Some great photos Phosco152! At a glance, I would have assumed the 'shoebox' lanterns would run SON having been so used to SON versions in the UK, notably in B&Q car parks.



The rest of this road appears to have some rather long Iris-type lanterns. I wonder when they date back to?

Was randomly looking around somewhere in Norway a while back and came across this road. To me these lanterns look suspiciously like GEC turtles. Not sure if they are, but if they are I never knew they exported them to non former Commonwealth countries.

I think they are most likely are GEC turtles, Bob. You'll find quite a lot of 'golf ball' and 'turtle' lanterns - regardless of whether they're manufactured by GEC or not - overseas.

Italy:

SOX lighting is mostly found in road tunnels; an economical way to light them. However, I did see some SRS201s on a motorway as well as lighting this modern visitors centre and its carpark:

They look a bit low on that 2nd picture!
The first one reminded me of Naburn Marina in York, where they had a similar installation mounted onto the mast of a static yacht!

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I have recently done a cruise around the Mediterranean, this included the cities of Tripani, Naples, Toulon, Ajaccio , Barcelona. I will describe the lighting that I saw the best I can for each city.

Tripani's lighting consisted mainly of heritage lanterns running son although some newer son lanterns had been wall mounted strung together with a very dodgy looking electrical system. All were either time or group switched. The lighting around the port consisted of large (Urbis Albany type) lanterns mounted five to a column running SON. Some tiny mercury lanterns consisting of nothing more than a canopy and a bulb were used.

Naples' lighting left room to be desired as it consisted of mainly floodlighting and cobra heads. The cobra heads were in poor condition with many having missing canopies, column doors missing and very yellow bowls. The lamp type was unknown. On one flyover high mast floodlighting was used but all this was dayburning and lots of lamps were out. On the tram network new columns and lanterns have been installed and these run son. However the Sapphire is starting to make its mark replacing open mercury lanterns.

Ajaccio's lighting consists of Schreder Onyx lanterns although Thorn also seem popular with the French so thorn lanterns are appearing, civic and alpha 2000. Also various heritage and abacus lanterns are used all run SON.

Some of the lighting in Toulon reminded me of the lighting here as it consisted of Thorn Rivera's,  ZX3's and Civics and well as a few SGS203s. New style thorn Areafloods were used in one new shopping precinct and these are a big visual improvement on the last model.

Barcelona's lighting consists of SON Iridiums, thorn Areafloods, metal halide floodlighting, heritage lighting and globes etc. High mast floodlighting was used in the port areas illuminating the water. Most of Barcelona's streets are over lit and the lighting could be cut back.

A recent trip to Portugal showed up some interesting comparisons in lighting practice and installations.

Porto, Portugal's 2nd city in the north of the country seems to use mostly Schreder (Urbis) products.

The Schreder Z2 and Z3 lanterns are very popular - often fitted with very deep bowls, on side streets there are quite a few Indal/Indalux IVA1 lanterns. Wall brackets are very common. Schreder/Urbis Sintras are also widely used especially in more rural areas.

More Schreder lanterns are also in common use - the MC1/MC2/MC3 which to us Brits are the Urbis ZX1/2/3. MC3s with flat glass are a common site lighting main roads.

Their days may be over however as new installations seem to be Schreder Onyx lanterns.

Lighting seems to be group switched and the vast majority is SON although in some areas MH floodlights are used.

On the whole the lighting can be considered "modern".

Further south in Lisbon, the story is very different. There is far less uniformity in lighting with a greater variety of types and ages. SON is more prevalent with very little MH. Group switching seems to be the norm.

I did manage to find some concrete columns, some with sleeves (far more attractively done than in the UK) as well as few other British relics as well as possibly a relic from France.

Pictures start here.

Some great photographs! I particularly like this one. Can't say the same about this!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wessex_str ... 616017155/
A top entry Z8430 - how odd!

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In Ajaccio you mainly find A.C.E.C. (or CLAREL) RUM lanterns, a Belgian lantern, and EUROPHANE VM 3.
Others lanterns you mainly find : INDAL IVA, GC ILLUMINATION FG (Italian), THORN Alpha 2000, ECLATEC LCM 101...

In Toulon, most of 60's/70's/80's lanterns are MAZDA lanterns (EPA, Esthelux, Solair, Comète), most of 90's/00's lanterns are SCHREDER lanterns (some MC3 or ZX3, Saphir, Furyo). You also find a lot of GC ILLUMINATION AG 3 (Italian).
Around Toulon (but not in Toulon), in the west part, a lot of EUROPHANE & THORN lanterns (ARO, VM, CA 500, Pilote, Riviera, Alpha 2000, Dyana), some PHILIPS Iridium and SCHREDER Saphir...