202J. Various locations: Lakenheath, Suffolk With thanks to Dwight for informing me of many of the Survivors featured on this page. Still extant in the last days of 2023 were a number of vintage lanterns, with the majority of these made by CU Phosco under their earlier "Phosware" branding. In many cases, these lanterns are attached to columns produced by Phosware's column division, Concrete Utilities.
We start the tour on Eriswell Drive, where several 1960s' P153 lanterns, designed for 45 - 60 Watt SO/H and SOI/H lamps, but today running 35 Watt SOX lamps, can be seen.
The short 15 degree outreach brackets installed atop the Byway 'X' columns installed on this road seemed to be intended for columns with a wider top profile, as a noticeable difference in width between it and the column exists at every installation.
An identical installation, with an Urbis Sapphire 1 casual replacement lantern visible in the background.
The lamp is positioned low within the lantern, owing to the need to accommodate sizeable 1960s' control gear components in some versions of the P153.
This example is seen near Eriswell Road.
The bowl on this example remains transparent, and relatively clean.
One example is abandoned, with a new column supporting a WRTL Stela Long LED lantern being positioned adjacent.
The P153 is (largely) stripped, with the bowl and lamp having been removed. Even in 2009, the bowl was missing, however.
The wiring to the lampholder is disconnected, but remains clamped into the inside of the canopy at one point.
Given the proximity of the old column to the conifer tree, it may have remained in place to avoid causing possible damage to the tree during removal.
The presence of green / yellow earth sleeving within the old lantern suggests that the installation could have been rewired at some point after 1977 (as before then, the earth conductor was identified with solid green sleeving), though as the surrounding properties look to date from the late 1970s anyway, these lanterns may be of the same era. The odd thing with this is that the P153 had been superseded by the P22# range during the 1970s, so these examples may have been left-over old stock that ended up being used here.
This column was positioned behind a fence at the end of a short stub cul-de-sac.
The vertical refractor grooves at both ends of the bowl are apparent here.
Meanwhile, the horizontal refractors on the long sides of the bowl do not extend to the full length of the side.
This section of the road saw a change to Arc 4 outreach brackets, which are a much better fit on the Byway 'X' column.
The so-called 'Oddie Key', employed in securing the bowl, must have failed here, as a length of insulation tape has been used as a makeshift alternative securing method. The rear bowl hinge also appears to have been 'repaired' using a twist of wire.
Top-entry Arc 4 brackets and P152 lanterns (the top-entry version of the P153) existed on The Elders and The Cedars.
This example appears to have the lamp control gear mounted within the lantern.
Another example with a faulty bowl securing mechanism could be seen at the start of The Cedars.
This bowl was far more translucent in appearance.
This column seems to be set back slightly too far from the carriageway for the lantern to be effective. The bracket alignment also does not match the direction of the carriageway.
Some slight stress cracks are visible on the bracket's surface.
This GEC Z8896 on Maids Cross Hill was attached to the wooden pole carrying the overhead electricity conductors via a rather functional bracket.
Here, the bowl securing clip has broken away from the rest of the plastic, requiring the application of yet more insulation tape to prevent the bowl from hanging open.
The lantern's aluminium canopy is painted the same light green that is common to street lights in Suffolk.
Although I suspect that the lantern will still run an 80 Watt MBF (mercury vapour) lamp, the bowl is not heavily yellowed, and may be a replacement.
The same could not be said for this P107 lantern on nearby Covey Way, however.
Judging by the positioning of the 'Across Road' marker arrow on the P107's base casting, the lantern is not installed for optimum performance, though as it probably gives out little to no useful light these days anyway, I don't suppose that this is much of an issue!
Another pole-mounted GEC lantern, this time, a Z8691 (the integral gear version of the Z8896) could be seen on Wings Road.
A (non-original) miniature photocell is fitted to the rear of the lantern.
The tap-off connectors that feed the lantern's supply cable are plainly visible. The bare copper distribution cables have developed a characteristic verdigris from being exposed to the atmosphere for many years.
More P107s were to be found elsewhere in the village; this is on Breckland Road.
Apart from suffering slight crazing, this example's bowl remains transparent. This is the wider-canopied version of the P107, and as can be seen, the increased width has led to the canopy being bent slightly out of shape.
Another Byway 'X' column supporting a P152 was installed behind a fence on Wingfield Avenue.
I think that it is fair to say that the Oddie key method for securing the bowls on these lanterns is something of a design flaw!
A GEC Z9481 lit the bend on Wingfield Road.
A modern Royce Thompson Oasis 1000 photocell provides the automatic switching for this lantern. This was fitted at some point after April 2023 - interestingly, there doesn't appear to be any means of isolating this lantern from the overhead electricity conductors that supply it, nor is there any fusing. This could be why the lantern has survived, rather than having an LED lantern fitted to the bracket.
A couple of spider cracks are visible in the centre of the refractor on this side of the lantern bowl. Some previous bowl damage appears to have been repaired.
Wingfield Road was home to another P107 variant.
The lantern was dayburning, revealing that it ran a rather dim 80 Watt MBF lamp.
Turning to the right, an ELECO GR551 running a 35 Watt SOX lamp was visible on a footpath on Mayfields.
Two generations of switching control were fitted to the GR551's canopy - a Royce Thompson P42 two-part photocell detector, and its replacement - a Telensa radio node.
This P153, again attached to a side-entry Arc 4 bracket, was located at the start of Palmer Drive.
Fortunately, the Oddie key remained in place on this example.
Considering how delicate the bowls on these lanterns are, I was surprised that this one showed no signs of damage from being struck by the surrounding tree branches.
Finally, on High Street, an abandoned ELECO / Davis GR 100 90 Watt SOX lantern was seen attached to another wooden pole, with its replacement, an Abacus base-hinged tubular steel column supporting a modern-day CU Phosco lantern, an E950 LED product, positioned alongside.
Google Street View imagery shows that, even by 2009, the GR100 was redundant, with the Abacus column supporting a Philips SGS 203 at the time.
The difference in outreach between the old and new installations is considerable - with the road being rather wide, I would expect that the GR100 offered superior light spread.
This close-up of the E950 reveals that it is rated at 35 Watts - just as with its P152/3 ancestors!
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