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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:35 pm 
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Hi all.. I'm Chris and I've just been thinking about the past and future of streetlighting. I remember from when I was younger in the 90's that a street would be completely mercury, but with a mix of column and lantern types - like Revo Diadems, Z5580's and Eleco Silver rays all on one road not to mention the array of concrete posts!

Do you think they were installed as a mix or do you think some were replaced over time due to various reasons? I'm just wondering as in 20 years time do you think it will still be streets of Iridiums or an eclectic mix for collectors in the future?

Chris


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:50 pm 
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The truth is I really don't know. My town's lighting is also intriguing as you can find Z9454s; Alpha 9s and gearless MA90s of similar probable age along the same roads. Obviously as it is today, it would be odd to see new lanterns mixed and matched on the same road. There is probably a good chance it would have happened in the past if councils were using up their lantern stocks but a few probably were generated through casual replacements I reckon.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:31 pm 
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It happened in Leeds from when the trams closed, right upto the PFI. It was good for old lantern spotting.

You'd get areas with the trampoles still in use, fitted with various 1950's era SOX lanterns and modern casual replacements such as Z9464's, MA90's, Alpha 8's and the such. You'd turn down another road and it'll have concretes with 1950's SOX Lanterns, Alpha 9's, Z9454's, GR100's and the MA series on it.

Dual Carriageways and other main roads used to have Revo Hyperions, replaced with GR200's or 150's, Z9554's and MA50's and 60's.

Leeds City Centre had Fluorescents in the late 50's to late 60's too. I bet it looked awesome at night.

Residential streets had 5m Stanton columns which mostly held Beta 5's on them. These were either old Atlas ones, 1970's or newer. In the 90's, these were casually replaced with MI26's when the old lanterns were no longer feesable to keep running. Some areas had other types of lanterns fitted such as Z9481's. There was no mercury that I new of.

Columns themselves ranged hugely too in both main road and residential areas. I don't know all the names of them all. Most were sleeved in the 80's and 90's and these also tended to retain their original lanterns till the late 90's in certain areas. One example being the main road where I live. Originally it was lit with Z9454's and Alpha 9's on 8m concretes. These were all sleeved and fitted with SON GRP Alpha 8's near the shopping centre whereas MK2 MA90's were fitted after the shops. Nowadays 10m Post Top Iridiums stand tall and it's the same story around Leeds.


Last edited by Stelmer on Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:19 pm 
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well in York I am still confused by some things. As we have columns of one type and in several roads they'll have GEC Z9545 lanterns fitted, and then completely randomly there will be one column with an Eleco GR2 fitted (the only one in the city); or the next street might have a different type of lantern fitted but all uniform. The main road from where I live has two top entry versions of these columns that have Revo Daleks fitted, yet after one column of the exact same age that is side entry with a Z9454 fitted, there is another top entry version with a phosco HW905 fitted. Whether these were originally lantern trials or casual replacements I can't say.

York's Mercury stock was more explainable for most areas: Eleco Way lanterns for late 1960 early 1970's lighting, then Phosco P106's for mid-late 1970's areas, with GEC Z5674's as casual replacements. But even out of that there are/were some anomolies.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:08 am 
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You've definitely hit the nail on the head there with that mix of lanterns. And I can understand casual replacements of lanterns, but even the mix of concrete columns was crazy with a mix of swan necks with standard and even those were all different to each other..


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:36 am 
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I've edited my original message to reflect some of my observations as a kid in the 80's.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:31 pm 
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Even nowadays there can be a mix and match, although not in one street. For example, in Southampton one road may get 36w Libras, one road might get 55w Libras, and another road might get 60w CosmoArcs. All roads may be neighbouring and identical in nature, yet for some obscure reason they get treated differently.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:10 pm 
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Brighouse in 1997 was a lot different then than it is now. All the Alpha 3's ran MBF and not SON, where MRL6's have been installed there were Alpha 3's / GR150's / MA90's. Bramston Street which is the A643 use to be lit with MA90's until 2002 when the current batch of Alpha 8 were installed.

Bradford Rd near to Wellholme Park use to be GR200's running SOX and were installed on finned Stanton columns dating back to the 50's sadly replaced with Alpha 8's. Heading into Bailliff Bridge the road was a mish-mash of GR's and MA's. The A644 Wakefield Rd is still like that now.

The A629 Elland Bypass use to be lit by GR200's until 2003 - 2006 when the Arc's were installed, it gave the A629 that 'cheap motorway' feel. Some lanterns did suvive in the Ainley Top Tunnel until a few years back. These would have been original to the tunnel as they were bolted on a dual bracket which was in turn mouted to the tunnel 'ceiline'. Now only the sawn mounting plate remains.

If a column got ploughed into in the 90's it was generally replaced with either an MA or a MRL6. Now any replacement involves an Arc, even if it has replaced a previous post top fitting.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:20 pm 
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What lit the M606 in the 90's? I remember the columns being quite shabby but I can't remember if it was lit with SOX or SON.


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:03 am 
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inkubate wrote:
You've definitely hit the nail on the head there with that mix of lanterns. And I can understand casual replacements of lanterns, but even the mix of concrete columns was crazy with a mix of swan necks with standard and even those were all different to each other..

That reminded me about the concrete columns around here. Although sleeved, my road has Stanton 7 concrete columns fitted - and each column is either on a corner or opposite a side road entrance. However, at a later date there has been an 'infill' with a new column at the eastern end of the road added, and large gaps between the Stanton 7's filled in - all of which with 1970's/80's slimline stanton columns. It's the same on the next road - two Stanton 7's (unsleeved, one with swan neck and one with quarter-circle bracket) still with timeswitches fitted, one at the end of the road and one halfway between that and the other end of the road, then slimline columns as infill.

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