I wouldn't go for mercury. Would rather have SON gear and run MBI lamps so you get the white light but no uv rays etc.



Worth a shot.

I have a spare Z8896 somewhere in my loft space, but it might take a while to find it! The bowl is brown though. Given a few weeks I may aquire a glass bowled Z5580. Sourcing these types of lanterns other than from collectors and ebay is close to impossible now.

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Not at all. Back of the house is surrounded by high fences and hedges, lantern will be mounted at a height to ensure light spill will be minimal. No other house faces onto the rear of the property. Will only be lit for a few hours a week when I'm working outside, not all the time. At the front, the drive is well off the road, and again the light will only be on occasionally when I'm working out the front, not all the time. I am a responsible citizen! I just fancied a few lanterns around the place for wherever I will be working, all fitted with column switches to individually isolate and switched centrally by a photocell and a master override switch.

We have the Diadem on the back of our present house, that was great over the winter when I was tidying the garden or whatever. It also was mounted to ensure light spill was not intrusive, i.e. not glaring directly on any windows.

Sounds interesting and as mentioned above, stock up on lamps as they'll start to get expensive as they're phased out.  There's nothing worse than the light from a tired mercury lamp.

I have used 80w MBF in the garage which gives a nice light for me to work on the bike.

There are uses for slightly tired MBF lamps... for a laugh I converted a test QSM to using MBF lamps and put in a lamp from my 'dim' box, and in the QSM it was brighter than a new Venture lamp inside a Z8691! Just goes to show what computer-designed reflector optics can do for a light source.

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Sorry to Bump this thread, but we have managed to obtain two original GWR crossing lamp posts.    They were recovered in the 1960's and stood, unrestored, in somebodys garden ever since, until they came to us.
They are cast iron, and stand about 6 ft above ground level, and take the usual 'heritage' type gas-lamp type tops.
With these posts now avaliable, work has started on lighting the crossing in a more prototypical way. The posts are being placed at opposite corners of the crossing near the gate shutting posts, just as they were 100 years ago, although in this case GLS shaped CFL lamps are going to be used instead of gas lighting!

The posts are being cleaned up, painted and will be hopefully installed over the bank holiday weekend, and the tops ordered for fitting soon after. It will be up to our leccy boys to then get them powered up.

Mike.

Don't apologise, I was wondering what had happened about this! Excellent that you will be able to recreate how it was originally.

And of course some pics will be essential Mike!!

Well progress has been made, the two posts have been installed, and painted in BR Western Region chocolate and cream to match the rest of the station area. Cabling has also been installed to each post, a fused connection box is awaiting delivery to connect them to the mains 240v supply.
The two 'windsor' type lanterns have been delivered, and as they were pure copper, required painting black (with exception of the very top of the finial) before installation. This has also taken place.
The two lanterns also required substantial modification inside, as they were supplied with a lamp holder which comes up from the base and therefore holds the lamp vertically, obviously designed to connect the incoming cable straight into the lamp holder. As we required a photocell to be fitted for automatic operation, the insides were totally rewired, new wiring run up inside the lamp to the roof, where a Zodion SS10ZA photocell has been fitted. These being ideal as they are very discrete, look good and were recently donated by a friendly electrician from the local uni. A slot was milled in the 'stalk' to the lampholder to enable the incoming cable to be terminated on a terminal block mounted on the base of the lantern, and to take the wires from the photocell to the lamp holder.
Alas the lanterns have not been fitted to the posts as yet, the constant heavy rain we suffered on monday making it too dangerous to wire them up, together with the risk of rushing the job and dropping a lantern.

But still good progress, and it won't be long until they are in operation and i'll certainly take some photos for posting on here.

Mike.

Sounds good so far. Those Windsors can be quite cumbersome to try and move about and fit.

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