A few weeks ago I welcomed Phosco152, Simon Cornwell and sotonsteve to my corner of the country for a lantern swap and a tour of the local area. It was brilliant to be in the company of three people with infinitely more street-lighting knowledge than me, and the day offered me an opportunity to ask many questions that I have pondered over in the past.
One question stumped them, however. In 1986 when I was about 11 or 12, my Dad took me to the local district council's offices to meet a chap called Ray Smith, the district's lighting engineer at the time. Back then (1986 B.C. - before computers) it was impossible to find out who made what, so I was left to describe the lantern to the lighting engineer and let him name it for me - a process which worked rather well! When it was time to go, he kindly gave me the June 1986 issue of The Lighting Journal (the journal of the Institution of Lighting Engineers), which I still have to this day.
The magazine contained an advert for three newly-launched Philips side road lanterns, two of which were the MI26 and the MI36. Back in 1986, it was impossible to imagine a side road lantern that would be installed in such large quantities over the next 25 years that it would equal the Beta Five, but the MI26 has done just that. My question that stumped Phosco152, Simon Cornwell and sotonsteve was: whatever happened to that third side road lantern that Philips launched alongside the MI26 and MI36?
Sadly I was unable to locate the magazine during their visit, but I have found it now!
Well, we all know what happened to the MI26 and MI36. The mystery lantern is the H/SRS103 for 50w/70w SON or 125w MBF/U, which I can categorically say I have never seen installed anywhere! Can anyone shed any light on why the H/SRS103 bombed when the MI26 went stratospheric?