SABRE
From the A1 to the V12, the members of SABRE (the Society for British and Irish Road Enthusiasts) explore the history and future of the British and Irish road networks.
Why not join us?
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk
- Reposted by SABRESuffolk Street in #Birmingham as the pace of change picked up in the 1960s. Much municipal street furniture, inc. a Revo Prefect street lamp along with, in the distance, a much earlier Revo product. And square 'No Entry" signs. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk Found image
- Reposted by SABRE1950s/60s view of Acocks Green in #Birmingham capturing a fine City Transport bus thundering past a cyclist - & neatly showing the old style "Ring Road" confirmation plates on the adjacent lamp post. @showmeasign.online @sabre-roads.org.uk @roads.org.uk (Flickr/G Dowling) flic.kr/p/cDFicd
- Reposted by SABREOne week today!
- Following the success of our introductory Zoom talk on SABRE Maps, we'll be holding a second one around our Grid Calibrator tool, showing how we georeference maps, and how you can help! There will be opportunities to ask questions, and click along! buff.ly/TzVhjsT
- Reposted by SABREWe've been asked a few times about whether we recorded the recent Zoom session, "An Introduction to SABRE Maps". We have finally worked out how to get the recording out of Zoom, and onto YouTube, so here it is! www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s1L...
- Reposted by SABREThe A4260 (old A43) still has a blue 'Services' sign at Peartree! Blue was the colour unofficially used by the Department of Transport for a select number of service areas on A-roads, before green signs were authorised in 1982.
- Reposted by SABREManchester Princess Road 1960. A 'pre-Worboys' direction sign with the "dual carriageway" panel - as well as a fine mercury lantern street lamp, a bakery van & a #Manchester bus. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk (Image : Courtesy Manchester Archives)
- Reposted by SABREThe OS One Inch Fifth Edition from the 1930s is a very flawed #map series. It changed standards, got called "muddy", changed layouts and only covered the south of England. Yet it's one of our favourites, so another 12 additional sheets from 1934 have gone live on SABRE Maps today. buff.ly/4MsHl9Z
- Reposted by SABRETraffic signs galore at Trafford park, Manchester, in 1964. The now M60 signed in its original incarnation of the M62 Eccles - Stretford Bypass. I bet that bench on the lest gave scenic views. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk (Image courtesy Manchester Libraries)
- Reposted by SABREThanks to our volunteer development team, the Traffic Counts information on SABRE Maps has been hugely improved with more accurate locations, better graphs and data from Northern Ireland too! You can click on each traffic type to diplay, and see just how busy roads really are. buff.ly/XH6mVqm
- Reposted by SABREFollowing the success of our introductory Zoom talk on SABRE Maps, we'll be holding a second one around our Grid Calibrator tool, showing how we georeference maps, and how you can help! There will be opportunities to ask questions, and click along! buff.ly/TzVhjsT
- Reposted by SABREAfter all those maps from 1975, it's #MapMonday and time for the first modern OpenData #map of 2026! OS Miniscale is smilar to the old Ten Mile or Route Planning maps and therefore great for looking for major changes in GB over time. Can you find the changes from our 2025 layer? buff.ly/pIyUpVm
- Reposted by SABREFrom the 1959 Cheshire County Handbook - the work of the Highways Dept. & two new road schemes; the Clayton by-pass of the A34 in Congleton & the Northwich by-pass of the A556. @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk @showmeasign.online #cheshire #1950s flic.kr/p/2rSeRGR
- Reposted by SABRE[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by SABREUnexpected C road on a route confirmation sign.
- As a reminder, this is happening at 7.30pm this evening for anyone who is interested in the Maps section of our Society.
- Want to learn more about SABRE Maps? Not sure which #maps we have available or how to find them? Or what other mapping functions we have? Perhaps you just like maps, history or the railways? Join us for our first-ever Zoom session, Wed 14 Jan 2026 - free at 1930 UK/Ireland time. buff.ly/JxwTeg1
- Reposted by SABREThis sign has never made sense the second slip road is ruler straight and hits a roundabout.
- Reposted by SABREWant to learn more about SABRE Maps? Not sure which #maps we have available or how to find them? Or what other mapping functions we have? Perhaps you just like maps, history or the railways? Join us for our first-ever Zoom session, Wed 14 Jan 2026 - free at 1930 UK/Ireland time. buff.ly/JxwTeg1
- Reposted by SABREA spendid architects sketch of the M6 at the Lune Gorge by Frank Weemys in 1967 used, with the MOT's consent, on the front cover of the Guide to Appleby & N. Westmorland Councils. The heavily engineered section opened in 1970. @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk @showmeasign.online flic.kr/p/2rQHmUG
- Now, this takes us back a bit. Thanks Chris!
- Today I'm launching a silly roads-related side project - the Simulator, that will let you take journeys around the UK's major roads from the comfort of your chair. And to explain why I have invested so much effort in something so pointless, I wrote this. open.substack.com/pub/roadsorg...
- Reposted by SABREThings can disappear before you realise. How many of our former operators did you realise aren't named on the motorways any more?
- Reposted by SABREFor this #MapMonday, we'll be making sure that all of the Ordnance Survey Quarter Inch #Maps that were published in 1975 are available on SABRE Maps, with the addition of Sheet 6 to add to all the others already available. Any ideas as to which 1975 maps we'll add next? buff.ly/AWqLo5c
- Reposted by SABREEven artist’s impressions of GLC road projects were drawn with the GLC’s custom designed street lights, like this view of the unbuilt West Cross Route!
- Reposted by SABREHappy New Year! And a new year means that another year's mapping drops out of copyright, with OS, OSI and OSNI maps with a copyright date of 1975 now being available to us. As usual, the first is a new OS Route Planning Map for you all to enjoy. buff.ly/SeTLZJl
- Reposted by SABREAnother map site that we've become aware of, and really like is bustimes.org. It's literally a live map of all buses in Ireland and Great Britain, their location, their route, timetable, and how close they are to being on time. Have a look, and see if you agree! buff.ly/GwWlf8W
- Reposted by SABREA fascinating film from @scotroadsarchive.bsky.social - the construction of the Forth Road Bridge & the approach roads, even down to the reuse of local shale oil bings for foundations. #scotland @threadinburgh.scot @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk youtu.be/oIv0JZXTZrY?...
- Reposted by SABREHow do you fix the M4 into London? The Ministry of Transport thought you couldn't. But a team of engineers had other ideas, and wanted to extend it as a right-hand-drive elevated road across London to Barking. ("Barking" was the operative word in their plan.) www.roads.org.uk/ringways/wes...
- Reposted by SABREThe London County Council’s Strand Underpass, opened in 1964 and created through the conversion of part of the former Kingsway tram tunnel. The work, undertaken by John Mowlem & Co., cost just over £1 million. Here is an LCC brochure marking its completion.
- Reposted by SABREThe opening ceremony brochure for Westway and the West Cross Route from July 1970. “Guests will be invited to […] proceed with a police escort to Westway where the Minister will be invited by the Leader of the Council to cut a ribbon on the westbound carriageway and to declare the new roadways open”
- Reposted by SABREThe UK pioneered changeable road signs of all types - we gave the world the matrix signal, but we also had a go at all sorts of other novel ideas. Take a tour of some of the wildest ideas of the 60s, part of our Mixed Signals long read. www.roads.org.uk/articles/mix...
- Reposted by SABREThe gradual replacement of age-expired gantry signs on the M60 has begun, but no consideration has been given to updating information to reduce overload of destinations.
- Reposted by SABREOh I say! @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk A fine, early M1 sign c.1964 flic.kr/p/2n7DeXz
- Reposted by SABREFancy a stroll on a motorway? Before the M621 opened to connect Leeds with the motorway network you could do just that. #leeds www.roads.org.uk/blog/walk-m621
- Reposted by SABREFor this week's #MapMonday, you can discover the OS London Two Inch Ministry of Transport maps from 1922, and see just where the A1, A2, A3 etc all meet at "point zero" in London. Or not... buff.ly/BAr8iFr
- Reposted by SABREJust published - we're slowly losing something we didn't know we had: a street light designed just for London. I've taken a deep (and deeply geeky) dive into the history of an everyday object that was designed not to be noticed. #london roadsorguk.substack.com/p/london-in-...
- Reposted by SABREThe UK's highest numbered motorway is too narrow to have hard shoulders, too short to fit in a lay-by and has a junction named for a toll plaza that doesn't exist. The oddball M898 is full of surprises. #glasgow www.roads.org.uk/motorway/m898
- Reposted by SABREIn the 1950s the man in charge of Oxfordshire's roads didn't like the UK's road signs, so he invented his own. The Ministry hated them - first because they weren't allowed, and second because they were better than the real thing. www.roads.org.uk/articles/oxf...
- Reposted by SABREFrom the 1936 catalogue of the Tipton electrical manufacturing company of Revo. "Typical" street lighting installations inc. some v Thirties seaside stuff as well as the old Marble Arch layout in London. @simonbriercliffe.bsky.social @sabre-roads.org.uk @roads.org.uk @lccmunicipal.bsky.social
- Reposted by SABREAnd you can see the route of what we lovingly call the PNLR right here on SABRE Maps: www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.p...
- Some of London's urban motorways were built. Some were planned but spades never hit the ground. And some were so vague, so ethereal, that we still don't even know what they were called. Take a journey with us on a road that's little more than a ghost. www.roads.org.uk/ringways/nor...
- Reposted by SABRESome of London's urban motorways were built. Some were planned but spades never hit the ground. And some were so vague, so ethereal, that we still don't even know what they were called. Take a journey with us on a road that's little more than a ghost. www.roads.org.uk/ringways/nor...
- Reposted by SABRE[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by SABREWe like to mention sometimes that we have the world's largest freely available repository of relevant Ordnance Survey OpenData #maps - and there's still future plans to bring more. However, as we also periodically ask, we are missing some mapping from our archive.
- Reposted by SABRETransport is full of terminology. Do you know your Pegasus from your Pelican? Could you point out a refuge or a repeater if you saw one in the wild? Don't worry, if you're lost in jargon our dictionary can help. www.roads.org.uk/dictionary
- Reposted by SABREA suitable sign for the onset of winter. A 'pre-Worboys' direction sign at Chilton Moor, Co. Durham, as seen in Jan 1963, a bitter winter, by Ed Fulton on Flickr. Chilly & atmospheric for a child of the '60s! @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk flic.kr/p/2mJWwxV
- Reposted by SABREOur collection of road sign fonts has been fuelling people's imagination for 20 years. If you haven't downloaded them yet, maybe now's the time to make your own road sign? www.roads.org.uk/fonts
- Reposted by SABREWestminster's council has spent several years trialling "3D" zebra crossings, in the hope the optical illusion will cause drivers to slow down. The artwork is nice but would you be fooled? We paid a visit to the first one when it had just opened. www.roads.org.uk/blog/3d-zebra
- Happy Birthday M50! You can read more about it on the SABRE Wiki: www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/M50
- Voiceover: they really weren't. If you want to learn more about traffic lights generally, then may we humbly suggest the SABRE Wiki: www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/Traffic...
- The front page of the Times said they were the first ever traffic lights on a motorway. We weren't so sure, so in 2017 we went looking... and found that the motorways are home to quite a lot of them. www.roads.org.uk/blog/traffic...
- Reposted by SABREYou can drive London's North Circular today, but it would have been a different road if sixties planners had their way. Take a look at the plans that would have fitted it in to a city-wide network of motorways. #northcircular www.roads.org.uk/ringways/rin...
- A massive fascinating new map of the Lancashire Road Plan published today on SABRE Maps, with accompaning articles on the SABRE Wiki. Have at it! buff.ly/a0ruuuS
- Reposted by SABREHopefully everyone has enjoyed the last three weeks when we've brought you roads plans from London, Glasgow and Manchester. So, tomorrow, we'll bring a fourth major roads plan to life - but this time instead of being a conurbation plan, it's that for a county. But which one?
- Reposted by SABREConwy is home to an impressive array of bridges and tunnels, many of them on (or formerly on) the A55. The Conwy Tunnel itself isn't the most glamorous but it's probably the most used. An unusual arch commemorates its opening and frames a view of the town. #conwy
- Our Maps team (@maps.sabre-roads.org.uk) uploaded a georeferenced scan of the 1962 SELNEC Highway Plan a few days ago. Now we're joining in on the act, with the full text of the list of all routes proposed so that you can cross-reference with the map: www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/SELNEC_...
- Reposted by SABRESo, we promised a follow-up for this #MapMonday to the Ringways Map for London and the Greater Glasgow Transportation Study for two more cities in Great Britain. We did, of course, cheat slightly, because today's new #map is that for the 1962 SELNEC Highway Plan.
- Reposted by SABREThe UK's road numbers all radiate from a central point in London. So if you follow them back to the start, you'll find a central point, right? Er, no. Join us in the search for the hub that never existed. www.roads.org.uk/blog/middle-...
- Reposted by SABREOur Motorway Database is famous for its strip maps of major roads, but there's more to them than meets the eye. Take a look at our guide to make the most of the colours and symbols that pack so much information into these tiny maps. www.roads.org.uk/motorway/key...
- Reposted by SABREThe '60s saw the start of construction of the main spine of the UK's motorway network; 15 Nov 1963 & Minister of Transport Ernest Marples, an interesting character in his own right, officially opens the Staffordshire-Cheshire section of the M6. @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk
