12P. Hamlet Way, London Borough of Southwark With thanks to Alex Monk for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on this short cul-de-sac are two 5 m sheet steel columns supporting GEC Z5580 top-entry lanterns; both of which appear to be running an 80 Watt mercury vapour (MBF) lamp. One of the two lanterns is lit constantly, and appears to have been like this since 2020 (these pictures were taken in July 2023), but was also in a similar state at various points from 2008 onwards. Owing to this high use, the lamp is now very dim; the output further diminished by the polycarbonate bowl having discoloured.

The columns are possible GEC products too (although they carry no identification that would confirm this) - they resemble the 'Fivemetre' type.

Although the lamp was slightly brighter than it appears here, it was still very dim. I believe that the yellow circular sticker applied to the bowl is to identify the year that the lantern was last re-lamped.

The brackets employed are a rather funky design that match the contours of the column, whilst also catering for the top-entry lanterns.

The Royce Thompson P9 photocell is positioned on the column shaft. Clearly, with the lantern operating when it shouldn't, this has malfunctioned.

The second example did not have a P9 drilled into the column shaft, and the lantern did not appear to be lit.

The bracket must be a cast component - probably in aluminium.

Owing to the extensive bowl yellowing, there was no way of knowing whether a refractor prism existed around the lamp or not.

Google Street View recorded that this column's door was off in February 2018, revealing an array of vintage components, including a Venner MSQP time switch - this explains why the second column was not drilled for photocell control.

< Previous | Next >


BACK TO SURVIVORS IN GREATER LONDON

BACK TO SURVIVORS

BACK TO INDEX

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION

© 2002 - English Street Lights Online