219H. Westmorland Tebay M6 Northbound Services, Orton, Greenholme, Cumbria Situated within the general main parking area for the service station are a number of 35 ft (10 m) Abacus base-hinged columns, with three of these supporting Atlas / Thorn Alpha 3 lanterns, and another fitted with a Revo 'Jupiter'. As the Services opened in 1972, the use of the latter (in particular) is surprising, considering that Revo ceased trading in 1967, with their street lighting division emerging as the new Relite brand at the time. Although Relite did produce a version of the Jupiter themselves, it was different in design to the Revo version, meaning that the example installed here must have been old stock being used up, or maybe even installed here second-hand after removal elsewhere. The equivalent southbound services were built in 1993, meaning that no Survivors exist on that side of the road.
When photographed in July 2024, work to extend the car park was underway behind the column supporting the Jupiter. Another column that had supported an Alpha 3 had been removed by then, for access, so this installation may also be removed in the near future.
The Jupiter's canopy looks rather bashed, and its cover (either, flat glass, or an acrylic bowl) is missing. Worst of all, whatever lamp type it ran originally has been replaced with an LED retro-fit 'corn' lamp.
This column supporting a four-clip Atlas Alpha 3 is located just outside the construction zone.
Confirmation of the lantern's exact name is visible on the rear casting, as is (what appears to be) an additional fixing bolt. If this example did feature a white spot painted on the inside of the bowl beneath the lamp (as my own does), this is long gone now. Curiously, parts of the bowl clips seem to have rusted, resulting in rust-coloured drip trails having formed on the plastic. One of the front clips has detached too.
Adding to the apparent randomness of the lighting in this car park, the next Alpha 3 looks to be a later Thorn type, with only two bowl clips. Following that is a WRTL Arc 90, and then an LED lantern.
As well as having the reduced number of clips, the later Alpha 3s also feature a bowl that incorporates refractors.
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