Station Rd Replacements

Following on from the telephone cable incident, all column replacement work had been postponed, pending an enquiry. Instead, work to replace the fairly recently installed MA 50s began on the 17th November 2004. The MA 50s (along with new columns) were installed when the road was widened to accommodate a new housing estate in 2003.

I arrived on Station Rd just after 9am on the 17th November, and it wasn't long before I realised that the HIAB wasn't there. No new replacements had taken place since last Thursday, so I hadn't missed any action. However, as I walked down the road, I saw the definite markings of a Derby City Council bucket van.

Roger and Dave had been given the task of swapping the MA 50s for Civics. Dave went up to the first column - the original plan was to remove the brackets from the existing columns, fit a post-top adaptor and then install the Civic on that.

However, the first problem was that the grub screws holding the brackets in place had been painted and were now stuck fast. The one shown above was eventually removed - only for it then to transpire that the adaptor was too small for the column - it was intended for columns with a 76 mm diameter shaft!

The decision was then taken to remove the MA 50s...

...and cut the brackets down to bring the lanterns closer to the column.

The webbing on these brackets restricted the length which could be cut.

Next was Roger's turn...

The next MA 50 was over the bridge - a column supporting an Alpha 4 just before the bridge was retained at this time as it was due to be replaced as part of the scheme - see page 9.

These columns were fitted with brackets which didn't have any webbing - allowing the new lantern to be positioned alongside the column shaft.

The next column was the same as this one from the outside, but once the door was off, it was clear that this column was also the isolator for a nearby traffic island.

This is the island in question - picture taken when the isolator had been switched off, as well as an example of an MA 50 before being removed:

The globe had been unlit since it was installed, however I thought that I had recently seen it working. I had noticed that the light didn't seem to be that of a compact fluorescent tube - more like a mercury lamp. I decided to take a look in the base of the column to see what, if anything, was of interest in there...

My hunch was right - inside was a Tofco cutout and gear to run a 50 Watt mercury lamp. Again, this was all fitted by the mysterious 'JPS' person! (I later found out that a clear mercury lamp was used.)

A couple more MA 50s were changed before and after lunch, but I haven't documented them as their replacements were not really any different to the ones already mentioned, although one of the replacements was not working when I checked later that night, but now I come to think of it, it wasn't working before the lantern had been changed either - so obviously there's a fault with the service cable as opposed to the lantern.

No work was carried out on the 18th November, and on the 19th, two more MA 50s were removed. As the work was the same, I didn't get any pictures of the removals.