208F. Railworld Wildlife Haven, off Oundle Road, New Fletton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Located within the grounds of the peaceful Wildlife Haven are several lighting installations that date from the site's former use as a coal storage yard for Peterborough Power Station. By 1985, the site was derelict, and so the Reverend Richard Paten purchased the land with the initial intention of creating a Museum of World Railways, before it became the Wildlife Haven later. The most notable of the surviving installations is a 15 ft (5 m) Concrete Utilities' 'Avenue 2D' concrete column with top-entry 'Banstead' shepherd's crook bracket, supporting a lantern that appears to be some type of British Thomson-Houston (BTH) 'Mazdalux Horizontal Enclosed' lantern for 45 - 60 Watt SO/H and SOI/H (low pressure sodium) lamps; the 60 Watt lamp developing into the 35 Watt SOX type in later years. The site is also home to three 15 ft Stanton 10 columns, all of which support ELECO post-top lanterns resembling the PT 1031, or a similar product.
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The Avenue 2D installation is likely to date from the late 1940s or early 1950s.
The Banstead bracket features a distinctive rear fin - this isn't purely for decoration; it assists in serving as a counterbalance to the thinner bracket end and lantern itself.
The lantern's Perspex bowl has become slightly translucent over time, and save for a small break in the back of the plastic, is intact.
A portion of the column shaft is painted white - this too may be a remnant from the site's days as the coal depot.
Sadly, a rather severe vertical crack has formed in the rear of the column.
The bowl hinges forwards, away from the bracket, but is secured using an unusual toggle mechanism at the rear of the lantern.
I noticed this installation when passing by on a train travelling on the adjacent railway line heading into Peterborough station, and was determined to pay a return visit to photograph it, particularly with the lantern being so unusual.
A lamp still looks to be present within the lantern; its rather square cap area could signify that this is an SO/H type, and thus, may not have been lit in decades.
The Stanton columns and ELECO lanterns are positioned on a footpath that provides the most direct access to the Globe Hall Earth Centre.
Out of the three lanterns, this example features the most translucent bowl - unlike the Mazdalux lantern's bowl, the translucency could be intentional here.
The second installation is in a more shaded area.
The transparent bowl here reveals a small LED lamp within the lantern, suggesting that these lights are still used.
The third column is only a short distance away. There is a possibility that these three columns could have been installed here second-hand, rather than being remnants from the coal depot, owing to their marking the footpath.
The bowl on this example is slightly dislodged, after having been pushed out of position by the adjacent tree branches.
The Nene Valley Railway's Peterborough station is alongside the Wildlife Haven site. The platform is home to a small number of cast iron columns supporting AC Ford swan neck brackets and GEC Z5590 lanterns. Visible to the right is the experimental RTV 31 tracked hovercraft - a concept of the 1960s, though sadly, the project was cancelled in 1973, and this is all that remains of the test system.
The bracket attaches to a much narrower spigot than would be seen ordinarily, while the ladder bars are, similarly, quite spindly.
The bowl on this Z5590 is not fitted correctly, allowing dirt to gather within it. Despite this, the transparency remains sufficient to allow the internal glass refractor dome surrounding the lamp to be seen.
Further down the platform, alongside two Mark 3 coaches in Virgin Trains East Coast livery, a bowlless Z5590 was to be found.
The absent bowl allows the LED GLS lamp to be seen within the lantern.
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