193G. Church Street, Twynyrodyn, Town, Treharris, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales With thanks to Dwight for informing me of this Survivor. Located in front of a small parade of shops is a 15 ft (5 m) Avenue 2D concrete column and Arc 2 top-entry bracket made by Concrete Utilities, and fitted with an AEI (Associated Electrical Industries) 'Baby Amber' lantern, for 60 Watt SO/H / SOI/H, and more recently, 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamps. Presumably, the installation is no longer in operation, as a 6 m aluminium hockey stick column supporting an Urbis Axia LED lantern is positioned nearby, but may have remained extant thanks to parked vehicles being in the way whenever removal was attempted. Although Thorn Lighting had a lamp factory within Merthyr Tydfil, which would have been in operation when the concrete column was installed (in the late 1950s or early 1960s), it wouldn't be until 1964 that a joint venture between Thorn and AEI (British Lighting Industries) began, and so the use of an AEI lantern here is probably coincidental.
There is insufficient space for both columns to be installed immediately alongside each other in the footway, and so the two columns straddle a doorway and upstairs window.
The two bowl toggles exhibit the characteristic verdigris colouring of a copper-based metal that has been exposed to the atmosphere for a number of years.
The difference in height between the new and old columns is apparent here.
The Perspex bowl has also become translucent over time, but a water line is visible on the inside of the plastic.
The lantern has been out of action for so long that the underside of the bowl shows signs of moss growth. Even in August 2009, the new column was installed, and back then, it supported a Thorn Civic 1, meaning that the Amber has actually outlived the lantern that was intended to replace it!
The column's original inspection door is missing, and a rather ill-fitting steel replacement door covers the aperture.
As nearby streets also feature Avenue 2D columns (albeit sleeved, and fitted with modern lanterns), I assume that there were more Ambers around here in the past.
This side of the Amber's bowl looks especially grubby.
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