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PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2016 7:00 pm 
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Matthew Eagles' Website is now back up.

http://www.mattheweagles.co.uk/index.htm


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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2016 4:50 pm 
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Excellent news!


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:22 pm 
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For those on Ukastle, who used to use the Yahoo Street Lighting forum set up by Simon Cornwell (and I found that site before Ukastle when I got into lighting), the news from Simon C is the Yahoo group its now defunct.

I had noticed this a while back, and posts on the Yahoo group had dried up several years before that. Unfortunately Simon C wasn't informed before hand, so there wasn't an opportunity to archive it before it closed.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:21 pm 
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Re: Demise of yahoo streetlighting group.

Although I did visit this group from time to time, I do prefer Ukastle as an outlet for my lantern related ramblings. I like its style, ease of accessability and its justifiably trusted position within the field of street lighting professionals. As has been previously noted - Ukastle is not just another online chatroom!

Whilst the demise of any special interest group is to be regretted, perhaps we need to look at the reasons behind why the Yahoo group failed. It might simply be down to the subject having reached saturation point, with other similar groups all vying for our attention.

As someone who dislikes the notion of Twitter (most of which seem to be "retweets"), I would certainly hope that Ukastle will continue to do what it does best - providing a listening post for our often lengthy musings (as well as keeping our grammar up to scratch).

Interestingly,  I have noticed that Ukastle itself has been rather quiet since Christmas. I do hope it is only a temporary lull in proceedings.

I'm sure there are sufficient of us in the meantime, to keep blowing the dust off the servers!

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"I can't think what you want to go to London for, you won't find any better lampposts there..."
L.S. Lowry. 1887-1976.


Last edited by GreatNorburyStDepot on Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 6:45 pm 
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The Yahoo group and Ukastle were both set up before social media. That does seem to be the method that many of the younger generation prefer to communicate by online. There is now a Facebook streetlight group.

The main disadvantage of Facebook and Twitter is that posts can't be ordered or searched. There is much in streetlighting that's question and answer based, or needs to be documented reference style. Neither of which are suitable for a social media style group.

The strength of Ukastle is its reference style and ordered layout. The Yahoo group wasn't as rigorous in that manner due to its constrained manner of the Yahoo template, but it was still a useful source of information.

I believe there is a place for both; the style of Ukastle and a social media style chat forum. In other hobbyist areas such as car restoration/maintenance, "traditional" style forums are going strong still - for much the same reason as Ukastle - you can't easily search social media for how to overhaul your front disc brakes on your car for instance.

Ukastle has no intention of going anywhere, and hopefully sometime in the future we may have a slight "refresh", but our aim will remain the same - "..providing a focal point for all things related to street lighting."


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:19 pm 
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I imagine this will be old news as the following group has probably been common knowledge within Ukastle for many years, however "Liverpool Street lighting Museum" found on facebook (and twitter) is  certainly worthwhile visiting.

Dedicated to acquiring and preserving the streetlighting equipment primarily found in the Liverpool area over many years, the collection features both gas and electric varieties. Plenty of great pictures including restoration works.

In some respects, it makes me think how my own similarly sized collection could have been further developed (including online), had not changing circumstances forced me to downsize in the mid 90s.


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"I can't think what you want to go to London for, you won't find any better lampposts there..."
L.S. Lowry. 1887-1976.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:56 pm 
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Mike Barford's site has had an update which features an incredible survivor.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:58 pm 
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Re: Mike Barford's ESLA survivor.

This particular lantern would have narrowly avoided detection by my radar, had it not been for a holiday back in August 2017 to Matlock. As I enjoy driving, I opted to go the "scenic route" to my destination via Whaley Bridge and Chapel en le Frith. These two small towns were once on the main route to Buxton, until the A6 re-alignment in the late 80s effectively bypassed them.

I remember travelling through both towns (when I was a youngster), on one of many forays to the tram museum at Crich or the Heights of Abraham.

Alpha 1s and linear Alpha 5s were the mainstay of local lantern provision at the time. It is interesting to note that when I was in my early teens, I didn't really appreciate SLIs (they were everywhere back then) and as both towns were merely passed through without much fuss, it is easy to see why these lanterns would not have registered too much in my mind. How tastes change!

Anyway, as is common these days, I opted to do a bit of GSV reconnaissance, just to see what is around and about. The Alpha 1s and 5s are long gone, therefore to come across this vintage lantern still in situ (and purely by chance), is quite frankly amazing.

Anyway, having found this relic, I decided it was certainly worth a visit. As has been mentioned, it does seem to be in active use and nicely maintained - shame about the cable tie, but never mind. Interestingly, although I assume it is still under the ownership of the council, there doesn't seem to be any ID number fixed to it. Could it be privately owned in that case?

A polite phone call to the Stocks Cafe & Bistro might unearth some answers.

It is reasonable to speculate as to why this particular piece of street furniture has survived at all. lt might be down to "Grandfather rights" inherited from the former rural district council (abolished in 1974) ensuring it is always kept on the books, or the realisation that this street lantern has always been there* and is an important part of the streetscene. There are some listed buildings in "Chapel", therefore it might also be of special interest in that context too.

If this is indeed the case, wouldn't it be nice if neighbouring authorities had similar policies regarding obsolete street furniture.

Anyway, long may it remain, although it might need a kind donor to keep it supplied with SOX lamps (once existing sources have been depleted).

*Looking at vintage photographs from the Francis Frith Collection, it looks like the lamp must have appeared in the late 1930s or thereabouts. Two images in particular show the building, with and without the lamp. Another photo shows the rear of the same building (possibly the early 50s) which shows a similar bracket but with what looks like a GEC "Open sodium" Z9420. Assuming the area was originally lit by Eslas, this must have been a replacement or a new installation.


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"I can't think what you want to go to London for, you won't find any better lampposts there..."
L.S. Lowry. 1887-1976.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 1:35 pm 
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GreatNorburyStDepot has just brought to my attention Simon's site is down with a 404 error...! Anyone know any more information as to why it is down? Simon hasn't logged into here since January. It would be a shame if his site never recovers as it is such a useful catalogue... in fact, probably one of the best street lighting websites out there.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 1:49 pm 
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I've emailed him to ask. It was working last week..


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