174FA. Seeleys Road, Tyseley Industrial Estate, Springfield, Greet, Birmingham With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Between Warwick Road and Seeleys Park are five 8 m Thorn QC8 sheet aluminium columns, with each topped with a Gamma 3 lantern; or at least, part of one. As Seeleys Road then continues, two 15 ft (5 m) Revo tubular steel columns are to be found, with the first supporting a damaged GEC Z5699 post-top; the other, a Revo 'Hadfield' - a common lantern on residential streets in Birmingham in the past.
The first column supporting a Gamma 3 from Warwick Road has a lantern that fits into the "part of one" category.
The canopy is missing completely, and only a few broken fragments remain of the bowl. The lamp hangs forlornly over the base casting, and even its porcelain lampholder is cracked.
Even in 2008, the canopy was missing from this lantern. The bowl was still intact then, however.
The second column was also missing its lantern, but thankfully, on the third column, the lantern was intact.
The spun aluminium canopy was quite grimy from its proximity to adjacent tree branches.
Even the lamp hadn't survived on the previous column.
The column's inspection door had fallen away, exposing the internal wiring. The (three) armoured supply cables terminated into a steel enclosure that only just fitted within the base. From there, the local supply was protected by the fuse in the BILL cut-out, and the lamp control gear components were positioned above it.
A Thorn G53398.T 250 Watt SON (high pressure sodium) ballast, dating from the late 1980s / early 1990s, ran the lamp, with a Thorn ignitor and unknown capacitor positioned below it.
The door lay on the footway alongside - it must have fallen onto the carriageway, and been squashed flat by lorries or similar large vehicles passing over it.
The fourth installation was far more intact, with both the lantern being complete, and the door being secure to the column.
The bowl seemed to have some sort of plant growing in it.
Moving to the two Revo columns now, with the one supporting the damaged Z5699 being the first.
Not only has the canopy become unclipped; it has also hinged backwards into its own bowl, breaking some of the plastic in the process.
The 10+ years of disuse has caused dirt to gather on the inside of the bowl.
The damage occurred at some point after December 2010, with the column leaning after then too.
The Hadfield is attached to the same type of column; therefore, both of these columns may have supported such lanterns originally.
This is the version with an outer bowl; the polycarbonate having discoloured over the years.
A feature of these lanterns is the very wide canopy over the main lantern part.
A ladder bar attached to the column shaft allows maintenance to take place without the need of an access platform.
The bowl clip on this side of the lantern is loose, causing the support ring to hang slightly, and allowing dirt to gather within the bowl.
The Birmingham Coat of Arms is cast into the column's inspection door.
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