112K. Greyfriars, Bedford With thanks to Brian Randall for informing me of this Survivor. Installed outside the former police station are two 15 ft (5 m) Abacus tubular steel columns, with both supporting Thorn Gamma 2 post-top lanterns designed for operating two or four 2 ft (600 mm) 40 Watt fluorescent lamps. This image taken in 1964 shows the newly-completed police station, with the Gamma 2s visible, meaning that they were likely to be Atlas-badged products (rather than Thorn), and therefore, in 2023, were nearly 60 years old. Remarkably, despite the police station having fallen into disuse, the lanterns were largely undamaged at the time of photographing.
The first of the two lanterns is to the right of the former police station entrance.
As with the example seen in nearby Luton, the acrylic canopy has retained its light blue colouring, although this has faded on the aluminium base casting.
The other example is to be found at the corner of the car park.
A small amount of damage exists on this lantern's bowl.
One of the fluorescent lamps is visible through the broken section. Its position suggests that these Gamma 2s are the twin-lamp versions.
The adjacent roundabout also features some Survivors - as the above 1964 image shows, three 25 ft (8 m) Stewart & Lloyd tubular steel columns were installed on the roundabout itself, and originally, also supported fluorescent lanterns (albeit, 5 ft (1500 mm), main road products - probably Atlas / Thorn Alpha 2s (AEI Kingtons)).
The columns survived intact until some point after April 2016, when they were cut down to stumps (presumably, owing to corrosion, and difficulty in maintaining the lanterns) and painted black, rather than being removed completely. The surrounding columns on the outside of the roundabout were renewed then too. By the time that the columns were cut down, the fluorescent lanterns were long gone, with Philips SGS 203s being fitted.
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