115h - Hasland Road, Chesterfield

115h Hasland Road, Chesterfield Following the contour of the bend immediately after (or before, depending on the direction of travel!) Saxton Close junction are three 30 ft tubular steel columns supporting large radius curved brackets and ELECO GR 150 135 Watt SOX lanterns. A previous inspection of one of the column bases revealed a very unusual Philips L4200 control gear component that combined the functions of a ballast, ignitor and capacitor into one (very heavy, by all appearances) unit. The age of the units could be determined by virtue of the fact that the only references to SOX lamp wattages were 150 Watt and 200 Watt - the forerunners to the 135 Watt and 180 Watt lamps before improvements in the lamp technology led to re-rating of all wattages in the mid-1960s. From memory, the unit also made reference to SOI/H lamps (the precursor to the SOX lamp) and even SLI/H (linear sodium) lamps - I just wish that I had kept the pictures that I took at the time of this unusual unit!

Just visible on this lantern's canopy is the photocell - the fact that it is situated towards the front of the lantern (and that it is offset) suggests that this is an early GR 150; ELECO later redesigned the canopy in order to include provision for a NEMA socket towards the rear of the canopy, once the popularity in photocell-controlled lanterns increased.

The second lantern along had tilted slightly on its bracket, allowing for the unusually-situated photocell to be seen more clearly. The NEMA sockets on these lanterns are likely to have been retro-fitted to the lanterns as part of a conversion from time switch operation in the past.

The third lantern must be an early replacement, as the NEMA socket is situated in the revised position on this lantern's canopy.