Whilst the South Coast PFI has largely stopped in its tracks now that the five year core investment period is over, there are a few "pickings" that happen here and there from time to time.
In Southampton there have been mercury casualties. SSE have "found" the two GEC ZD815 saucers in Petworth Gardens, Lordswood. The columns have now been replaced. Similarly, in West Road Woolston, SSE have "found" two cast iron columns with GEC Z5590s. The rest of West Road was relit earlier in the year, but clearly SSE were short of the money in the closing weeks of the core investment period, as rather than replacing the columns they fitted second-hand 3m tall hockeystick extension brackets from Glen Eyre Road to the existing casties and fitted Libras to the brackets, resulting in a three tone colour scheme (grey columns, green brackets, black lanterns). The two lost-and-found columns, now numbered 1A and 1B, have had brand new swan neck brackets fitted. Interestingly, these are fitted with DW Windsor Iffleys running PL-T lamsp.
The PFI had been replacing DW Windsor Iffleys with the similar but larger Metcraft Addingtons. Evidently their current cash flow has dictated they be more sensible. I suspect the Iffleys sourced had been taken down from somewhere else. Interestingly, whilst one was fitted with a Mayflower internal node, the other was fitted with a Harvard LeafNode. In nearby Oak Road, where the existing Iffleys survived the core investment period, these appear to have been fitted with Harvard LeafNodes too. The lanterns look remarkably shiny, so I'm not sure to what extent they have been upgraded. It is most peculiar that SSE are mixing Mayflower and Harvard systems, especially as SSE owns Mayflower, so essentially using Harvard takes money out of the company. I believe the two manufacturers' systems are compatible now, thanks to the TALQ Consortium.
In Southampton, the last public road in Southampton lit by mercury is the cul-de-sac part of Burgess Road, where three of the casties retain Z5590s. There are also two GEC ZD815s left in service in the city, but neither of these appear on the fault reporting map and ownership is questionable. There is still a very small amount of SOX left in the city, and a handful of concretes, so it will be interesting to see if anything happens to those in the coming months.
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