Seq. No.	Lamp Number	Location	Lamp Type	Watt	Isolation Point
1	60397	OPP NO 2	SXPL3	55
2	60398	OPP INGHAM DR	SXPL3	55
3	60399	O/S NO 10	SXPL3	55
4	60400	O/S NO 12	SXPL3	55
5	60401	O/S NO 16	SXPL3	55
6	60402	CNR WRETHAM CL	SXPL3	55
7	60403	OS 2 WRETHAM CL	SXPL3	55
8	60404	ADJ ARDLEIGH CL	SXPL3	55
9	60405	ADJ ARDLEIGH CL	SXPL3	55
10	60406	ADJ ROUGHTON CL	SXPL3	55
11	90585	CNR ROUGHTON CL	SXPL3	55
12	90586	CNR THORNDON CL	SXPL3	55
13	90587	ADJ NO 1 THORNDON CL	SXPL3	55
14	90589	OS NO 30	SXPL3	55
15	90590	OPP NO 32	SXPL3	55
16	90591	O/S NOS 35/37	SXPL3	55	Y - Isolates 90590
17	90592	OS NO 40	SXPL3	55
18	90594	OS NO 46	SXPL3	55
19	90595	O/S NOS 51/53	SXPL3	55
20	90596	OPP NO 55 SXPL3	SXPL3	55
21	97880	ADJ NO 55	SXPL3	90

Owing to the commencement of road works at the Uttoxeter Road, Corden Avenue and Rough Heanor Road junction, the proposed lighting replacement scheme along Hedingham Way (originally planned for March 2010) was postponed until September, as this road formed part of the official diversion route around the closure. However, this didn't completely prevent replacements from occurring, as this page demonstrates...

A Thorn Alpha 1 (located more on Etwall Road than on Hedingham Way) was probably the most notable lantern along the road, especially as it was Mickleover's last Alpha 1 in public service by the end of March 2010...six years prior to this, there were over 50, thanks to Station Road. Naturally, I was concerned that this sole-surviving lantern would disappear without a trace, and so I enquired as to the possibility of my saving it for posterity. Shortly after this, on Tuesday, 11th May 2010, the Alpha 1 was removed; a second-hand, gear-in-head Philips MA 90 replaced it, bringing to an end over forty years of Alpha 1 operation in Mickleover. Thankfully, the lantern was saved, and now resides with another collector. This particular Alpha 1 was a throwback to the days of 90 Watt SOX lanterns along Etwall Road - up until the late 1980s, Alpha 1s and GEC Z9454s were installed along here, attached to Stanton 8F unsleeved 25 ft concrete columns. Following sleeving to increase the column heights to 10 m, remotely-geared Philips MA 50 135 Watt SOX lanterns were fitted; the 90 Watt lanterns presumably being scrapped.

The first few pictures of the Alpha 1, when still installed, were taken on Sunday, 7th March 2010. Unfortunately, this is not the best example of an Alpha 1 - the Opticell is held in place with a cable tie and a length of wire, however, as it was the last one, I overlooked this fault.

The lantern was again pictured on Sunday, 9th May - I had announced my intention for this lantern to be saved by then, and so I decided to take a couple of additional photographs before the lantern disappeared. I didn't realise, at the time, that it would be removed two days later.

Fast-forwarding a couple of days, and the MA 90 was installed in place of the Alpha 1:

Moving on to September 2010, and a newly-installed column can be seen installed adjacent this one:

The new column appears to be 10 m in height.

A length of protective wrapping was still attached to the column shaft at the time.

Moving away from Etwall Road, the outgoing columns were 6 m in height, and supported GEC Z9538 55 Watt SOX lanterns. A reinstated excavation was present to the left of the column; perhaps the replacement column was originally planned to be installed in this location.

The lantern featured a particularly grimy-looking bowl.

The replacement column was instead installed almost opposite the outgoing 6 m column.

An SGS 253 (medium-sized) Iridium (running 140 Watt CPO-TW) was fitted to the new column. Interestingly, the 'usual' blue Royce Thompson SC1000 photocells that have been specified for virtually all of the other Iridiums installed under the PFI are not fitted to the new lanterns along here; instead, photocells that more closely resemble the Oasis 1000, again made by Royce Thompson, are fitted. Unlike the SC1000s, which are normally set to switch on at 70 Lux and off at 35 Lux, these are calibrated to switch on at 35 Lux and off at 18 Lux, in an attempt to save energy.

The following new column was installed alongside its outgoing equivalent; this is opposite the entrance to Uffa Magna.

We briefly move to the other side of the road for the next installation...

After approximately 30 years of service, the Z9538's canopy is understandably looking somewhat the worst for wear! A GE-branded lamp is fitted here. The photocell is a Royce Thompson Monostar 1000.

On the other hand, the Iridium looked as if it had only just been fitted...but then again, it had! The lantern was installed on the morning of Friday, 17th September - the picture was taken in the afternoon.

The next new column was fitted with an outreach bracket, due to it being positioned behind a lay-by. Originally, Hedingham Way (along with Brierfield Way) was to have been served by a bus service, with the lay-bys being the locations of the bus stops along the route; however, this proposal never came to fruition, and the lay-bys were latterly used by residents for additional car parking.

This Z9538 also featured a weathered canopy. A Zodion SS3DR cell is fitted here.

Returning to the other side of the road again now, and also to spigot-mounted Iridiums, a Z9538 with a cable-tied bowl and SC1000 cell is seen. Unlike Brierfield Way, which was largely group-switched from two control points, Hedingham Way mainly featured individually-switched lanterns, due to the increased availability of Electricity Company supplies at this location. Only this column, 90591, served as a control and switching point for another column.

The CPO-TW lamp can be seen inside the Iridium's optic.

The NEMA socket of the lantern that was switched from 90591 is not fitted with a photocell unit; instead, the dust cap that is usually discarded during lantern commissioning still remained in place.

The next consecutive column was installed on the inside of the bend. Columns are normally installed on the outsides of bends, as doing this can provide a more uniform light distribution for motorists traversing the bend. The problem here is that there is no space on the outside of the bend for columns to be installed, and so the columns have had to have been installed on the inside of the bend instead.

The Alpha 1 was not the only lantern to disappear before the column replacement scheme commenced. A new column, supporting a WRTL Arc lantern, appeared in 2005 after an existing column (supporting a GEC Z9538) was damaged after being involved in a collision with a vehicle, however, this column was itself demolished in April 2010, and a new 10 m column, bearing a PFI-style maintenance number and fitted with an SGS 254 Iridium running a (presumed) 150 Watt SON lamp, appeared a few weeks later. Presumably, the SGS 254 will now be changed for an SGS 253, in order that the light output colour will match that of the newly-installed columns.

(UPDATE: The lantern was changed at some point during the week commencing Monday, 18th October 2010, after I informed the contractor of the discrepancy.)

How did that 10 m column that wasn't visible in the above picture suddenly appear? Magic, of course!

This Z9538 had also been fitted with an SC1000 photocell.

The next two columns were fitted with Thorn Beta 2 lanterns; presumably, the Z9538s installed on these columns had failed at some point.

A rather worn lamp was installed within the Beta 2:

Beta 2s are much the same as buses; none appear for ages, and then two appear together! (Perhaps they were making up for the lack of a bus service along here!)

A vacuum-formed replacement bowl was fitted to the next Z9538.

The lamp support was missing from within the lantern; this caused the far end of the lamp (a Philips) to instead rest against the inside of the bowl.

Continuing the theme of "keep every two lanterns the same", the following Z9538 also sported a replica bowl.

The lamp support remained attached in this lantern.

The amount of dirt within the bowl looked to be about the same, however!

The second bracketed Iridium is the next installation to be seen. Again, this is due to the presence of a lay-by at this location. Beta 2s were fitted to all of the remaining outgoing columns along Hedingham Way.

Side-entry Iridium, anyone?

The brackets fitted to three of the final outgoing columns were of a slightly different design to those fitted to the rest of the columns.

Most of the 'Derbyshire Green' paint finish had disappeared from the bracket; a light grey base colour was now visible instead.

By Saturday, 2nd October 2010, the old columns were no longer in use; indeed, they were removed on this very day - this column had already gone by the time that I took this photograph. The object that resembles "one of those big CDs from the olden days" is a cutting disc.

With the columns disconnected, the doors had been removed. This allowed the insides of the bases to be viewed. The disconnected redundant column on the left only had about an hour left on the road when the photograph below was taken.

With the columns disconnected, early morning dew had formed on the lanterns. Had the lanterns still been in use, they would have been warm enough (from operating all night) to have prevented the dew from forming.

The next Beta 2 was fitted on Wednesday, 5th January 2005; replacing a smashed Z9538 - I was there when the replacement lantern was fitted!

Despite the lantern having been in use for over five years, the aluminium canopy remained relatively shiny:

Meanwhile, the replacement Iridium seemed to take on a rather menacing appearance, with the chassis and bowl being in shadow in the following photograph:

The open door on this column revealed that it was fed on a private, council-owned cable (as opposed to a cable owned by the Electricity Company). I do now recall seeing Amrik testing the supply after the Z9538 had fallen off, in case the act of the lantern falling had shorted out any of the cables and blown a fuse. Assuming that the circuit discrimination was acceptable, only the 'local' fuse in the column should have blown; the fuse protecting the cable in the isolation point should have remained live. In any event, the test revealed that none of the fuses required replacing, although this did mean that there was a live supply poking out of the bracket once the lantern had fallen away! 

The final outgoing column was installed in about November 2004 (during the Station Road lighting replacement scheme). This replaced a column that had been knocked down by a vehicle a few weeks earlier.

A minimal amount of webbing linked the bracket arm to the column spigot.

Looking at the dead column base on the 2nd October, it appears that this column may have served as the isolation point for the above installation - the Electricity Company's supply would have terminated in the top (and wonky) cut-out. The double-fused unit below would then have provided fusing for both the lantern attached to the column, and the outgoing supply to the older column.

Looking the other way, again on the 2nd October 2010.

A new column was installed opposite The Hollow. In days gone by, this 'T' Junction was a crossroads, and the northern section of The Hollow was accessible from Hedingham Way. The access was blocked off in the early 1980s. This was once one of the main ways into Mickleover from Littleover - before the days of Hedingham Way and Brierfield Way.

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:

Amrik's Beta 2 is seen again in this picture:

Looking towards Etwall Road now, with the MA 90 featured further up this page visible on the left:

Looking the other way (this photograph does not have an equivalent 'before' photograph):

Videos

Day

Night - SOX Lighting

Night - Cosmopolis Lighting

Time lapse - SOX Lighting

Time lapse - Cosmopolis Lighting