Street, and the lights probably hadn't been there long.

Barnsley has just bought some, the locals all turn out to watch 'em change.:hihi:

Daft ? - not old enough to know but were these switched off after dark in the War 'cos of the blackout? Did the authorities rely on the cowls above 'em as seen today to stop sun glare - to maintain the blackout? Always remember a mate of mine in the RAF in the 50's - when a kid in the War he was always told by grown-ups that you couldn't see a red light from a plane. Some wake-up call when he flew a jet fighter to Rhodesia and the first thing he saw marking the runway was - you guessed it - a red light!

The Worlds first Traffic Lights were installed near the House of Commons in1868 and they were gas lit and only Green & Red. They were manually operated by means of a lever by a Policeman. One night in 1869 they exploded sending a peice of gravel into the Policemans eye seriously injuring him despite the accident thay were used until 1872 when they were removed.It was not till 1926 that Traffic Lights re-appeared replacing Policemen on Traffic duty.