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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:56 pm 
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Well looks like Balfour Beatty have been busy on the A30 over the holidays. At Laverstock a GEC Z9554 which had a taped up bowl, has been replaced with an Iridium.  :roll:

By the crematorium junction, illuminated keep left bollards have been replaced with the reflective sprung plate type, but these are solar powered LED ones.

Bit ironic that on the A36, the new park and ride junction despite having upgraded lighting has just had illuminated bollards fitted. If LED ones are good enough on a road with a lower standard of lighting why aren't they good enough on a much more brightly lit one. AARGH!  :x


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:48 pm 
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I think the roundabout surrounding this could be an Iridium roundabout soon...

[One of my own pictures here]

Currently there are mainly Z9554s[and M types], most are taped up in at least one place, and some are taped up in two. One Z9554 there I saw today had the tape being stretched by the bowl, and the bowl has hanging down at the front and so the tape will snap soon! Most of the other Z9554s have water ingress, there is a GR150 with a red burning lamp, a MA50 retrofit, a couple of SGS 203s and a pair of mid 2000s geared SRS201s (But the lamp is out in one) - most of the outages were sorted just a few months ago.

I'm assuming they'll just retrofit Iridiums to the columns for the broken examples, but on double brackets where 1 two parter switches both lanterns will probably have both replaced. Most of the columns are in good condition but some have rusty brackets, one column has rusted through the paint, and one has been driven into several times!

It's a shame to see the demise of the Z9554. I would much rather they just glued the bowl back together/ glued the clips back on or invest in some new seal to stop the water getting in, but alas, it's probably just easier to rip the lantern off/ chop the bracket and attach an Iridium. :|

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:44 pm 
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They won't bother repairing lanterns, the bowls are obsolete and they won't bother fitting new gaskets. However I do know one depot which has a new and it appears genuine GEC 9554 bowl on the shelf. They also fitted a 2nd hand bowl to a '9554 in Hampshire which had lost its own bowl during the summer of 2009  :) . That was surprising given other columns on the same road had lost their SOX lanterns due to "repairs".


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:58 pm 
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Phosco152 wrote:
They won't bother repairing lanterns, the bowls are obsolete and they won't bother fitting new gaskets. However I do know one depot which has a new and it appears genuine GEC 9554 bowl on the shelf. They also fitted a 2nd hand bowl to a '9554 in Hampshire which had lost its own bowl during the summer of 2009  :) . That was surprising given other columns on the same road had lost their SOX lanterns due to "repairs".


Quite funny you mention that, because although it was Hampshire, something like that happened here!

The main road that goes past the old Ushers site was lit with 135w and 90w SOX [still mainly is apart from 3 newer Albanies], then a building was being 'done-up', a Z9554 that stands right up next to the building lost its bowl [or had it removed], however this year after the development of that part had finished, the bowl reappeared back on the lantern, with both clips hanging down on one side and the bowl being taped up at two places, and the bowl looks new/ cleaned!

It's just very unusual because the next lantern along [also a Z9554] away from the development has been missing its bowl for ages and still doesn't have one fitted, yet I would have thought the rebowled example would have just been retrofitted with an Iridium or replaced on a new column with an Albany... What I assume happened is that the developers damaged/removed the original bowl whilst works were taking place, then found a new bowl in old stock and tried to reattach it [but couldn't], so just taped it up so the council wouldn't really notice...

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 Post subject: Re: Now and then
PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:34 pm 
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I have seen newer columns in Wiltshire painted in two-tone green, including on a residential street that could only be a couple of years old.


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 Post subject: Re: Now and then
PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:16 pm 
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sotonsteve wrote:
I have seen newer columns in Wiltshire painted in two-tone green, including on a residential street that could only be a couple of years old.


Ooh, what area was that?

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 1:39 pm 
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The WRTL Stela has been sighted in Bournemouth along one road. I will investigate at night once the weather improves.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 4:19 pm 
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The Spa Roundabout in Wilts is looking a bit threatened now. The roads leading from the roundabout have been relit and the pavements re-laid. The 5m sleeved concrete columns, and the British Steel columns with 1970s Beta 5s have been replaced with new 8m Sapphire 2s with flat glass on brackets. This goes right up to when the column height changes to 10m on The Spa.

On the road that serves a few houses that runs alongside the roundabout have received black Sapphire 1s on decorative telegraph pole brackets!

I couldn't see much of the road that goes back into Melksham, but I could see there was one new Sapphire 2 on 8m column, and an old MA90.

So the future for 'The Spa' looks uncertain, the columns are rusting, some of the Bricks are taped up, the double bracket for the Z9554s is very wonky now. It's kind of sad because that roundabout seems to be stuck in time at the moment, with everything else around it being re-developed.
--
In Devizes, Iridiums that are replacing aging SOX (+SON) lanterns are still standing next to the old columns, nothing seems to have changed since before Christmas. Here's a breakdown:

SGS253 post-top on 6m column, mid-hinged has now fully replaced an MA90 on long bracket
SGS252 is currently standing next to a MA90
An Alpha 9 and MA90 have been reserviced in the middle of where these replacements are happening, on the bridge.
New Iridium erected after old SGS203 got crashed into.
6m column standing next to a Z9454, but no lantern yet, power cables above.
8m SGS252 waiting next to an Alpha 9 on upcranked bracket
10m Iridium waiting next to an old SGS203 on 1970s Fabrikat column
Random additional new Iridium on the other side of a road, mid-hinged and on a bracket!

The Alpha 3s are still untouched at the moment, although a new Iridium has been retrofitted on the same small roundabout where the hinge from shoe 'Turtle' was...

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:09 pm 
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The Spa/Bowerhill roundabout installations were in generally poor condition with lots of casuals. I wasn't that surprised to see Semington relit given the poor condition of the columns and the Bricks, so it won't be a surprise to see the Spa roundabout relit. Bricks are getting a bit rare now in Wiltshire, I think the A303/A360 ones are still there and the twin bracket one at Amesbury but I haven't checked on either for 6 months now. Fortunately the Beckhampton ones looked to be in good condition, but a check ought to be made on them soon...

I'm surprised the "service road" has got new decorative pole brackets, seems an unnecessary extravagance.

Indust wrote:
The Alpha 3s are still untouched at the moment, although a new Iridium has been retrofitted on the same small roundabout where the hinge from shoe 'Turtle' was...


So does that mean that this has been replaced?


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:51 pm 
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Phosco152 wrote:
So does that mean that this has been replaced?


Nope, I think (thankfully) those are still there, I mean this roundabout by the brewery:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2224/203 ... 29462b.jpg

Though the Alpha 3s remain. The Z8420's column has been retained, but there is a CCTV camera on it now, so an Iridium may have been installed to provide better optics for the camera. The Iridium is flat glass as well, though.

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