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

Received an external message via our contact page. Thank you to Craig for sharing the following:

Dear UKASTLE,
for those members who frequently post photos, some news:
Wigan has started replacing its GEC streetlighting with Urbis Axias and WRTL Lumas (I think it may be a Luma), as well as Philips Speedstars. The areas of Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley have done this at a slightly slower pace; some of them still have Iridiums. (I live in Leeds, but often see friends in Wigan, so that's how I know this!).
Streetlighting like https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.58185 ... 2e0?hl=en# has mostly been replaced [I think that one was a GEC]
Salford has replaced most of its GEC Nightwatch (example: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.48180 ... 2e0?hl=en# )
with Thorn Isaro LED's on sleeved columns.

Lancashire - well, West Lancashire to be precise has started fitting WRTL Stela Long as its replacement for most lanterns, e.g. WRTL 2600 / Thorn Beta 79.
Example: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.58720 ... 2e0?hl=en#

Some columns even are old ElecoSlim's that had GEC or WRTL 2600's fitted, one had a Thorn Beta 2 recently; but many are post-top WRTL Stela Longs on black columns.

And finally...
Liverpool's copying Croydon with swan-neck lookalikes of what's seen in Croydon, but with Thorn Beta 5-esque LED's replacing Beta 5 and Relite Gemini's - occasionally they're just replaced on the column itself not replacing the column entirely with a swan-neck.

I live in Leeds (where I am in Seacroft) , but often see friends down in Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire.

If anyone gets any photos, do post them on here; sorry that I didn't get time to, as I was all over the place this weekend!

I note in your Video your cover the A666.

You are correct in saying that the columns are in main the original 1970s.

Originally fitted with GEC? lanterns as pictured here...



I remember them replacing them with the current lanterns in what I would think to be 1988/1989*. The odd casual replacement has usually been with another ZX but more recently with MRL6s. A couple of the ZXs have suffered with the usual lost canopy and a couple more seem to have suffered some sort of meltdown/fire.

Whilst there are only a few dayburners, these never seem to get remedied as the council do what bit of maintenance they do at night. According to FOI requests made by someone in Bolton with a keen interest in Streetlighting they relamp outages every couple of months, however i can think of a few outages that have been out for 2 years.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-454997

There are also a couple of missing columns that have been missing for years too!

The council advise they are watching with interest the development of LED technology for this road.

The lamp in the oldie picture above can scarcely be seen these days due to the trees behind!!

*For reasons probably best known to themselves the council seemed to have a purge on these types of fittings and replaced pretty much all of them in the borough along with a load of Eleco fittings around the 88 - 92 with Phillips MAs.

I've just seen pictures of some of the Beta 5 LED fittings in Liverpool. Very unusual. I wonder if the gear trays and new bowls were retrofitted to existing lanterns or if a manufacturer is casting Beta 5 canopies as their own now? Basically, imagine the modern style slimline Beta 5 canopy with a new style clear shallow bowl that is perhaps half thickness of the canopy.

According to Bryn over on Sabre, the original lanterns were Thorn Alpha 5s and the ZX3s were fitted in the early 1990s.

I'm not really sure where to post this but it's a C+P from Sabre.

When I first moved to Salford in 1997 the City was awash with many classic sodium lights with many different post and lantern styles. Most have now been sleeved or removed and replaced by LED lamps. Most of this has happened in the last three years. Here are some of the losses;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59529066@N08/14977471835/in/set-72157625967472365

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59529066@N08/14258151672/in/set-72157625967472365

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59529066@N08/7999164459/in/set-72157625967472365

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59529066@N08/5884083090/in/set-72157625967472365

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59529066@N08/5757993862/in/set-72157625967472365

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59529066@N08/5594063547/in/set-72157625967472365

Back in November 2012...

I was lucky enough to be passing by Kendal en route to a job in Aberdeen back in 2012 and was able to photograph some of these installations, so I thought I should share these pictures (although I should've added these ages ago). Hopefully, many of these installations are still there to be enjoyed. All photographs date from January 2012.


Two of many ELECO HW727s in the hilly town of Kendal in Cumbria.


The town's ELECO HW727s have two bowl types installed - the shallow bowl version, which was designed for two 2x 40w fluorescent tubes stacked side by side...


...and the deep-bowled version, for two 2x 40w fluorescent tubes stacked vertically. In Kendal, these are fewer in number. All bowl types are currently running SOX tubes.

If you want to see night-time photos of a deep-bowled ELECO HW727 running 2x 40w fluorescent tubes, click here.


Another close-up of a Kendal shallow-bowled ELECO HW727.


At the time of my visit, there were still some stretches of ELECO HW727s unspoilt by casual replacements.


Lighting up time in Kendal is well worth staying around for.


The same unspoilt view as posted earlier at lighting up time.


A close-up view of a shallow-bowled ELECO HW727 warming up. The lanterns appear to be undrilled for photocells and group-switched, as they turn on in batches.

Also in Kendal and as mentioned by mazeteam, there's this rare Phosco P140 post top lantern:


A Phosco P140 lantern, originally designed to run on fluorescent tubes.


And close-up. Again I should add that these photographs were taken in 2012, so this lantern may have been removed by now. If it has been removed, I hope it's in someone's collection!


Kendal has one too!


A Thorn Gamma Two vertical fluorescent lantern in Kendal.


And a close-up view.


Again, lighting up time is well worth staying around for, especially because the lantern looks like this at dusk!


And a close-up view. I'm guessing the vertical SOX lamp isn't an original feature!


The Kendal Thorn Gamma Two vertical (but not fluorescent) lantern warming up.


And a final view at full power.

Sadly, Kendal is a considerable distance from my home town of Colchester, so I am unlikely to re-visit the town in the forseeable future. But if some of these lanterns are still soldiering on into 2015, then the town is definitely worth a visit if you live close-by.

I believe Cumbria is embarking on a mass LED "invest to save" scheme. I believe it is only covering a proportion of their lighting stock, as opposed to "everything". Nevertheless, they may or may not be under threat from LED, and they have done well to survive so long anyway.