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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:31 pm 
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In Old Portsmouth yesterday I spotted that a few streets have had their heritage fittings replaced with Pudsey Diamond Dickens lanterns featuring the Varoptic LED system which mimics gas mantles. The fact that more than a single street has had renewals would suggest Portsmouth are perhaps starting to embark on replacing heritage lighting with LED heritage lighting. Amongst other things, this would see the ageing Phosco P109s replaced, of which most ran vertically mounted SON-E lamps with refractor rings, though a couple of mercury examples may still have survived.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 9:12 pm 
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Tonight, while walking under my nearest main road lighting, I noticed that the original 90-degree curved brackets on some Fabrikat columns from the mid 90s have been swapped out for the staple fancier brackets that my local council loves using, which look like this. I believe this to be the last road in the borough to have its brackets swapped. The TRT Aspect lanterns have been retained.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:23 am 
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I was on the 43 bus the other day and passed through Archway. In that area , quite a number of the tons of Amperas installed in that area were dayburning. To my shock, most of the LEDS have failed in these lanterns. In some cases around half or more of the LED tray had failed. I don’t know when these were installed but that’s shockingly poor. At this rate this stretch will need to be replaced in a few years, certainly not economic at all. I always loathed the Ampera anyway. Never looks good on any column. Oversized and clunky. Probably my least favourite LED lantern. On the other hand there were some shiny new LED lanterns installed when we got to the Barnet council area, all on sage green columns and painted green themselves. I don’t know what these are but they’re some of the best, most sleek looking LED lanterns I’ve seen. Some of them had a noticeable cold light to them too.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2021 10:27 am 
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Alpha3 wrote:
On the other hand there were some shiny new LED lanterns installed when we got to the Barnet council area, all on sage green columns and painted green themselves. I don’t know what these are but they’re some of the best, most sleek looking LED lanterns I’ve seen. Some of them had a noticeable cold light to them too.

They're Philips LumiStreets, they have also been installed in neighbouring Enfield and Portsmouth.

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No LED is better than other light sources (apart from probably lanterns such as Philips LumiStreets)!


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:38 pm 
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And to add to that, Barnet as well as Enfield are pretty much all LED now, apart from the few Arcs that escaped replacement.

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 10:09 pm 
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SpeedStar wrote:
And to add to that, Barnet as well as Enfield are pretty much all LED now, apart from the few Arcs that escaped replacement.


And a few SOX stragglers!

MA50s/60s on the A406 on-slip at Brent Cross

GEC Z9454, Arc and MA50 near the Great Cambridge Roundabout

GEC Z9538 and Z9454s near the Great Cambridge Roundabout

GEC Z9554s and MAs next to the A406 near the Great Cambridge Roundabout


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:23 pm 
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Noticed recently from passing trains that the Urbis Sapphires on the central reservation of the M25 at Brentwood have been retrofitted with LED lanterns, which are so small and skinny they are barely discernable by day! I thought the lanterns had just been removed at first - it was only when I saw the white glow on the return journey in the evening that I could see there really were lanterns on the column!

Also just been looking at a journey that I used to do to visit my sister at university to see if anything has changed lighting-wise, and found the following:

The Iridiums on the on and off-slips of the M11/M25 junction have been replaced with LED lanterns (Phosco P860s?). The same has happened to some MA50s on some other slip roads on the M25.

A few Iridiums which have survived two mass LED retrofitting schemes, have now been retrofitted with Axia 2s on Bishops Rise, Hatfield, as have some Alpha 3s and MAs (and casual replacement Iridiums) on Briars Lane

Obviously, almost all main road lanterns in Essex are now Philips Digistreets (apart from the odd straggler here and there), so that will be a big change across much of the route I used to take.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 7:12 pm 
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So a little bit of sad news on the street lighting front,  one of the last London Borough to remain predominantly non-LED is Greenwich, or at least it was https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200258/parking_transport_and_streets/2299/street_light_upgrade.

What makes this sad for me is that out of the final 4 London boroughs to remain predominantly non LED, I believe that Greenwich has a far larger variety of lanterns as well as columns/brackets going as far back as the 1950s.

On the downside, Greenwich did not have any SOX lanterns. It was definetely one of the first London boroughs to be SOX free as SOX become rare by 1998. I clearly remember that one of the last road of SOX lanterns were removed way back in 2003, although one still remains to this day thanks to TFL (although this is jointly shared with Lewisham, and thats another story for another time) https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.455068,0.0175903,3a,28.3y,123.53h,98.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQLZJmgkW_fgt4YvIiczUKA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192.

Greenwhich also has one very unusual mercury survivor https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4651064,0.0093945,3a,26.4y,151.61h,105.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1kssFfqf-Yw8sNpVBAXEJg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192, and I will be gutted to see it go.

Generally speaking, Greenwich is a fascinating borough that has a rich history and strong maritime, military and regal connections. On the street lighting front, Greenwich has the largest variety of older generation SON lanterns that are not Urbis lanterns. Although WRTL Arcs, Philips SGS203s and WRTL 2600 are the commonly found staple lanterns in the borough, there are still a good number of the following to be found in this borough, in the descending order:

> Thorn Beta 79 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4864815,0.0323059,3a,30y,258.51h,92.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6aGD7AexTDeGmXyu8dfJag!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

> WRTL SRL8
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4448834,0.0304691,3a,15y,191.1h,93.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sewxmzfjdCjLHXD363pCpdQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

> Phosco P567 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4790046,0.0436786,3a,28.4y,270.97h,95.98t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stzOXucgV6EZNd0XmefSBhg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

> Davis GR70
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4850349,0.0469605,3a,28.8y,154.19h,94.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJ3rO7TbWTHhx6Fa8Fw38YA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

> Philips MA30 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4964048,0.0019881,3a,29.8y,204.5h,98.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swhw1PdwtjUGq7HawCu7eUA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

> Thorn Alpha 3 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4743623,0.0372862,3a,75y,34.31h,88.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdpGJsGl1KhnFNcazBJLXaw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

There are also plenty of old columns and brackets that date back to the 1950s and 1960s:

Concrete
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4418932,0.0522343,3a,75y,264.48h,88.08t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2733f8RszzpuzybS81Au7A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.489179,0.007745,3a,27.8y,268.16h,93.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLHRla8nLKeTeXr-6lvZyBQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

and even these 50s/60s once popular concrete columns and brackets specifically for large fluorescent lighting https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Footscray+Rd,+London/@51.4392344,0.0705764,3a,37.5y,334.77h,95.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYtVJ22mzqSl6fNc8cMR5Jg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8a95d57ba2add:0xbb9d614c42830635!8m2!3d51.4406554!4d0.0694337

I'm not sure what these are, but i have always liked them and they must be concrete equivalent of amenity lighting https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4741145,-0.0090791,3a,86.4y,37.99h,102.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sk4JcaR_bZs68UVOtFeo3Vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I just like this, and i haven't seen this as a double bracket before https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4855803,0.0919749,3a,75y,110.89h,93.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7zOgMErf5Mxn0cbxiLOOyw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

Iron
I don't know how this column has survived. According to images, these where originally post war columns for mercury lights, then were modernised in the 1970s for SOX, retrofitted in the late 1990s for SON, and then had the bracket chopped down in 2014 to trial Greenwichs earliest LEDs https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.478089,0.0205228,3a,78.7y,24.38h,95.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sX-K85ZcHPT2pV3FIiXbGWg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Like in my previous link, this is much older than it looks. I would say this column is as old as the late 1940s/1950s, because it is the same as the previous link but in better condition and without the LED upgrade. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.473949,0.0217291,3a,25.2y,350.54h,103.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slDkNkGIx4kZXTeY7c1K6vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Im sure these used to house Flourescent lanterns https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4767918,0.0601706,3a,28.3y,149.96h,97.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKUoTMs9cPoiZiXCuuy_jVw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Greenwich used to have more older SON lanterns like the WRTL MRL6, Davis GR304 and the Thorn Alpha 8, (although one very clean example of the Thorn Alpha 8 has miraculously survived https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4799708,0.0969411,3a,75y,275.03h,121.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjPsztZREJaWUOKhlDJPHFg!2e0!5s20210801T000000!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en).

Interestingly, when SON took over nearly all London Boroughs in the 1990s, the vast majority of these boroughs opted for the ever dominant Urbis Lanterns, and the remaining borough that choose an alternative would almost always choose Philips. The exceptions to this were Kingston and Enfield that relied on Thorn (namely the Alpha 8) until the very end, when they choose the Philips Iridium or Philips SGS203 respectively. Croydon always did things differently, and did use the Philips SGS203 in/around 1989 as their first foray into SON (but that quickly reverted to the Urbis ZX2), however unlike any other London borough, Croydon refused to use Philips SOX lanterns, and would use literally anything else e.g. thorn betas, simplex aries/gemini, WRTL Iris etc.

Greenwich will be missed due to the variety and age of their pleasant lighting stock. Also, I personally like how Greenwich almost never used generic amentity lighting, and only used heritage lighting, once, for the roads surrounding the historic Cutty Sark. It be a shame to see lanterns disappear, especially Greenwichs unique range of concrete/iron columns, which have all been earmarked for removal  :(

Whats more, love it or hate it, Greenwichs' unique brown columns are also slowly becoming a thing of the past. Remember when each London borough had their street lights painted a colour (or combination of colours) that made their lighting stock unique to that borough.

Greenwich will be using Schreder Axia 3s, like Bromley did, post top on new columns, or is likely to have the existing bracket chopped back. Personally, I do like the Axia range, and I think that the Axia 3 is a decent, simple design. However, why are all London Borough looking all the same e.g. a black columns, no brackets, and a post top Lantern, most likely also to be in black. At least some London boroughs have remained unique in their own ways, like Southwark, Redbridge plus Hammersmith and Fulham, as these are the last London boroughs to still use brackets on all replacements. As well as Havering, Kingston, Sutton, Bromley, Barnet and Bexley that have retained their unique colour schemes.

The remaining London Boroughs that are still not predominantly LED, in descending order, are:

1. Croydon - This is a relatively new joint PFI scheme with Lewisham that did not include LED, and instead used the original Philips Iridium range. I guess it will be too costly to replace this anytime soon, however this could happen as Philips have discontinued the Iridium 1,2 and 3. The reason that i believe that Croydon has the least LED is because the only roads with LED are TFL red routes, but even these are still predominantly Croydons old stock of SONs (and even a handful of surviving SOX).

2. Lewisham - Same as Croydons, however the reason that this is second, is because nearly all of Lewishams TFL red routes have been LED'd with CU Phosco P850, and only a tiny amount of Lewishams pre-PFI SON lanterns remain. These are almost entirely Urbis and a few random Philips Traffic Visions in Catfords dreaded gyratory system of the South Circular.

3. Waltham Forest - Entirely Urbis lanterns with an ever decreasing stock of concrete columns on side roads.

4. Harrow - Another Urbis/Schreder loyalist, with an ever decreasing stock of SON.

Greenwich has the largest stock of concrete columns in London, but once Greenwich goes, the London borough with the largest stock of concrete columns will surely be Sutton. The upshot with Sutton is that,  not only does it have the newest stock on concrete columns in London, but this borough also has the largest remaining stock of SOX lanterns. Nearly all of Sutton SOX lanterns are side streets only, but it's better than nothing.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 6:14 pm 
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Just seen on my Facebook featured ads that there is going to be streetlighting work taking place on Tilers Road in Kiln Farm and Saxon Street, between H8 and H9, in Milton Keynes. Both streets are entirely LED lit, so not sure whether this will mean replacement or not, but if it is replacement, it will be rather wasteful!


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2022 7:20 am 
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A couple of times recently I've visited the area due to my partners family living within the borough. The estate is entirely lit with concrete columns with WRTL 2600s bar the odd metal column, post-top LED replacement. Spending time walking the dog at night in an area entirely lit by HPS was very nostalgic and I definitely think I prefer it, nostalgia aside. It's sad to know that even these are on borrowed time now. In comparison, you have counties like Kent County Council which for the most part retain old columns, which means that even though the original lantern is gone, you have a classic lamppost left. I can think of quite a few examples.

Overcliffe in Gravesend used to have these very large, rather unusual shaped brackets. Most were replaced before the LED onslaught but this one remains, albeit shorterned in length. I have no idea why this one remained. As you can see, it's in dreadful condition.

https://goo.gl/maps/hef8s6Psu2F6mJdP9

One of many examples of vintage columns being retained, this time in Margate

https://goo.gl/maps/4xsdg6RK8tdTRrLf6

Maidstone used to be a treasure-trove of interesting lighting, both columns and lanterns. Because of that, you can still find plenty of old columns being put to use

https://goo.gl/maps/nfo6cDp4vqjGCaKV7


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