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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 9:08 pm 
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Location: Colchester, Essex
While many councils ditched MBF for SOX during the energy crisis of the 1970s, Suffolk in East Anglia was happy to stick to MBF on side roads for a while longer, at least until low-wattage SON became a viable option in the mid to late 1980s. In many areas, Eleco Silver Ray Juniors were the lantern of choice, before giving way to the GEC Z8831 which became just a popular in later years.

All the photographs in this post were taken in May 2018.

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The village of Great Cornard in Suffolk still has a high concentration of Eleco Silver Ray Juniors, particularly on its distributor / spine roads. Newton Road, on the Great Cornard / Sudbury border, is one such road.

Gearless Eleco Silver Ray Juniors and the GEC Z8831 are popular on normal street lighting columns whereas post-tops, mainly from Eleco and Davis, complement the lighting deep in the estates.

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A close-up of one of the installations on Newton Road.

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Unusually, the photocell (a Telensa Telecell, as used across Suffolk) is often installed on the side of the lantern.

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The B1508 Cornard Road, which links Sudbury to Great Cornard, has Eleco Silver Ray Juniors as far as the eye can see, albeit with a couple of casual replacements.

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This Eleco Silver Ray Junior on a long pole bracket lights a junction.

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Pot Kiln Road is another road of Eleco Silver Ray Juniors, although those with keen eyes may spot a few imposters.

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A close-up photograph of the first pole bracket and lantern from the Church Lane end of the road.

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The second lantern is a rare Thorn Beta Nine.

In July 2010, David wrote:
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The village of Great Cornard has stubbornly stuck to white light over the years, including this road of Thorn Beta Nines! In fact many of Great Cornard's 'distributor'-style roads are lit by Thorn Beta Nines mounted on telegraph pole brackets, meaning the village retains dozens and dozens of them. They seem to be everywhere you turn!

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In hindsight, Great Cornard's distributor / spine roads are mostly lit by Thorn Beta Nines and by Eleco Silver Ray Juniors, with the Eleco Silver Ray Juniors having the upper hand. Having said that, Canham's Road is perhaps the best example of a road lit by Thorn Beta Nines. Six are pictured here, with a GEC Z8831 on one of the brackets.

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Two close-up views of Thorn Beta Nines with the photocell in the conventional location.

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Just like the Eleco Silver Ray Juniors in the village, some lanterns have the photocells mounted on the side.

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This Thorn Beta Nine in Canham's Road has a loose cover.

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A look under the bonnet shows that the MBF gear has been swapped out for SON gear.

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A final view up Canham's Road, Great Cornard, with five Thorn Beta Nines in a row...

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..and one last close-up photograph of one of the lanterns.

Clearly these lanterns are on borrowed time, and may disappear quite soon with the onward march of LED, but as far as I know, they can still be enjoyed for now.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 9:34 pm 
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Location: Colchester, Essex
Adjacent to the village of Great Cornard in Suffolk is the town of Sudbury. Once again it is home to a number of survivors from the past. As well as the many Eleco Silver Ray Juniors which light the distributor roads all the way from Great Cornard to the border of Sudbury town centre, there are a few other noteworthy survivors from the past.

All the photographs in this post were taken in May 2018.

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Here are three of four surviving Revo Horizon Majors on Gainsborough Road in Sudbury town centre.

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Two close-up photographs show that these lanterns are in good condition despite their age.

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A close-up photograph of the heavy glass bowl.

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As with the locally installed Eleco Silver Ray Juniors and the Thorn Beta Nines, a side-mounted photocell is utilised here.

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Three of four surviving Revo Horizon Majors on Gainsborough Road, as photographed from the opposite direction from the first photograph in this post. The fourth Revo Horizon Major lights the junction of Gainsborough Road, Croft Road and The Croft.

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These unusually curvy columns can be found lighting private property on an industrial estate on the edge of town.

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A few of these columns appear to have escaped captivity at some time in the past and have fallen under the control of Suffolk County Council. They have painted them "Suffolk" green and upgraded them to LED in line with their ongoing LED roll-out.

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The columns originally held GEC Z8426 "over shoe" turtles.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:16 pm 
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Location: Colchester, Essex
In the Lighting in films and on TV thread, David wrote:
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These SON-running Thorn Gamma Sevens light the access road into Colchester General Hospital. Photograph taken in December 2017.

Colchester General Hospital opened in 1985, and the original lighting on the entry and exit road still exist to this day barring a few casual replacements and the conversion from MBF to SON to boost lighting levels.

All the photographs in this post were taken in December 2017, although this installation was still extant when I passed the hospital a few weeks ago.

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Five of the dozen or so Thorn Gamma Sevens that are still extant in the grounds of Colchester General Hospital. Four of the lanterns are readily visible. The fifth is partially hidden behind the closest column and the crown of the tree. The last lantern in the line is a Thorn Gamma Six casual replacement.

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A close-up of one of Colchester General Hospital's 33 year old Thorn Gamma Sevens.

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A night-time photograph of one of the Gamma Sevens in light.

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Sadly the diminutive size and fragility of the Gamma Sevens makes them prone to breakages, especially by tree branches.

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Also to be found in the grounds of the hospital - and present from the hospital's opening in 1985 - are Thorn Precincts.

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Generally speaking, the Precincts can be found lighting the footpaths through the grounds of the hospital, but can also be found on some roads and in some of the car parks.

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A night-time photograph of one of the Precincts in light.

The road outside the hospital's main entrance is lit by Thorn Alpha Eight Mark IIIs, which are uncommon in the rest of Colchester.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 6:51 pm 
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It's amazing to still see survivors in parts of Suffolk. A number of parts of Suffolk have had their old lanterns decimated in the last decade or so, but as your photographs show, there are still pockets clinging on for dear life. Suffolk's street lighting was the spark that ignited my interest in street lighting properly. I realise now that I had an interest before, but it was spending time up there in early 2001 when I came to realise it. The trigger was going down a street of pole mounted Eleco lanterns like these and thinking wow, and the rest they say was history. They used to have such a wonderful stock of lanterns.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 2:29 pm 
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I was surprised to find this CU Avenue 2D with top entry Beta 5 still surviving near Ascot. I hadn't been past it for 10 years and had expected it to be replaced by the local unitary authority as part of their LED retofit. I've known about its existence for decades, so it was like seeing an old friend.  ;)

What's more another column is nearby, its bracket replaced with a post top classic.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 6:51 pm 
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In Peterborough, these 2, stay bar bracket, Revo columns with matching Revo C13723/S "Daleks" running 90W SOX, still survive.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:54 pm 
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I spent a couple of days in the Chester area last week.

Streetlighting is a fair mixture of the usual suspects to be found anywhere including SON and LED, although I'm pleased to report that SOX still survives in places.

On the main road through Blacon, there are still a fair few 1980s era hexagonal steel columns with a mixture of both designs of Davis GR100s, as well as a few Philips MA90s as casual replacements.
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In the older centre of Chester itself, most of the lighting here is the typical repro traditional street fillers, however on one side street running alongside a portion of the Roman wall is this fairly old specimen.
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It is interesting how even the most rudimentary "Z" bracket (sporting a Phosco 55W lantern),  now looks as anachronistic as its cast iron predecessor.

On my way back home, I came across some survivors from the past in quite surprising locations.

The first was this arrangement of 1950/60s concrete on the Old Chester Road at Great Sutton.
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As well as the sleeved 8m complete with Z9464, there are also two vintage swan neck columns as well as what I think is a CU Avenue on the corner.

The second was noticed within the premises of Sycamore Park Garden Centre which is in Ellesmere Port. I suspect the site's previous use was either a petrol filling station / used car showroom. Here are three Abacus type fold-down columns, still fitted with the horizontal mounted 1960s fluorescent floodlights.
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At one time, these were quite plentiful and used in vehicle yards etc, but are seldom seen these days.

The final "cop" of the day was on Mill Lane, just outside Blacon. This was one of those third gear observations, having first of all noticed the Premier Inn which I was initially looking at staying at, followed by this relic which seems to be in their car park.
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This is certainly a survivor from the past!


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:06 am 
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Last night I took a walk to the next town over from me called Stockton on Tees, now they used to have such an amazing mix of old SOX and MBF lanterns but sadly all have been replaced due to a PFI. However absolutely unexpectedly, I found not just any survivor a proper classic concrete column and mercury lantern hidden down a weird path that looks like someone's garden, https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5880213 ... 312!8i6656
As you can see it's quite an unusual but very classic install, I believe it's been dayburning for about 10 years however there's hardly any green tint to the light and it was lit very bright last night.

It fills me with confidence that there might be another one of those in Teesside somewhere.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:25 am 
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Noted this set up in Hebden Bridge a few weeks ago, Looks like the cell for the flood is mounted post top.

I have no idea if it works or not..

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:07 am 
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In Barrow in Furness are these GEC concrete columns complete with GEC Z9481 lanterns.


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