174H. Saint Andrew's Road / Watery Lane Middleway, Bordesley, Highgate, Birmingham For many years, the GEC Z8526 'Turtle' lantern was a common sight on main roads around Birmingham, but by 2024, their numbers were in steep decline, following replacement with more modern equipment, particularly LED lanterns. An unusual arrangement to some of these Z8526s was their use of a 90 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamp, instead of the more common 250 - 400 Watt MBF (mercury vapour) or SON (high pressure sodium) lamps that these lamps accommodated ordinarily. I believe that the first column on St Andrew's Road, after leaving Watery Lane, may be such an example, as other 90 Watt lanterns (in the form of Philips MA 90s) remained installed further along the road. Watery Lane itself was lit with SON examples, however, which may have been configured for such lamps from the start, rather than being converted from MBF later.

Starting with the Saint Andrew's Road example, and the 25 ft (8 m) Stewart & Lloyd tubular steel column received a fresh coat of paint at some point after June 2014; the column being painted light grey prior to this.

Where the blue has worn away on the bracket, an older green paint scheme is becoming visible once again.

As this example features the later bowl design, incorporating prismatic refractors, it is unlikely to be the column's original lantern.

The bracket is relatively short in length (longer outreaches were available).

The inspection door wasn't quite fitted correctly, allowing the control gear components to be glimpsed inside. Although the identification label is missing from the ballast casing (with the Telensa Telecell's identification label being affixed to it instead), it can be identified as being a GEC product too, owing to its appearance. Unfortunately, as both SON and SOX ballasts made by GEC were of similar design and size in many cases, this does not assist in determining the type of lamp that is installed within the lantern.

The capacitor is also visible, complete with its 1978 manufacture date.

A small number of Z8526s survive on Watery Lane. The columns look to be Fabrikat types, with the lanterns being positioned around 12 m above the ground, thanks to the use of long, curved brackets.

The curves must have been applied using a manual roller during production, as there is a slight kink in the bracket tube.

Thankfully, this example's bowl is a little cleaner, allowing the tubular SON lamp to be seen within the lantern. The Z8526's optics are optimised for the use of elliptical lamps (a legacy from being designed around mercury lamp parameters), and when fitted with a tubular lamp, the glare emitted will be higher.

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