69A. Old Park Lane / Titford Road / Crosswells Road / Dog Kennel Lane, Oldbury, Sandwell With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Still extant on each of these roads in 2023 is (at least) one Thorn Alpha 1 90 Watt SOX lantern; all of which are attached to 25 ft (8 m) concrete columns.
The first installation is to be found on Old Park Lane, at its junction with (new?) Park Lane. A Concrete Utilities' Avenue 3DNN column and Arc 2 bracket support the lantern.
Although the combination of this style of bracket and the Alpha 1 lantern makes for a "classic" appearance, I believe that the Alpha 1s are 1970s' replacements for earlier lanterns.
The lamp support within the Alpha 1's Opticell unit has split apart below the lamp, causing the glassware to hang down slightly under its own weight.
A Royce Thompson Oasis 1000 NEMA photocell, set at 55 Lux, and made in 2019, switches the lantern.
What appears to be a concrete collar is positioned between the lantern and the actual concrete of the bracket. Perhaps, this could be removed on occasions when lanterns that required longer bracket penetrations were due to be fitted.
These appear to be early examples of the Avenue 3DNN column, with the doors being sheet steel (rather than cast aluminium, as with later doors), and the 'drop latch' locks being situated at the tops of the doors, rather than at the bottoms.
This example, on the Titford Road / Station Road junction features an Arc 2 bracket that is not only taller than on the above example, but has a greater outreach too.
The different dimensions create more of a sweep with the bracket curve.
A juvenile Herring Gull watches on from its Opticell vantage point.
From the other side (now sans bird), the column appears to be leaning forward very slightly.
The concrete collar is more obvious here, owing to more of the bracket concrete having eroded away. The Opticell is damaged, allowing dirt to gather within it, and collect along the lower seam.
The lower portion of the bracket's counterbalancing fin is also missing a section of concrete, while the usual manufacturing hole above where the bracket attaches to the column is filled in on this example.
An identical installation to that seen above, situated by the level crossing in the background of the below image, survived until some point after June 2022. With this having been removed, and a new column installed on the opposite side of the road, this column on Crosswells Road, opposite Hall Street was the next installation to retain its Alpha 1 into 2023.
The bracket hole is more visible on this example.
The collar has had a length of tape wrapped around it, and the lantern is tilted downwards by a small amount.
Although almost illegible these days, the Concrete Utilities' logo is embossed on the column's door plate.
A Stanton 1808 column must have served as a replacement for an Avenue 3DNN at some point.
This Alpha 1's Opticell was in very poor condition, with much of it having broken away (I suspect that it may have been struck by branches belonging to the adjacent tree), and the lamp being exposed.
The damage is relatively recent, with the Opticell still being intact when captured by Google Street View in October 2018.
Assuming that the lamp still works, it must look rather bizarre after nightfall!
The final notable installation is on Dog Kennel Lane, at its junction with Basons Lane.
Again, a larger bracket is employed here.
This Alpha 1's Opticell also shows signs of dirt ingress, but at least, it is intact!
A feature of the Avenue 3DNN is that the door aperture is flush with the front of the column, with the wide base being offset to the back.
The Opticell damage must be on the top section, as from below, there are no breaks or cracks.
The tape may serve as some sort of identification system - perhaps, to determine when the lantern was repaired last, as there do not look to be any structural defects on the bracket that would require any sort of "repair" to be undertaken.
A slightly more atmospheric view of this column from the other side.
Here, the bracket's counterbalancing fin is intact.
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