21h. Horninglow Street, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire. Located near the junction with Hawkins Lane stands a Thorn 'Leader' triangular-based 5 m aluminium lighting column topped with one of the company's altogether rarer lanterns, the Gamma 2, which was designed to accommodate two or four 2 ft (600 mm) 40 Watt fluorescent lamps; this being the reason that these lanterns are nowadays a rare sight. Although located on the public side of a perimeter fence surrounding an expansive lorry park owned by the Molson-Coors brewery, the installation is likely to be owned by the brewery as well, and possibly pre-dates the perimeter fence's construction. No other examples are visible within the compound; at least, not from public roads, and so this installation may be the sole survivor from an earlier lighting scheme. A night-time drive past the installation confirms that the lantern does not work, despite the column's inspection door having been secured with insulation tape.
Owing to the presence of adjacent tree branches, and the perimeter fence, photographing the installation is only possible during the late autumn and winter months. Notice that insulation tape has also been applied between the lantern's base casting and its bowl.
By July 2020, the tape holding the column door closed had perished, causing the door to fall away, revealing two very rusted Quickstart ballasts (confirming that there must be four lamps within the lantern). No capacitor is installed; this had to be ordered separately from Thorn at the time. A four-core rubber flexible cable connects the ballasts to the lamps, with rubber wiring providing 'local' connections too. All of this had become brittle, with large chunks of insulation having broken off. Fortunately, the supply to the column was dead when tested, and the fuse was missing from the cut-out. Note that there is a cobweb above the upper ballast; this is not writing on the backboard.
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