Got some more Blackpool ones for you - I got a few surprises when I first saw some of these myself!
All images are courtesy of Fylde Bus Blog -
http://fyldebus.blogspot.com/http://tinyurl.com/yeypllqBelieve it or not this was taken in 1986! This was actually the first year that Blackpool had Routemasters after they were purchased secondhand from London Ensign. The lighting is, of course, Gamma 6s which would have been mercury. I find this photo interesting for two reasons -
1) the photo is taken on Dinmore Avenue, Layton. This is the main distributor road for the huge Grange Park estate which is apparently the biggest council estate in Lancashire! Therefore having it lit with 80w MBF Gamma 6s seems a very poor choice of lighting for a road of this magnitude!
2) the CU (and nearest the camera a Stanton and Staveley which will be a casual replacement from about 1984ish) columns look very new. I know Blackpool didn't use Gamma 6s or CU columns for side roads until the late 70s so these installations were probably only about 10 years old. Yet the year after this photo these were replaced by 8m CU columns with MA90s. I wonder what was there before the Gamma 6s? I'll have to do some research!
Note the column in the background which has lost it's lantern and had a warning bollard placed next to it presumably after a car accident. If this was casually replaced then the replacement would have had a short life! The flats in this picture were demolished some time ago.
http://tinyurl.com/yl845saThis is Starr Gate at the southern entrance to Blackpool in 1988. Note the lovely old GEC 'Promenade' lanterns which used to change colour during the Illuminations. In the background are a couple of Phosco P222s and if you look really closely you may spot a Beta 79 which would have been quite new then! The buses are a Routemaster and one of those awful Dodge minibuses which used to break your back as they had seemingly no suspension at all!
http://tinyurl.com/ylroewmThis is an AEC Swift on the long-defunct 3A service in 1982. It is seen pictured at it's terminus at the Borough Boundary in South Shore. This is lit by these lovely Stanton columns with some kind of GEC Z5560 derivative (I think?). These won't have lasted much longer as I can remember as far back as 1985 these columns had been sleeved and fitted with SON Gamma 6s which remain to this day.
http://tinyurl.com/yj73mbeAlthough this picture is from 1987 the lighting in it all still exists to this day. In the background is an example of the unusual Blackpool practice of fitting MK II Alpha 8s onto group B columns with their height extended to 6m by double-sleeving. In the foreground is a CU column with a then-mercury but now SON Gamma 6. In the picture are two of Blackpool's Atlanteans.
http://tinyurl.com/yhspvbsLangdale Road, Mereside in 1984. This picture is
very interesting! Can somebody please tell me what on earth those fluorescent lanterns are? The weird thing about this picture is that I've seen an older picture of Langdale Road from the 70s and it had different fluorescents (GECs) and the columns weren't sleeved as they are in this picture. It was a different part of Langdale Road but it's not that long a road and it seems strange if in one part the columns were sleeved and had different lanterns to the other part. Those columns still exist - soon after this picture a second sleeve was fitted onto the first one with an outreach and Alpha 8 MK IIs fitted and in about 2004 the Alpha 8s were replaced with WRTL 2600s. In the background are the Alpha 3s of Preston New Road. Although this is a dual carriageway it was, and still is, lit by concrete columns. The Alpha 3s were swapped over for MRL6s in about 1994 though. The bus is a Leyland National. These were short-lived in Blackpool only running from 1984-1991. The windmill is a nice feature. Notice it is missing a sail as it was for many years until it was restored in the mid 90s.
http://tinyurl.com/yhuv9toAnother Leyland National in 1986 this time on Talbot Road. Note the wonderful Phosco P222s which I remember well and in the very far background is an Alpha 3.
Hope you enjoyed and if anybody could identify the Langdale Road fluorescents I would be most grateful!