174K. Off Lionel Street, Ladywood, Park Central, Birmingham With thanks to AgentHalogen_87 for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on a private road leading to University College Birmingham are three 15 ft (5 m) Revo tubular steel columns of typical Birmingham design, with all three fitted with lanterns that run 80 Watt MBF (mercury vapour) lamps. While these installations may have been in the ownership of Birmingham Council formerly, as the road is private, the ownership may have shifted to that of the college; hence, how they have remained in operation.

The first column supported a GEC Z8896 attached to an AC Ford bracket.

As can be seen, the lantern was dayburning when pictured in December 2024; the MBF lamp was still relatively bright but had become slightly green in its output.

The culprit for the dayburning fault is the Haromarkt / Incatron North S90N photocell attached to the Z8896's canopy. Given that this photocell is likely to date from the early 1990s, perhaps, the dayburning can be excused.

The column features the typical Birmingham-style stepped swage joint and base section, along with a single ladder bar.

While the column is painted light green, the bracket is brown, and this paint looks to be fresher, judging by the lack of flaking compared to the column's paint.

Although the polycarbonate bowl has discoloured (not helped by having the lamp burning constantly within it), the plastic is still sufficiently transparent to avoid limiting the lamp's output too severely.

Further into the courtyard, the second column supported a Revo Hadfield.

This too was dayburning, and may be group-controlled from the first column's photocell.

The distinctive wide-brimmed canopy is missing from this example; this disappeared after August 2018, according to Google Street View. The right-hand bowl clip is also insecure.

The final column was in the far corner of the courtyard, and also supported an AC Ford swan neck, along with an example of that company's AC 850 lantern. Originally, all three columns may have supported Hadfields.

Even if this column is fed from the first one too, as the AC 850 features its own photocell, the lantern will operate correctly (until that photocell fails too, of course).

< Previous | Next >

BACK TO SURVIVORS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS

BACK TO SURVIVORS

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION