Once I've added more lanterns onto the comparison list in the ref section, there will be many more examples of that! One or two may have a few people wondering what the lanterns actually are...

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Another urban myth is that WRTL took over making the Alpha 8 when Thorn discontinued it and renamed it the MRL8. Does anybody know if this is true? We have a couple of relatively-recent (from about 2005) Alpha 8 casual replacements on the MRL6-lit A585, maintained by the HA. I wonder if these could be MRL8s? They look a bit more modern than the usual Alpha 8s.

Somebody's been reading the reference section!    I first came across MRL 8 through a discussion with member Claire.

Not sure, our council carpark has metal halide Alpha 8 lanterns on 5m columns from the 2004 or so era. I know Thorn were still selling the Alpha 8 to Australia till fairly recently, so it may be that the council just had some old stock they wanted to use. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between a white post-top ZX2/3 and an Alpha 8 as well.

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"I used to rule the world... Now I sweep the streets I used to own."
Remembering GEC.

I am sceptical about the Alpha 8 being transferred over to WRTL. Why would WRTL have bothered selling the Alpha 8 at a time when the MRL6 was being sold alongside the Vectra and the Arc? Back in 2008 the Hong Kong Thorn online catalogue, or somewhere else abroad, displayed the Alpha 8, suggesting that Thorn was still making it. I never saw an MRL8 on the old WRTL-Online website either, although that website was pre-2004/5.

Proof of a WRTL MRL8 can only happen if somebody owns one or has pictures of a label or a catalogue entry.

It was Thorn of Russia who still had it listed on their website - I printed off the catalogue page but I cannot remember where I put it! However they probably hadn't updated their website for a while...

Ever since I've been on Thorn's website which was probably back in 2003/4, the Alpha 8 was never listed.  I believe Australia had the Beta 79 but not the Alpha 8. I don't ever recall seeing an MRL 8 catalogue entry on WRTL's website.

Relating to the MRL8 question,

Perhaps the MRL8 was a special order requested by several authorities, even it was not advertised on the WRTL catalogue, that WRTL continued the design although for a brief period due to demand.

This situation seems to be the same with the CU P678 which is still alive and well still being installed in Bournemouth and Wirral despite being no longer advertised on the CU Phosco online catalogue.

I knew Solihull and Warwickshire councils were installing the MkII Alpha 8 (or let's say MRL8) until c.2005 - now that Solihull seems to have moved over to black QSMs and green Civics since. I think Warwickshire are now using black ZX3s.

Powys in Wales seemed to like flat-glass Alpha 8s which there these looked pretty new and clean so it is possible these are the WRTL version.

When I was studying in the Midlands several years ago, I lived not far from Solihull and I do remember being amazed by seeing numerous SOX lanterns removed en-masse for the Alpha 8s (like Chelmsey Wood alongside the M6). Solihull had a thing for the Alpha 8 which is pretty much everywhere in the borough however they did install some bowled Vectras though not on a grand scale like Sandwell!

Here are my thoughts. Thorn, who designed the Alpha 8 and manufactured it for many years had all of the moulds for this lantern. WRTL already had the MRL6 as their old fashioned main road lantern, with the Vectra and Arc being their modern main road lanterns. WRTL would have had to acquire all the moulds for the Alpha 8, plus they would have had to train up their staff to make them, especially given that metal needs cutting and such. If WRTL really bothered to basically start up a new production line for what was already an obsolete lantern then the only explanation I could think of is that somebody from WRTL had a personal love of the Alpha 8 and decided to produce it as their own just in order to keep it in production, even though it would not have been economic.

Simon Cornwell has updated his site with details on the Thorn Alpha 1 and also the rare and probably totally extinct Thorn Alpha 2.

Note that the pictured Alpha 2 installation is in Chesterfield with the crooked spire in the background as a giveaway!  

I think we used to have Alpha 2s on Cleveleys Prom until the mid 80s. They weren't as big and bulky-looking as the usual GEC Z8380s etc.