4g. Markeaton Brook Walkway, off Bridge St, Derby City Centre. Along this footpath are a variety of cast iron columns with all but one supporting Phosco P111 SON lanterns. The columns came from all over the city, hence the variations in design, height, and manufacturer. One column is a modern DW Windsor 'Oxford' design and can easily be picked out due to it: a) being much taller than the others; b) having an embellishment ring half way up; c) not being at all pitted; and d) having a thin door. The rest of the columns are all Bleeco or Revo versions, like mine. Due to a subsidence problem on the footpath, column 101495 has had its lantern removed and in May 2003 was being kept in storage. This row of columns would certainly have to be 'ladder jobs' as the footpath would be too narrow to accommodate an access platform.
This shows how pitted some of these columns are! (On the extreme left, in the background, is a new-looking drop-down column without a lantern - I don't think this is to do with the subsidence, the most likely reason is that the column hasn't been commissioned yet. (A Beta 79 was later fitted to this column, so I was probably right about the column not having been commissioned at the time.)
Some lanterns were dayburning, probably due to failed photocells - notice that the cell detector is fitted to the underside of this lantern.
Yes, this column is really that short! The top acorn on the lantern appears to have been taken and the glass refractor has fallen. Maybe anti-climb paint would be advisable on those railings/top of the column?
These veteran installations were removed in November 2011 as part of Derby's Street Lighting PFI; click here for photographs and information concerning the replacements.
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