I haven't seen an LED Thorn Beta 5 in the flesh yet (no great surprise as SOX still rules the road in Essex), but this discussion about the Beta 5 reminded me of a journey I was making through Oxford last year which made me do a double take:
Something I have never seen before - a Thorn Beta 5 emitting white light!
These white light-emitting top-entry Thorn Beta 5s are in Sunderland Avenue, Oxford, and were photographed in September 2013. They are clearly a gear tray conversion (perhaps with a 24w PL-L which would be a perfect fit), as the lanterns in Sunderland Avenue haven't changed since 2008 according to Google Streetview.
Although it was excellent to see these Beta 5's given a new lease of life (as opposed to the alternative!), sadly Sunderland Avenue was perhaps not the best road to check them out, as the SON lighting on the adjacent A40 was overpowering them.
...but nonetheless it was still fabulous to see an old lantern cleverly brought up-to-date this way, and it gives us hope that upgrades to white light need not necessarily mean the destruction of old favourites.
Puzzlingly, the identical residential road running to the north of the A40 (also called Sunderland Avenue) hasn't had its Beta 5s converted, so they have a more traditional appearance
