217E. Wood Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire With thanks to Dwight for informing me of this Survivor. Installed towards the end of Wood Lane (originally, on a separate road, prior to the construction of the adjacent M4 Motorway in the 1970s, which re-routed Wood Lane, causing it to join up with this separate lane) is a 25 ft (8 m) Stewart & Lloyd tubular steel column supporting a GEC 'Clearmain' Z8403 lantern, which was designed for running a 250 - 400 Watt MA/V (medium pressure mercury vapour) lamp, but today runs a 250 Watt SON (high pressure sodium) lamp instead - or should - the installation now appears to have become disused.
The Stewart & Lloyd column is very rusty, although the steel is so thick that the rust doesn't appear to have penetrated the surface yet.
The lack of rusting to the column cap suggests that it is not ferrous (it is probably aluminium). A coupler on the end of the side-entry bracket allows a 90 degree section of pipe to be joined, to support the top-entry lantern.
Although the lantern has the appearance of having a GRP canopy, on account of the mould and lichen growth, it is actually also aluminium.
The glass bowl features a slightly patterned appearance as a way of diffusing the light.
Although the bowl is grubby, and in need of cleaning, looking up at the lantern appears to reveal that there is no lamp fitted within it.
The cast column door hinges to the right for access, but is secured with two square-headed bolts ordinarily.
The door was not locked, and opened easily to reveal the inner wiring - a cast iron cut-out at the base of the door aperture hangs by its wires, with probably the original capacitor installed above. A later GEC Z1883P ballast for 250 Watt SON lamps (presumably, internal-ignitor types, as there didn't look to be a separate ignitor installed) has replaced the original mercury one. A length of flexible cable links the control gear to the lantern, suggesting that the lantern supply was renewed at some point, probably in the 1980s, when the SON ballast was introduced.
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