Local Tamlite Tamcrests

Only two Tamcrests were known to have existed on public roads in Derbyshire - these were situated on Derby's Market Place and were installed to new columns in 1994/5 as part of the Market Place's refurbishment. Prior to their installation, no columns had existed in this part of the Market Place; instead, a single high mast provided illumination in the area. The two Tamcrest columns survived until approximately 2009, when they, and the Abacus AM490 municipal lanterns located throughout the rest of the Market Place, were replaced with Philips Urbanscene modular lighting units.

One of the two installations is pictured in July 2006; the other example can be seen in the background. Both columns are fitted with floodlights that focused on the adjacent waterfall feature that was built on the site of the Market Place's underground public toilets; the room that housed these still exists beneath the waterfall, complete with original tiling, and now serves as a pump room for the waterfall, as well as a switching room for the Market Place's electrical supplies. The Tamcrest bears a slight resemblance to Thorn's 'Pilote' lantern, although this is likely to be coincidental, especially as the Tamcrest features an aluminium canopy, whereas the Pilote's is plastic. Tamlite literature suggests that the lantern could accommodate lamps of up to 400 Watt SON; however, as this wattage cannot be used in conjunction with the lantern's polycarbonate bowl option, the lanterns seen here probably ran 150 Watt / 250 Watt SON lamps instead.

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