As noted in some of my earlier posts, a number of the Parish Councils in my corner of Essex retrofitted their existing street lighting stock with LED "retrofit" lamps. But what seemed like a decent long-term solution at the time may have turned into a short-lived solution, as some of those Parish Councils are now swapping out these old SOX lanterns with LED retrofit lamps for completely new LED lanterns. Elmstead Parish Council is one such Council, and these minutes from their meeting held in December 2018 suggests that some of the LED retrofit lamps were struggling in active service.

Elmstead Market is a village to the east of Colchester, and the street lighting there is typical of many villages in my corner of Essex – a mixture of Parish lighting along the village’s original lanes, and Essex County Council-maintained lighting on the subsequently-built housing estates. Essex County Council also maintains the 10m high lighting on the A133 Colchester-to-Clacton road, and the old A604 which branches off to Harwich.

Like many of the local parishes, Elmstead Market’s parish lighting was likely to have been dominated by white-light (GLS or MBF/U) fixtures up to about 40 years ago. The 1970s energy crisis caused the electricity bills of many a Parish Council to soar, persuading them to switch to SOX in the late-1970s or early 1980s. And, once again, like many of the local parishes in my corner of Essex, a small number of those earlier white-light fixtures were missed off the conversion and enjoyed a far longer lifespan than their counterparts.


An 80W MBF/U GEC Z5590 photographed in Chapel Lane, Elmstead Market in January 2015.


A close-up photograph of the above street lighting fixture – also taken in January 2015 – shows that the lantern was well-maintained and in excellent condition despite its advancing age.


Sadly I do not have any night-time photographs of Elmstead Market’s old mercury lighting. This photograph of a similar fixture was taken in the nearby village of Ardleigh in January 2018.


A photograph looking along Church Road, Elmstead Market taken in January 2015.


The first street light in Church Road was also a survivor from the past. It is a Concrete Utilities hockey-stick style column with a Phosco P177 80W MBF/U lantern which seems to have escaped captivity from one of the nearby housing estates. It offers a clue as to what was originally installed in the village’s housing estates before Essex County Council took on the maintenance of the street lighting in the 1974 Local Government Act reform. This photograph was taken in January 2015.


A close-up photograph of the above street lantern – also taken in January 2015 – showing that this lantern was also well-maintained and in excellent condition, despite outliving its counterparts by over 40 years.


Sadly I never took a photograph of Elmstead Market’s one surviving Phosco P177 while it was still in service. This photograph of an Essex County Council-maintained Phosco P177 on a Concrete Utilities hockey-stick style column was taken in the village of St. Osyth in October 2017.




When the Parish Council changed its lighting stock to proper LED lanterns in early-2019, the chosen lantern was the Holophane S-line. The above two photographs of the first column in Church Road, with the Phosco P177 lantern replaced, were taken in February 2024.

Although the Holophane S-line doesn’t seemed to have gained much traction with Essex County Council’s own replacement by LEDs programme – at least not in my corner of Essex – the lantern is a popular choice with the District Councils and Parish Councils around here.


When the Holophane S-line lanterns were installed, their original colour temperature was a uniform 4000K but, after a few years in service, many of them have started to shift in colour. The closest lantern in this photograph of Chapel Lane taken in February 2024 was the location of the GEC Z5590 in the first two photographs in this post.


The same LED lantern photographed from the opposite direction. Photograph taken in February 2024.


A photograph looking along Church Road taken in February 2024.


Approximately the same view along Church Road taken at dusk in February 2024. Two of the new LED lanterns are showing a significant colour shift.


School Road in Elmstead Market with its new Holophane S-line lanterns, as photographed in February 2024.


Approximately the same view along School Road taken at dusk in February 2024, showing two of the new LED lanterns with a significant colour shift and one showing no colour temperature change.






Two photographs of the junction of Chapel Lane and Old School Lane and a close-up photograph of the underside of the lantern lighting this junction, all taken in February 2024.

I have not previously witnessed a colour shift in a new LED lantern, although I am aware there was an issue with American Electric Lighting (AEL) LED street lights in the United States. The problem is seemingly caused by the failure of the LED’s phosphor coating which is deployed to shift the blue light emitted by the LED to white.

A small number of the parishes in my local area are now seeing these colour shifts (from neutral white to purple or blue) in some of their new LED lanterns.




Some of the new LED lanterns have not suffered any colour shift. The above two photographs show two unaffected lanterns in amongst colour-shifted lanterns in Church Road in February 2024.


Around the corner in Lucerne Road, Essex County Council’s replacement by LEDs programme has passed through and has now moved on, but as with many towns and villages in Essex, a few SOX stragglers can still be found. Photograph taken in February 2024.


Another Essex County Council-maintained SOX street light survives on a pole-mounted bracket at the end of the appropriately-named Old School Lane. Photograph taken in February 2024.


The junction of Church Road (street lighting maintained by Elmstead Parish Council) and Holly Way (street lighting maintained by Essex County Council). The Essex County Council street lights have a colour temperature of 4000K. This photograph was also taken in February 2024.

These colour-shifting LED lanterns are a double disappointment for Elmstead Parish Council. The LED retrofit lamps inside their existing street lights struggled in active service, and this prompted the replacement of their existing street lights with new LED lanterns, which have subsequently developed a fault of their own. I would hope that the new lanterns are replaced free of charge by the manufacturer and it will be “third time lucky” for this Parish Council.

I believe colour shifting is a common problem with Holophane S-Line. In Southampton, there is a doctor surgery in Woolston with Holophane S-Lines in the car park, and as I recall they have all colour shifted, making it look like the blue colour (reminiscent of lighting in some public toilets) was purposeful.

Early last year, I was in Suffolk in the Sudbury area, and had some time to do some exploring. The area was a mecca for Thorn Beta 9s and Eleco lanterns. The Eleco HW918 lanterns were burning MBF or SON as I saw a day burning example of each! There were a few casual replacements creeping in at the time and I'm not sure if all these are still around. There were many, many Eleco HW918s.

Fabulous photographs Indust. That little town (Great Cornard) is amazing for old mercury. I hope it is still there!

I notice that my photographs of this magnificent SOX installation on the A13 and the A1089 were taken seven years ago this week. Seven years ago, LED was in its infancy in Essex. A limited trial of high-wattage full-night lighting in a few towns in 2014 persuaded Essex County Council to replace all of its high-wattage full-night lighting with LED between 2016 and 2018 (Essex County Council’s replacement by LEDs programme “phase 2”). This was swiftly followed by all high-wattage part-night lighting (“phase 3”), and this month (March 2024) may see the last of Essex County Council’s discharge lighting removed from service with the conclusion of the fourth and final phase which concentrated on all low-wattage lighting.

Seven years ago, Essex was arguably the UK’s last county-wide SOX stronghold. Matthew Eagles notes that in 2018, Essex County Council were running 65,000 SOX lanterns – the highest in a county area. Seven years later, Essex is a SOX desert. Only a few City, Borough, District and Parish Council, and a few private installations soldier on. But in this SOX desert, National Highways is keeping a few SOX installations going on some Essex trunk routes and A-roads for the time being.

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to revisit and photograph this installation. It is astonishing how little has changed in the last seven years. The installation has not shrunk in size or been spoilt by significant ad-hoc SON or LED replacements. It is almost as if LED hasn’t yet been invented! As my first post of photographs from 2017 concentrated mainly on the northern half of the installation (the A13 and its junctions with the A1012 and the A1089), the photographs in the post below are from the southern half of the installation (the A1019 from Chadwell St. Mary down to Tilbury).



The same bend as photographed looking the other way from the next bridge along the A1089 (the footbridge between Grangewood Avenue and Orsett Heath Crescent). There are no SON or LED casual replacements to be seen here!

All the photographs in this post were taken in March 2024.


The same view at night.


Looking south from the footbridge between Grangewood Avenue and Orsett Heath Crescent. Once again, there are no SON or LED casual replacements to be seen here, albeit one of the columns has been cut down. At this bridge, the street lighting switches from the central reservation to an opposed arrangement.


Approximately the same view at night.


Looking south towards Tilbury Docks from the B149 Wood View bridge.


The same view at night, albeit with a Philips Iridium SON casual replacement in the foreground.


A zoomed-in view of the Marshfoot Interchange, where the lighting changes again to the central reservation.


The same view at night as the A1089 approaches Tilbury.


Looking north along the A1089 from the B149 Wood View bridge.


The same view at night, with a Philips Iridium SON casual replacement.


The Marshfoot interchange between the A1089 and the A126 is a treat to watch at lighting-up time. At this location, there is a footpath along the side of the dual carriageway which continues to Tilbury Docks.


A few moments later and the Philips MA50 and MA60 SOX lanterns are burning brighter.


Approximately the same view at night.


Moving a little further south, and some of the lanterns are late to switch on, but the number of units that are out of light in 2024 is remarkably low, just like it was in 2017.


A penultimate photograph from the A1089 Dock Approach Road for the moment. The street lighting switches to SON as the road approaches the “Asda” Roundabout behind the viewer.

It should be noted that the “SON” casual replacement you see here is actually an LED casual replacement with a near-identical light colour to SON. Where these SOX lanterns are being casually replaced across this installation, these SON-coloured LED lanterns are being used.


After the Asda Roundabout, the SOX continues, albeit a little more sporadic, as the A1089 approaches Tilbury Docks along St. Andrews Road.


A cropped version of the above photograph showing two of the LED casual replacements masquerading as SON lanterns on St. Andrews Road.


Back to the A1089 Dock Approach Road, and this is a long view looking north from the Asda Roundabout, showing the SON lantern on the roundabout's approach.


In this photograph, you can see the SOX lanterns on the A1089 disappear into the distance after the dual carriageway briefly dips into a cutting for the Marshfoot Interchange.


Along with the various road bridges and footbridges that cross over the A1089, this footpath alongside the A1089 from Tilbury to Little Thurrock provides plenty of opportunities to view and photograph this remarkable installation of SOX lanterns.




As noted in my earlier post, the A13 and A1089 Baker Street Interchange (about two miles north of this photograph) will be remodelled as part of the new Lower Thames Crossing, and this will chop this currently unbroken five-mile long SOX installation into two halves. It would be astonishing if this installation holds on in its current form until then, but if we look back to my original post seven years ago, it is also a surprise that this installation remains unchanged and is still here today.

Despite the "obsolete" technology, this installation is well-maintained with very few lanterns out of light, and in that regard it is outperforming some of the nearby National Highways and Essex County Council large-wattage LED installations on our A-roads and dual carriageways (e.g. M25, A127, A12, A13 beyond the A1089).


It's fast becoming the last opportunity in the south east of England to see a large, unspoilt and well-maintained installation of 180W SOX lighting. Even seven years ago we didn't think it would last until now.

But, once again, long may it last!

I would encourage any enthusiasts who happen to be near the area, or passing through the Dartford Crossing, to do a little detour along the A13 towards Tilbury Docks (leaving the M25 at Junction 30) and go and have a look at this installation while it is still here. Any enthusiasts with dashcams on their cars would particularly enjoy getting a recording of the installation while they still have the chance.