7d. Willowcroft Road, Spondon. Under the bridge supporting the A52 bypass is a GEC Z9536 installed by Jeremy in 1989. The installation of the lantern, control gear, wall-mounted P5 photocell, and service cut-out took place over a few days as the work was carried out on ladders, and drilling into the hard bricks of the bridge was not an easy task - he was kept fuelled by his grandmother (who lived on nearby Cambridge Street) calling by with refreshments every so often. A large AC Ford box is positioned below the lantern - this houses the control gear and a little double-pole cut-out unit. Hi-tuf cable was used for the wiring of the cables entering this box. A smaller AC Ford box mounted below the photocell contains the service cutout - the service cable being a 4 mm² copper-concentric cable; originally housed in 20 mm plastic conduit, though nowadays it is simply protected by some steel capping as the conduit was pulled away from the wall by vandals. (Things have changed a bit with this installation since the above text was written - newer pictures and comments can be viewed further down this page.)

    The original pictures were taken on the 26th March 2006; the Z9536 maintained a fairly clean, new condition, despite being 17 years old at the time, thanks to the bridge providing it with some shelter over the intervening years.

The AC Ford control gear box that Jeremy mentioned is visible, despite the gloom.

Outside of the bridge is the incoming supply, and wall-mounted P5.

The ubiquitous calling card of Jeremy - his initials written in paint pen on anything that he installed or worked on, is clearly visible here.

I re-visited the location on exactly the same date as above (26th March) in 2022 - I hadn't appreciated that the date was the same until later, however. As can be seen, some modification has occurred in the intervening years, with the AC Ford box being replaced with a larger enclosure, and a new cable (to feed the illuminated height sign in the centre of the bridge) installed.

The wall bracket remains, however (albeit, now fitted with a Royce Thompson SC1000/SAV 35 Lux photocell), but Jeremy's initials have faded. At least, these were captured for posterity in the earlier photograph.

The Z9536 gave way to a Philips 'Iridium' SGS 252 upon commencement of Derby's Street Lighting PFI. By chance, when I visited, the (now former) control gear box was hanging open.

The SOX gear had been removed, and Jeremy's elegant wiring has been butchered rather mercilessly (and a cable to feed the other illuminated sign on the bridge has been added), as a result. Interestingly, he has dated the backboard and fuse carrier of the local cut-out to August 2002 - I assume that he must have carried out some additional work on the box at this time.

  < Previous | Next >

BACK TO SURVIVORS PAGE

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION