194F. Woodlands Drive, Barnston, Wirral, Merseyside With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Three 15 ft (5 m) GEC concrete columns dating from the 1950s, but fitted with later top-entry Thorn Beta 5 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lanterns, were still extant along this road in June 2024; however, their days were numbered. By the time that the pictures below were taken, new 6 m columns supporting ASD Micro Highway Diamond LED lanterns were installed alongside, and were operational - the old columns having been disconnected and awaiting their inevitable removal in the near future.

The first of the three columns was near to the main Barnston Road.

The Beta 5 had an air of faded glory about it, having been used as a latrine for birds for some time.

The new lantern brushed against an overhead telecommunications wire.

With the service having been disconnected, the column door had been left discarded by the adjacent excavation. With the Beta 5 having its lamp control gear located within the lantern, no gear components from any previous discharge lanterns fitted here survived in the base.

The second column was to be found just after the junction for Low Wood Grove.

While the new lantern towers over its outgoing predecessor, we see that the tip of the concrete bracket has lost its outer material, revealing the internal steel pipe.

A slightly arty image is created as old succumbs to new.

The exposed base compartment of this column allowed the casing from a long-redundant Sangamo time switch to be observed. Curiously, the case had been used as a makeshift junction box, with the live wire from the cut-out, and the same going to the lantern, being linked together in a single terminal. The positioning of the case suggests that when the original lantern was fitted, it may have been a type running a GLS (tungsten filament) lamp, as there would be insufficient space below or above the time switch to accommodate 1950s' discharge lamp control gear.

The door to this column had been discarded within the excavation after its supply had been transferred to the new column. Given that GEC concrete column doors are not especially common, and this would end up in the scrap metal skip back at the lighting depot, I decided to take it away as a souvenir.

The GEC logo is stamped with pride on the door.

The door is formed of pressed aluminium, rather than being cast.

The locking mechanism comprises a bolt on the outer-facing side of the door  that is attached to a formed strip of metal on the rear. Turning the bolt clockwise causes the catch to grip onto the lower portion of the door aperture, locking the door. As the top of the door tucks into the column, it is then secured.

The third, and final, GEC column was on Low Road Grove itself - Woodlands Drive becoming the other road after a 90 degree bend.

This bracket too had lost its concrete around the top-entry elbow. As both this and the previous column had been affected in the same way, I wondered if the concrete had been removed deliberately, in preparation for the fitting of a side-entry lantern - a plan that, clearly, never ended up being completed.

Again, nothing but the cut-out remained in the old column base. Just visible in the excavation is the old column's supply cable entry hole, where a length of severed PILC (Paper Insulated Lead Cable) is visible - the cable being diverted into a waterproof joint in front of the two columns, and a new section of plastic-sheathed cable being taken from the joint to feed the new column.

< Previous | Next >

BACK TO SURVIVORS IN MERSEYSIDE

BACK TO SURVIVORS

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION