A Royce Thompson Monostar 1000 photocell was fitted to the Alpha 4.

A couple of Thorn Alpha 8 (Mk3) lanterns had been fitted to the next two columns on Monday, 21st February 2005; the first replaced another MA 50. This column was finally removed from service on Saturday, 14th May 2011; the lantern was saved into my collection.

The Alpha 8s each ran a 250 Watt SON-T lamp; the higher wattage being used as a way of creating a negative contrast against pedestrians using the zebra crossing that straddled the two columns.

The second Alpha 8, installed on a Fabrikat column outside the former Mickleover School (and latterly, Mickleover Community Centre) replaced another integrally-geared Alpha 4, which itself replaced an integrally-geared MA 50 in August 2003 after the Philips lantern's ballast failed. Happily, the MA 50 was saved and now also resides in my collection. This column [lamp]post-dates the above inventory records; it being installed in 1998 (and numbered 129998). Prior to this, there was no column installed at this location.

The Belisha Beacons installed on the zebra crossing were also set to be replaced as part of this scheme. The bases of the new beacon poles can be seen adjacent the outgoing poles - they were still awaiting the "rest" of the post when these photographs were taken! Photographs of the replacement beacons can be seen on Page 1A.

The following column (another 1998 replacement, but one that replaced a concrete column at the same location, so it carries the original number of 36395) still retained its MA 50. This is how my MA 50 would have looked when in service. Although a weatherproof power socket can be seen attached to the column shaft, I cannot recall it ever actually powering an appliance. The socket was installed in order to power a portable CCTV camera (owing to a parade of shops being located opposite), but then never had a camera fitted.

Despite only being approximately thirteen years old when removed, the MA 50's GRP canopy looked somewhat weathered.

The next outgoing installation saw a return to concrete columns. The replacement column here is installed opposite, owing to the proximity of overhanging tree branches on this side of the road.

This lantern, being a few years older than the MA 50 above, looked a little more weathered. This lantern (and its control gear) were removed from service on Tuesday, 3rd May and later entered my collection. The column was also removed on the 14th May.

An identical setup followed for the next installation. Although the new column appears to be stretching the overhead telecommunications cable, this is actually just an optical illusion - the cable, in fact, passes in front of the column.

The lamp in this lantern was still fairly new; having been fitted in the latter months of 2010.

Three of the four outgoing columns installed around the Station Road / Kipling Drive roundabout remained at 8 m - as with the Alpha 4 column at the start of this page, their being of a tubular steel construction ensured that they were not replaced when the concrete columns were sleeved, and were therefore a legacy of the previous lighting scheme. All that changed was that integrally-geared MA 50s were fitted in place of the existing 90 Watt SOX lanterns. Even though MA 50s are not particularly heavy lanterns, the brackets had developed a noticeable lean in latter years, due to the cantilever action of the long lanterns.

Back in 2005, I commented that the next installation would probably be replaced as part of the Station Road relighting scheme; well, it wasn't as things turned out, but would disappear as part of this PFI scheme. The difference in height between the outgoing 8 m column and new 10 m column is very evident.

Only the front end of this lantern showed signs of significant moss growth on the canopy - perhaps the rest of the lantern became too warm during operation for the spores to sprout!

The 8 m column in approximately the north-eastern side of the roundabout was replaced in 2003/4 and a new 10 m column installed in its place - the new column also doubling up as a telecommunications mast. (Mickleover's elevated location makes it ideally suited for the placement of such masts, although the large number installed here since the early 2000s has not received exactly a universal welcome from residents.) The former column installed here supported a 135 Watt SOX Relite Hyperion 135 (also informally known as the 'Hyperion C'); perhaps, then, the roundabout had already been lit with 135 Watt SOX prior to the sleeving scheme. The MA 50 fitted to the column-cum-mast needed re-lamping fairly on in its life - the original lamp's outer bulb appeared to break shortly after the column was commissioned, causing the lantern to red-burn (as the heat losses from the now-un-insulated arc tube prevented the sodium from vaporising) until a fresh lamp was fitted. I wonder whether the mast's transmitters needed to be temporarily switched off while these repairs were undertaken. A replacement column is seen here, as the lantern would lose its power supply for this scheme; its use then solely being for telecommunications purposes.

The new column's spigot can just be seen in this picture:

The fourth column saw a return to 8 m mounting heights. The installation that looks to be supporting a classic post-top fluorescent lantern in the background is another mast. (In fact, the only really 'classic' thing in this picture is the Mk III Ford Cortina visible in the car park of The Nag's Head pub!)

At the time of photographing, this lantern was inoperative...but then again, it is pictured in daylight, so this is expected. However, it was also inoperative after nightfall - the lamp's electrodes look somewhat blackened, so a new lamp would probably have sufficed in getting the lantern into lighting again, but with the lantern's removal from service being imminent, there would be little point in arranging repairs at this late stage.

The four 'turn left' signs on the roundabout would also be replaced for this scheme. The outgoing signlight units consisted of two Pearce Gowshall L68/25s, one Truesigns T8C and a Forest City LA428. The relatively short posts occasionally invited a certain amount of unwanted attention from hilarious people who would rotate the signlight units, sign plates or both, in order that they faced in a different direction to how they should have been positioned - only time will tell over whether the new posts (each supporting a Simmonsigns 'LUA' LED signlight unit) will be more resilient to these onslaughts. The white stakes visible on the roundabout used to support banners that advertised either "Derby in Bloom", or the company that had sponsored the planting on the roundabout at the time.

CONTINUE TO PART 1A - ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS

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