Suffolk in East Anglia may be going through an LED conversion, but there is plenty of survivors from the past for the enthusiast to enjoy … for the time being at least.
Brandon, on the Suffolk / Norfolk border is one small town that still holds onto some remarkable installations. All the photographs in this post were taken in May 2018.
London Road in Brandon has this now extremely rare GEC Z8401 top-entry lantern for MA/V lamps.
The lantern is now running a SON-T lamp.
Rather unusually, the power appears to be fed to the Concrete Utilities “Avenue 3DNN” column via an overhead cable.
A more distant view of the unusual installation showing how the column is fed. The next column along is a more commonly-installed (but now getting rare) GEC Z8526 on a Concrete Utilities “Highway X” column.
A close-up photograph of the GEC Z8526 on the Concrete Utilities “Highway X” column Both look in great condition for their age.
Another view of both installations together.
A final photograph of the extremely rare GEC Z8401 top-entry lantern.
Brandon High Street has a good quantity of extremely rare Phosco P151s on Concrete Utilities “Avenue 3DNN” columns.
Three more of Brandon High Street's Phosco P151s, as seen interspersed with more modern replacements.
Two close-up views of one of the Phosco P151s.
Rather amusingly for 2018, there’s even a GEC Z8526 on a Concrete Utilities “Highway X” column casual replacement in the mix.
A close-up view of the GEC Z8526 casual replacement.
The last Phosco P151 on the High Street, just before the railway station, is missing its bowl.
The missing bowl allows us to have a look inside the lantern, where the missing lamp is noticed.
The view looking back to Brandon town centre from the railway station.
Two adjacent Phosco P151s.
A close-up view of one of the Phosco P151s near the railway station.
A final photograph looking back to Brandon town centre from the railway station.
From memory, the town also has a high population of small wattage mercury lighting, mainly Eleco Silver Rays in line with Suffolk's historic preference, and more latterly GEC Z8831s. It was nice also to see a mercury-running Phosco P107 installed in the town, as these are getting rare too.
A close-up photograph of the mercury-running Phosco P107 in Saffron Close.
In summary, any enthusiasts travelling through East Anglia in the near future and with time to spare would be highly recommended to put Brandon into their sat navs!