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The Museum
of Road Signs and Signals
and street lighting
Le Village miniature
(Trooz)
Illuminated signage
From the early 1970s to the 2020s, Belgium was a champion for illuminated road signs. Tens of thousands of illuminated signs were installed on our roads and motorways. These signs, lit with fluorescent tubes (and sometimes incandescent bulbs), are no longer relevant. At the Miniature Village, the reproduction of these signs, also known as "backlit" or "ambient-lit" signs, was quickly put in place from Beaufays to Trooz. It took some research and imagination to obtain the current signs.
E25 motorway
Exchange 42, Tilff
Signs dating from 1977
Photo from November 2023
Light sources:
Incorporating illuminated signs into villages was and still is necessary to help conserve this type of material, which is specific to Belgium. It was therefore necessary to find a method of introducing a light source into 60 mm signs as early as the 1980s.
The unique creation of this type of signage took place at the same time as that of public lighting, back in the 80s. The first light system invented was extended to illuminated signs.
The "cap/syringe" module was chosen to design the illuminated signals. The bulb power was 1.2 W (filament bulb, incandescent).
The small triangular volume was placed on the body of the syringe. The manufacture of this triangular volume was not very complicated using 1 mm PVC.
For the circular volumes, we imagined using the bottoms of plastic cups. The front of the panel itself was simply glued in place.
Around 2005, the light source for illuminated signs changed from filament bulbs to LEDs. This technique is still used today.
The small plate containing the diodes is placed in the bottom of the case. To avoid problems of oxidation due to humidity, the whole assembly is cast in hot glue. This technique freezes the light source and requires the signal to be completely dismantled in the event of a breakdown (unlike the technique described above where the light source is independent of the signal box).
Whether using the historical method (filament lamp) or the current method (LEDs), signal illumination has always been good:
Filament bulb
(incandescent)
LED
With LEDs, the "new generation" illuminated signal quickly showed its limits. In the event of an accident, repair work is much more time-consuming than with signals made from filament bulbs. Complete dismantling is necessary every time.
Building an unusual sign:
In 2016, we came up with the idea of building a very large illuminated sign to welcome our visitors. Here are some of the steps involved in making it once the project was well defined:
Place each printed element (text, symbols) on a blue overlay (transparent blue adhesive film). Use a scalpel to cut out each letter and place the special symbols.
Collect all the essential graphic elements. Work on each element separately and transfer it by printing onto adhesive paper tape (such as paint "masking tape").
Carefully transfer the overlay to a class 2 retroreflective film (advantages: it is reflective, transparent and does not move with temperature changes).
Transfer the result to a transparent 1 mm PVC surface. This is a delicate operation, as you need to avoid bubbles appearing on the surface of the future illuminated panel.
Build the box that will house the light sources and the face of the panel. This box is made of glued PVC.
Equip this box with light sources.
Last stage: placing the back of the panel on the box and installing it on site.
This unusual sign is the largest in the Miniature Village, measuring 47.5 cm wide and 79 cm high (not including the small pedestrian sign):
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