WHITESVILLE
WEST VIRGINIA
WEST VIRGINIA
Whitesville is a struggling small town out in the back roads of southern West Virginia. Its main street is littered with decaying abandoned buildings and run-down homes. One of the most important sources of income for people in this town was the Upper Big Branch coal mine a few miles away (see here), which in 2010 was home to the worst mining disaster in the U.S. since 1970, after which it was shut down. Whitesville is not all abandoned, though -- when I visited on February 20th, 2016 (on a dedicated trip where I also went to Charleston, Madison, and Marmet), I saw that a new bakery had just opened. There's a furniture store, and inn, a laundromat, and a number of other businesses as well. It's a cool place to visit -- as soon as you enter, you jump back in time a few decades -- but it's a shame so much of it is crumbling. A number of programs are working to try to rehabilitate the town, and hopefully those will prove fruitful. What you're here for, though, is the signals. Whitesville has two 4-way traffic lights which have been falling in and out of order sporadically over the past many years, and currently, neither of them are operational (one isn't even hanging anymore). See below to read all about them.
Below is a list of all intersections documented on this page. Click on one to jump to it, or continue scrolling to browse.
Boone St & 4th Ave
[¶] This intersection is home to a single fixed-face 4-way traffic light. 4-way signals are generally thought to be old, but this signal here is one of the newest ever made. This was made by Teeco Safety Inc., which was the last company to own a line of traffic lights which passed through Southern Autoflow, Sargent Sowell, Traffic Signals Inc., and Singer. Teeco likely began making them during the early to mid-1980s, and they stopped making them around 2010. This surprises most people who view 4-ways as a thing of the past — they did indeed make it into the 21st century, and Teeco was the last company to ever make them. They were still available with incandescent assemblies and built-in mechanical controllers up until the end, too. As a matter of fact, you can still buy them, but only from the limited leftover stock they have now that they stopped producing them. They aren't listed for sale anymore, you have to ask around about them. They are certainly not cheap, however. Before they got out of the industry, Teeco made other traffic products as well, such as external control boxes (both solid-state and mechanical), pedestrian pushbuttons, signal hardware, sign brackets, and more. They didn't produce any single-face signals. All of their traffic products were removed from their website sometime between 2009 and 2011.
[¶] The only way to identify this signal as Teeco brand (and not any of the companies that made this same model before them) is the hanger, which has their name cast on it, in addition to a product number. The only marking on the signal itself is a product number on the base. It's all incandescent, with all original MGN brand polycarbonate lenses. It has a trap door base compartment, which attaches beneath the normal bottom plate. It's an enclosure that extends down several inches, and has a door plate on the bottom attached with screws. Inside is a 6-circuit mechanical controller mechanism. There is no external box; the controller is built into the signal itself. The mechanism is cheap, and these tend to have slight unintentional overlaps and darkouts when the indications change. The signal is painted all yellow, including the undersides of the visors. There is something confusing about this signal, though — 11 of the 12 doors and all 12 visors have a newer coat of paint than the body, base, and the remaining 1 door. The newer coat is bright yellow with few, if any, blemishes, while the older coat of paint is faded light yellow and chipping in many places. I can't figure out why this would have happened — why would they repaint the doors and visors but not the body, and even so, why would they paint all but one of the doors? This signal is hanging in the center of the street from a diagonal spanwire and it's the only signal at the intersection, which is violation of M.U.T.C.D.'s 1-face-per-approach rule. This signal is very unwarranted — the side streets are insignificant and I didn't see a single person turn off of them while I was there. My assumption is that they both like the aesthetic and history of these signals (though they're not really all that historical), and they helped control speed, so they kept them around.
[¶] At the moment, this signal is abandoned. This signal and the other one have been falling in and out of order over the past many years, so they have been on and off sporadically. Streetview from October 2007 shows both signals fully functional. This photoshoot from the week of April 5th, 2010 shows both signals still fully functional. This photo from November 6th, 2011 shows both signals deactivated and dark. This video of a drive through Whitesville from September 14th, 2012 shows this signal (which will furthermore by referred to as signal #1) is off, while the other signal (signal #2) is fully functional. Streetview from October 2015 shows signal #1 is fully functional, while signal #2 has been removed. And, as you can see below, as of my visit on February 20th, 2016, this signal has once again been deactivated and signal #2 is still gone. I contacted someone who is with the Turn This Town Around organization, which is trying to refurbish and rebuild Whitesville. I only messaged with them a few times before they stopped responding — perhaps because the town doesn't want them sharing the details. I don't think it's all that official, though, so I'll share what I was told (as far as I can understand it) — this signal was deactivated because "the lights stay on longer than they should when changing". I'm not sure if they are talking about the slight overlaps, which are typical with these small, cheap mechanical controllers, and are nothing to be concerned about, or if there's actually some problem with the contacts getting stuck when changing. They referred to this signal as the "working" one, so the reason that the other one at the next intersection was actually taken down is because it stopped working completely (if I didn't already mention above, it has indeed been removed from the spanwire, as you can see further below). I was not told what exactly is wrong with it, but presumably the internal controller stopped functioning. They still have the signal, fortunately; it's in storage somewhere. They said they appreciate the history behind them, and that they would love to get them back in service. They asked me about helping to restore them, but that was the last I heard, and my replies to that have gotten no further responses. I will probably contact someone in the town government in the future. To anyone else reading this, please DO NOT attempt to contact them in any way regarding these signals.
[¶] So, without further ado, check out the pictures below to see this dark (but still good-looking) signal.
[¶] The only way to identify this signal as Teeco brand (and not any of the companies that made this same model before them) is the hanger, which has their name cast on it, in addition to a product number. The only marking on the signal itself is a product number on the base. It's all incandescent, with all original MGN brand polycarbonate lenses. It has a trap door base compartment, which attaches beneath the normal bottom plate. It's an enclosure that extends down several inches, and has a door plate on the bottom attached with screws. Inside is a 6-circuit mechanical controller mechanism. There is no external box; the controller is built into the signal itself. The mechanism is cheap, and these tend to have slight unintentional overlaps and darkouts when the indications change. The signal is painted all yellow, including the undersides of the visors. There is something confusing about this signal, though — 11 of the 12 doors and all 12 visors have a newer coat of paint than the body, base, and the remaining 1 door. The newer coat is bright yellow with few, if any, blemishes, while the older coat of paint is faded light yellow and chipping in many places. I can't figure out why this would have happened — why would they repaint the doors and visors but not the body, and even so, why would they paint all but one of the doors? This signal is hanging in the center of the street from a diagonal spanwire and it's the only signal at the intersection, which is violation of M.U.T.C.D.'s 1-face-per-approach rule. This signal is very unwarranted — the side streets are insignificant and I didn't see a single person turn off of them while I was there. My assumption is that they both like the aesthetic and history of these signals (though they're not really all that historical), and they helped control speed, so they kept them around.
[¶] At the moment, this signal is abandoned. This signal and the other one have been falling in and out of order over the past many years, so they have been on and off sporadically. Streetview from October 2007 shows both signals fully functional. This photoshoot from the week of April 5th, 2010 shows both signals still fully functional. This photo from November 6th, 2011 shows both signals deactivated and dark. This video of a drive through Whitesville from September 14th, 2012 shows this signal (which will furthermore by referred to as signal #1) is off, while the other signal (signal #2) is fully functional. Streetview from October 2015 shows signal #1 is fully functional, while signal #2 has been removed. And, as you can see below, as of my visit on February 20th, 2016, this signal has once again been deactivated and signal #2 is still gone. I contacted someone who is with the Turn This Town Around organization, which is trying to refurbish and rebuild Whitesville. I only messaged with them a few times before they stopped responding — perhaps because the town doesn't want them sharing the details. I don't think it's all that official, though, so I'll share what I was told (as far as I can understand it) — this signal was deactivated because "the lights stay on longer than they should when changing". I'm not sure if they are talking about the slight overlaps, which are typical with these small, cheap mechanical controllers, and are nothing to be concerned about, or if there's actually some problem with the contacts getting stuck when changing. They referred to this signal as the "working" one, so the reason that the other one at the next intersection was actually taken down is because it stopped working completely (if I didn't already mention above, it has indeed been removed from the spanwire, as you can see further below). I was not told what exactly is wrong with it, but presumably the internal controller stopped functioning. They still have the signal, fortunately; it's in storage somewhere. They said they appreciate the history behind them, and that they would love to get them back in service. They asked me about helping to restore them, but that was the last I heard, and my replies to that have gotten no further responses. I will probably contact someone in the town government in the future. To anyone else reading this, please DO NOT attempt to contact them in any way regarding these signals.
[¶] So, without further ado, check out the pictures below to see this dark (but still good-looking) signal.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL GALLERIES:
Mouse over the full size image (on computers) or tap it (on mobile devices), and image navigation controls will appear at the top. Click the arrows in the top right to browse through the photos. Click "play" to have the photos progress automatically in 5 second intervals, and click again to stop it.
Mouse over the top or bottom of the thumbnail bar at right (on computers) or swipe it up or down (on mobile devices) to scroll through all of the thumbnails. There are almost always more thumbnails to scroll through, as they can't all fit on screen at once. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image.
Mouse over the full size image (on computers) or tap it (on mobile devices), and image navigation controls will appear at the top. Click the arrows in the top right to browse through the photos. Click "play" to have the photos progress automatically in 5 second intervals, and click again to stop it.
Mouse over the top or bottom of the thumbnail bar at right (on computers) or swipe it up or down (on mobile devices) to scroll through all of the thumbnails. There are almost always more thumbnails to scroll through, as they can't all fit on screen at once. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image.
Full Signal Closeups, Clockwise from West Side (20 pictures)
Indication Closeups, Clockwise from West Side (23 pictures)
Top and Bottom Closeups (13 pictures)
Full Intersection and Street Shots, Clockwise from West Side (9 pictures)
All-Encompassing Video (1 video)
Boone St & 3rd Ave
The reason this is Gone For Now, But Not Forever, is that the signal which used to be at this intersection was taken down sometime between 2012 and 2016 — but it was NOT discarded. It is currently being held in storage to hopefully, someday, be repaired and put back in service. This was a yellow Teeco 3-section fixed-face 4-way signal with built-in 6-circuit mechanical controller, just like the one at the intersection documented above. There is an unknown issue with the controller which is why the signal was dismantled. For all information about the former signal of this intersection, read the aforementioned section documented above — I discussed all of the details of this intersection there, so it would seem redundant to say it again. Plus, there's actually something interesting to see there. The pictures below are of the signal-less intersection as it stood during my visit.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL GALLERIES:
Mouse over the full size image (on computers) or tap it (on mobile devices), and image navigation controls will appear at the top. Click the arrows in the top right to browse through the photos. Click "play" to have the photos progress automatically in 5 second intervals, and click again to stop it.
Mouse over the top or bottom of the thumbnail bar at right (on computers) or swipe it up or down (on mobile devices) to scroll through all of the thumbnails. There are almost always more thumbnails to scroll through, as they can't all fit on screen at once. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image.
Mouse over the full size image (on computers) or tap it (on mobile devices), and image navigation controls will appear at the top. Click the arrows in the top right to browse through the photos. Click "play" to have the photos progress automatically in 5 second intervals, and click again to stop it.
Mouse over the top or bottom of the thumbnail bar at right (on computers) or swipe it up or down (on mobile devices) to scroll through all of the thumbnails. There are almost always more thumbnails to scroll through, as they can't all fit on screen at once. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image.
All Pictures (7 pictures)
VARIOUS THINGS AROUND TOWN
Here you will find all miscellaneous non-signal-related pictures I took while in Whitesville, mostly of abandoned buildings and plenty of signs too. Things shown here were not documented thoroughly, and there are only a few pictures of each item. I did not seek out these items with the intention of documenting them either; they are just interesting sights that I happened upon while I was there.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL GALLERIES:
Mouse over the full size image (on computers) or tap it (on mobile devices), and image navigation controls will appear at the top. Click the arrows in the top right to browse through the photos. Click "play" to have the photos progress automatically in 5 second intervals, and click again to stop it.
Mouse over the top or bottom of the thumbnail bar at right (on computers) or swipe it up or down (on mobile devices) to scroll through all of the thumbnails. There are almost always more thumbnails to scroll through, as they can't all fit on screen at once. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image.
Mouse over the full size image (on computers) or tap it (on mobile devices), and image navigation controls will appear at the top. Click the arrows in the top right to browse through the photos. Click "play" to have the photos progress automatically in 5 second intervals, and click again to stop it.
Mouse over the top or bottom of the thumbnail bar at right (on computers) or swipe it up or down (on mobile devices) to scroll through all of the thumbnails. There are almost always more thumbnails to scroll through, as they can't all fit on screen at once. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image.