I was wondering if anyone has had the delight of travelling along the A5 through Tamworth?

I took this route home from Brownhills (north of Walsall) last night and was impressed to see miles and miles of LED lighting mounted at 12 metres as the A5 passed through Tamworth, and there was not a failure in sight! Furthermore, the LED lights were designed in a SOX-style 'linear' shape like a stubby, flat-glass Alpha Four (as opposed to cobrahead-style SON lanterns) and the uniformity of illumination was startlingly good compared to the sections of carriageway lit with SON and, dare I say it, even where lit with SOX. There was no bright-dark-bright-dark as seen in conventional street lighting, and because the light source was spread over a large area, there was no practically no glare from the full cut-off luminaires either.

As far as I could tell, the colour temperature of the lighting was daylight.

I've searched high and low on Google for any reference to the new lighting and found nothing, except for companies offering group A street lighting units for sale. As I didn't see the lanterns in daylight, the appearance of the lantern is a mystery to me, but it may have looked a bit like this...


160w LED street lantern found on this page.

Google shows the A5 through Tamworth lit with Trafficvisions, although the same columns have been re-used for the LED lights.

Having just been literally a stones throw from there a couple of hours ago with sotonsteve, had we known we would have taken a detour to see them. Oh well next time.

A trip up to Lancashire this week gave me the opportunity to have a second look at those LED lanterns on the A5, and also in daylight for the first time. I also grabbed a few photos as dusk was setting in. All photos were taken yesterday (1st February 2011).


The LED lanterns, mounted on the previously installed 12 metre columns, do a pretty good job of lighting the main carriageway.


But compared to the MA60, and even many equivalent SON lanterns, the lantern's size is absolutely tiny.


A side profile of the modern-looking new lanterns. Anyone have a clue as to who makes them, and how much energy they save compared to other light sources?


Despite their tiny size, the lanterns pack a punch - in this photo the light is compared to the light given out by the SON TrafficVisions mounted at 10 metres on the slip road.


One of the advances in technology seems to be the near 'invisibility' of the lanterns when viewed from the side. Compare the numerous lanterns on the main carriageway - if you can see them - with the flat-glass trafficVisions on the slip road.


A zoomed-in version of the above photograph. The street lighting in the rest of Tamworth (in the distance) is clearly visible to the naked eye, but the new LED lanterns are invisible. Only the patches of light on the ground and the lit-up columns offer a clue as to where they are. How's that for full cut-off lighting!

Images 4 and 5 are brilliant!
The lanterns themselves, particularly in image 5, are very futuristic

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I really like them pics David. I hope Main Road LED become more popular.

I'd love to see these on the M62 rather than the new Sapphire's, if the West Midlands is the trail area then if the trail is a success it could be rolled out across the entire network.

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From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

Those are new Philips SpeedStar LED lanterns.

Thanks for the identification Steve. I think they look fantastic! Far better than 600w Sapphires that's for sure....

I like the side profile of the lantern, as it has a 'classic phillips' look to it... a cross between the MA60 and the SRP(whatever) Midland Motorway lanterns of the past.

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I've driven that section of the A5 during the day but I haven't been there during the night recently. I thought those lanterns were just another modern SON type and had no idea they were LED until I saw David's pictures.