Siemens SRL35

Lantern acquired in November 2004.

A nice change now, as this lantern is brand new and was even still boxed when I received it. It was stored in the same 'magic' storeroom that the Alpha 6s were in, although quite why it was never used is a mystery as it didn't use anything that was difficult to obtain at the time of acquisition. SRL 35s (along with the earlier version, the GEC Z9582) were not a particularly common lantern in the Derby area, as lanterns such as the Thorn Beta 5 and Philips MI 26/XGS 103 were preferred; however, examples did exist on some roads built or relit in the mid-1990s.

This lantern is about the smallest 35 Watt lantern available - even smaller than the Beta 5, and so the box was also very small. In fact, the word I'd use to describe it is "cute"! Don't worry, I'm receiving treatment for these odd descriptions! (The reason that it is soaked in the picture is because it was left outside when the storeroom was cleared out.)

A close up of the sticker. It is interesting that the original name for the lantern is mentioned as well. The NEMA socket on this lantern is dated March 1995, so it is possible that both names were used to avoid confusion if lighting managers were still using GEC codes and catalogues; the company only having closed a few years previously.

The tape holding the box closed had long since lost its stickiness, so it was easy to open the box without tearing the cardboard. Once I'd opened it, I saw the lantern immediately - there was no packaging to protect it.

From the side, the size of the lantern becomes fairly apparent. Although the canopy is thicker than the Beta 5's is, the bowl is shallower than the equivalent Beta 5 shallow bowl type is.

Looking down on the lantern, the canopy is very shiny indeed. If a photocell were to be fitted, the small cap covering the terminals of the NEMA socket would be removed, but I won't be doing this as the lantern doesn't need photocell control.

Another difference between this and the shallow bowled Beta 5 is that the bowl has refractor prisms beneath the lamp area, whereas this area is clear on a Beta 5.

The gear for the lantern is reached by undoing two screws and then sliding the gear tray past them. Once removed, it is held by two plastic ties, which may become brittle if the lantern were to be used on a nightly basis. To the right of the ballast, a manufacturing code, including the GEC-style date code 'BF', exists. This date code would represent June 1994, which seems incorrect when all of the internal components carry 1995 dates. The 'B' could be a 'D', which would then be June 1996, but again, this seems incongruous with the component dates.

The lantern is so small that I managed to perch it on the end of a shelf. When I powered it up for the first time, the lamp stayed red for quite a while, but on the second occasion, it warmed up much more quickly.

With the flash on, the lantern resembles part of the surrounding shelving!

The lantern was mounted to an AC Ford AC872 wall bracket on Sunday, 21st August 2005.

Lantern warm-up video:

Revo C13723/S | OSRAM Z9536

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