What's odd here is that it looks like a newer bracket has been replaced by an older one on the closest column.

_________________
"I used to rule the world... Now I sweep the streets I used to own."
Remembering GEC.

The columns in the 2010 image are newer columns, installed in about the mid-1990s.

Now, a few from me all featuring some lovely old Blackpool trams back in the day

1983 and 2009.

The SRL8s in the second picture were replaced by 2600s just last week!  

1993 and 2009

Again, one of the MRL6s in the second picture is now replaced by a Vectra... it moves fast around here!  

1984 (and my favourite tram, 626!) and 2009.

1985 and 2009.

It's a shame all those Alpha 3's near Blackpool have gone.

These Alpha 3's near Bristol have also bitten the dust although thankfully the pub is still there and hasn't become a fast food joint.

A couple of years ago and 2009

It is a shame but luckily Blackpool itself still has a fair few even if they're extinct further north in Wyre Borough.

Heres a few pictures, firsly one from 1926 with shops on the left and a pub on the right.


Next is the same scene but in 1980 where we can see that concrete columns and GEC Z5678's have been installed with some very large columns in the background with GEC post tops.

Finally 2009 when all the shops on the left have closed and the pub (at this point) was up for sale) new columns have been installed somewhere around 1987 to 1990 with GEC Z8831/WRTL SRL8's all running SON. In the background all the large columns had been replaced and MA50s added with later replacements of ZX3's.

Oh dear Lampman, that scene looks a bit run-down in the 2009 picture!  

This page has some great comparison pics of Lancashire towns years ago and now including huge fluorescents in Chorley town centre, MetroVick SO50s on CU Avenue columns on the A5085 Blackpool Road in Preston (probably still the A583 back then!), long-bracketed columns with some kind of odd-looking mercury lanterns attached on the A589 in Lancaster, more SO50s in Rawtenstall and some kind of GEC or Eleco mercury lantern on a Stanton 7 column with finned bracket in Thornton (I remember this one myself!). What's not surprising is the amount of Vectras on the modern pictures of Lancashire and they're even taking over all the side streets now with a little competition from their stablemates the Stela and 2600!

Sorry to disappoint this is not exactly a flashback to 50 years ago but more like a year ago with thanks to Google Streetview!

Here are the before and after results from the Dorset PFI scheme in Weymouth,

Then, Now

Then, Now

A great shame. The old installations were very smart and in good condition too - the new ones? Well the less said about those cheap and nasty looking things the better frankly!  

Then and Now

The "then" photo was taken on the 31st August 2005 and the "now" photo was taken today, the 17th April 2010. In the foreground of the "then" photo is a GEC Z5670, and in the background are two GEC Z5713 lanterns, all three running mercury. Fast forward to the present day and all three lanterns have been replaced. The closest Z5713 was replaced in 2006/7 with a ZX1 on a bracket, running SON. The Z5713 further away was replaced with an Altra running 36w PL-L in 2009, and the Z5670 in the foreground was replaced with an Altra within the past couple of months in 2010. All of this lighting is ill-fated and will be replaced sometime over the next 5 years, no doubt with post-top Libras.