197G. Bury New Road, Blackford Bridge, Whitefield, Bury, Greater Manchester With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Installed along this road are several Concrete Utilities' Avenue 3D columns that would have been 25 ft (8 m) in height when new in the late 1930s / early 1940s, but their height has been increased to a nominal 10 m by replacing the original bracket with a steel slip-over type. This conversion probably occurred in the 1970s, with the Thorn Alpha 5 135 Watt (low pressure sodium) being the lantern of choice to be fitted to the refurbished columns, and even in July 2024, three of the columns still carried these lanterns (two are pictured below), while another supported an ELECO GR 150.

The road is especially wide at this point, and I suspect that the lanterns fitted to the original, shorter brackets were considered too dim for lighting the road satisfactorily as road traffic increased.

Unusually for Thorn lanterns, Perspex bowls appear to be employed, as evidenced by the slight translucence that has developed through years of UV exposure. These could be relatively 'early' Alpha 5s, as the refractors were glued along the long sides of the bowl, but the front one has detached, and appears to be lying within the bowl. Additionally, the rear part of the bowl is hanging away from the lantern as part of the plastic has broken, possibly from a stress crack caused by the hinge.

The GR 150 is attached to a column that is almost opposite Well Lane.

Curiously, the lamp has been removed from this lantern - could this be a sign of the column's impending replacement?

The bowl was missing completely from the final Alpha 5.

At least, this example retained its lamp when pictured.

Although the Alpha 5 began life as the AEI Amberline, and was designed around the 140 - 200 Watt SLI/H (linear low pressure sodium) lamp - a trait that continued into the Thorn Lighting days - a SOX option did become available too, and indeed, I believe that these will have always been SOX, rather than having been converted from SLI/H, after those lamps were discontinued.

The triangular base section, common throughout the Avenue range, as well as the Estate Minor, is present here.

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