111DA. St Christopher's Drive, Two Gates, Tamworth, Staffordshire With thanks to Leo Conway for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on the short loop road around the Mobile Home Park are a number of 5 m tubular steel columns supporting Philips XGS 201 lanterns. These each would have run a 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamp originally, but are now fitted with small LED lamps instead. These installations are likely to date back to around September 1978, which was when the site was leased for the purpose of developing the land for use as a mobile home park.
One of the examples is pictured below - this is located at the start of the loop road. Another example is visible in the background, although the adjacent tree foliage makes it difficult to spot.
Rather unusually for their time, the lanterns are installed post-top to the columns, rather than requiring a separate side-entry bracket. The support for the SOX lamp remains present within the lantern, although as the replacement LED lamp is considerably shorter than a 35 Watt lamp is, the support is no longer used.
Whilst visiting Leo's collection, he kindly demonstrated his own XGS 201. This was not removed from the above scheme, but was bought separately. As can be seen, the lamp area is only just long enough to accommodate the SOX lamp, and even then, the lampholder has had to be positioned so that it pokes through the rear panel.
This example was side-entry when in use, although the panel covering the internal wiring has a circular cut-out position moulded into it that would allow post-top mounting instead. This would have to be determined in advance of installation, as once the hole was cut, changing to the alternative mounting method would mean that a gaping hole remained in the lantern body. The ballast appears to date to December 1976, as it carries '6M' as a date code.
This is how the lantern looks when fitted with a freshly activated lamp.
A few minutes later, and the characteristic low pressure sodium glow is achieved.
Philips would redesign the lantern in later years, with the newer version being slightly larger, and more angular in appearance. As a comparison, an SGS 201 (known as the ME 50/70/100 series in the UK throughout the 1990s) was placed along its older counterpart.
BACK TO SURVIVORS IN STAFFORDSHIRE
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION
© 2002 - English Street Lights Online