197H. Billington Road, Kersal, Pendlebury, Salford, Greater Manchester With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on this private cul-de-sac are three 15 ft (5 m) Concrete Utilities' Avenue 2D columns with Arc 2 brackets supporting AEI (Associated Electrical Industries) 'Baby Amber' lanterns, for 60 Watt SO/H / SOI/H, and more recently, 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamps. Sadly, all three lanterns have suffered heavy vandalism over the years, with two having lost their lamps completely, and the third being fitted with an old 35 Watt lamp that probably hasn't worked in years.

The first column is installed a short distance from Agecroft Road.

The already-fragile Perspex bowl is smashed, and the porcelain bayonet lampholder is damaged. This does, however, allow the lamp control gear components to be seen within the lantern.

The components (a hefty leak transformer that takes up much of the available space) and capacitor both have aluminium cases, which shows signs of corrosion from the years of neglect and disuse. Surprisingly, although the turrets for securing an over-lamp reflector / gear cover between the components and the lamp are present on the inside of the canopy, they are un-drilled, meaning that the lanterns must never have had these fitted.

Although the leak transformer's information stamp is worn, the intended wattages (45, 60 and 85 Watt) are still visible, as is part of the AEI logo, and the factory's location on Melton Road in Leicester. With AEI Lamps & Lighting only existing between 1956 and 1967, the approximate age of these installations can be determined. After becoming a full part of the Thorn Lighting empire in 1967, production of the Baby Amber was discontinued. The future was brighter for sister lantern the Amber Minor, however, as that was renamed the Beta 5, and would remain in production for the next forty years, in various guises.

The capacitor is also an AEI product. Although the printing on this is even more faint, an instruction to install the capacitors with the wiring terminals facing downwards in column bases is still legible.

The second column is about the most secluded of the three, and because of this, the lantern is in the most wrecked condition.

This bowl is missing completely, save for the parts that attached to the hinge pins.

Asbestos and rubber-sheathed cables make up the internal wiring. As the supply cable is PVC twin-and-earth, these are likely to be 1960s' installations.

Oddly, there are no columns installed near to the small number of houses at the end of the road - perhaps, the thinking of installing the three columns was because that part of the road is tree-lined (and thus, more gloomy), whereas the houses are in a slight clearing.

This column's closer proximity to the houses, where any acts of vandalism would be seen more easily by the residents, could be the reason that the lamp has survived, although the bowl is still missing.

Oddly, the capacitor has been disconnected and removed - I wonder whether it developed a fault that kept causing the fuse to blow. Appropriately, the lamp here is a Thorn or GE type, made at exactly the same factory that the lantern and gear components were produced in many years earlier.

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