Derby's Street Lighting PFI Contract

Etwall Road, Mickleover

The columns being removed on this road were:

Seq. No. Lamp Number Location Lamp Type Watt Isolation Point
1 31286 END OF BUS LAY-BY SXP3 135  
2 31287 OPP THE SQUARE SXPL3 135  
3 31288 OS THE MASONS ARMS SXPL2 135  
4 31289 OS ALL SAINTS CH SXPL2 135  
5 31290 OPP ORCHARD ST SXPL3 135 Y - Isolates 31291 and 31292
6 31291 OPP NO 12 SXP3 135  
7 31292 OPP ALL SAINTS CT SXP3 135  
8 34137 OPP NO 16 SXPL2 135  
9 34138 OPP NO 18 SXP2 135  
10 34139 OPP HEDINGHAM WY SXP3 135  
11 34140 JNC WOODLANDS RBT SXP3 135  
12 102252 OS 18 FL 20 Y - Isolates 34139, 102254, 102256 and 102257
13 102253 JUNC HEDINGHAM WAY FL 8  
14 102254 OPP HEDINGHAM WAY FL 8  
15 102255 JUNC WOODLANDS IS FL 11  
16 102256 JUNC WOODLANDS IS FL 8  

17

102257 O/S THE WOODLANDS FL 8  

The following photographs were taken on Friday, 24th September 2010 (Night) and Sunday, 26th September (Day), except where stated otherwise:

A panoramic view looking towards the 'Woodlands' Island marks the start of this gallery:

The sign seen on the left of the above picture is seen again on Friday, 17th September, before the sign plates had been transferred to the new post and the LUA signlight units fitted. Two Truesigns T8C fittings (minus their plastic covers, which had been missing for at least a decade) were due for removal here. A couple of months before the post was replaced, the lock on the elderly post's door finally stopped working, resulting in the door falling away from the post. A stainless steel 'Tamtorque' band was quickly fitted to the post in order to hold the door in place.

A twin-armed 10 m column (the only twin-armed column in Mickleover, not including columns on the A38 or A516) supporting two integrally-geared Thorn Alpha 4 135 Watt SOX lanterns was due for removal under this scheme.

Both lanterns were almost a mirror-image of each other, right down to the Royce Thompson Monostar 1000 photocells.

New 10 m columns installed on adjacent footways in an opposite arrangement will replace the twin-arm column. One of these columns is pictured below; the other is the replacement for column 97880 on Hedingham Way (the column that supported Mickleover's last Thorn Alpha 1) and can be seen on that road's page on this site.

The 'large' (SGS 254) version of the Iridium was used as the replacement lantern along Etwall Road. These lanterns run SON-T lamps, probably 150 Watt. A photocell designed to activate the lamp at 35 Lux is employed.

Nearby, another Philips product, an MA 50, remained in use, but only for a limited time.

The MA 50 also ran a 135 Watt SOX lamp.

Another MA 50 followed; however, this was a remotely-geared version. The lantern was fitted to a sleeved Stanton concrete column. Prior to sleeving, the column was only of an 8 m nominal height, and a 90 Watt SOX lantern would have been fitted. The presence of overhanging tree branches around the outgoing equipment has led to the replacement columns being positioned on the opposite side of the road, owing to the branches having blocked out most of the effective light from the lanterns over the years - the majority of the trees are evergreens. A galvanised steel pole is visible to the left of the outgoing column - this will support the bus stop sign once the column is removed.

The sign to the right of this picture was replaced in the early 2000s. Prior to this, a larger sign existed here, and was illuminated by a twin 20 Watt fluorescent signlight. The old supply to the sign was redirected into the adjacent feeder pillar, as it also fed other equipment.

From this angle, this MA 50 does not appear to be too badly affected by the tree branches:

What about from this angle..?

The replacement Iridium had already been given a 'present' by the local feathered population:

The tree growth around the next column was not as severe, although the replacement column was again installed opposite its outgoing equivalent.

Again, a remotely-geared MA 50 was installed on this column.

The replacement column is seen on the right in this picture:

Just before the All Saints Close junction, another column engulfed by foliage is (just about!) visible:

Another integrally-geared MA 50 followed; this must have replaced a remotely-geared lantern in the mid-late 1990s.

As the trees receded around the War Memorial, the replacement column here was positioned alongside the outgoing column. Interestingly, this column was still to receive a lantern and bracket at the time of photographing. The vandalised GEC Z9536 detailed in 2005 can just about be seen behind these columns - just above and to the right of the sign fitted to the MA 50's column.

In approximately 2000, the bowl was missing from this lantern; this allowed me to see the SOX lamp without it being distorted by the lenses and refractors that are incorporated into an MA 50's bowl. However, owing to the distance between me and the lamp, I did not immediately realise that a SOX lamp's arc tube is u-shaped.

At roughly the same time that the above lantern's bowl was missing, this MA 50 was dayburning. I assume that both faults were repaired at the same time, but cannot remember when this was.

The perspective of this photograph appears to make the MA 50 higher than the Iridium; in reality, both were more or less side-by-side.

In something of a role-reversal, the next new installation was positioned close to adjacent tree branches, while the outgoing column is installed away from the foliage. The floodlights visible here are attached to the Mason's Arms public house. The floodlights all run mercury lamps, and will obviously become more effective once the column is removed!

I have seen photographs taken in the 1970s, at roughly the same location as my photograph was taken from, during an Easter Monday wheelbarrow race along Etwall Road. These photographs show the concrete columns prior to sleeving, and would therefore make an interesting comparison between the lighting back then, and how it appeared in 2010.

The MA 50 sported a very grubby-looking GRP canopy.

The next new and outgoing columns were installed nearby each other again. The old column here also doubled up as a support for a bus stop sign, but as the replacement column is installed within the bus stop bay, the sign will probably be fitted to it instead. Notice that the concrete column carries two identification numbers; the lower of which has had its digits painted out. This may have been the result of incorrect column numbering, or may have been from an earlier numbering scheme. The bench separating the two columns gives me the impression that the two installations may have just had a fierce row, and are now not speaking to each other!

Two Philips lanterns...separated only by a bench!

A new signpost was installed at The Square's junction with Etwall Road in early February 2010, following a slight realignment at the junction that was designed to improve visibility for turning traffic. The old stop sign (fitted with a Forest City twin 8 Watt signlight) was removed and a new post installed in a location that had previously been carriageway. The columns pictured above can be seen at the bottom of the picture. All brackets point south (east) if the image is anything to go by!

The next outgoing column supported another Alpha 4. This 'old' column was installed on the 27th January 2004; replacing a concrete column with a large gap adjacent the door. The gap was large enough for access to the base to be gained without needing to remove the door first! The brackets on both columns are very similar in appearance, even though the old column was a Stainton, and the new column a Mallatite.

The SON lamp can be seen within the Iridium's enclosed optic.

Some night photographs of the road are displayed below; positioning your mouse cursor over each photograph will cause the 'before' image to change to the 'after' image:

The Alpha 4 double-arm is seen again, but this time, at night. Do you ever have the feeling that you're being watched..?

The outgoing lighting not only lit the road during the transition period; it also illuminated its replacements!

Videos

Day

Night - SOX Lighting

Night - SON Lighting


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