230. Elgar House, Off Holmer Road, Hereford With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Situated within a parking area for Elgar House is a 1950s' double-armed 25 ft (8 m) GEC ZP1000 concrete column, with one of the brackets supporting a Z9454 lantern; the other, an AEI Amber Mk IV. I assume that the Amber was used as an early replacement for a second Z9454. Nevertheless, both lanterns would have run 140 Watt SO/H / SOI/H, and later, 90 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium), lamps, although the Z9454 (at least) has been converted to run a high wattage high pressure sodium (SON) lamp. A 15 ft (5 m) concrete column, also a GEC product, is situated in front of Elgar House, and supports a post-top lantern resembling the Z5670 series, but with a different base casting.

The double-arm column is positioned on (what I suspect was) the original roadway into (what is now) the Special Metals factory, with Elgar House being part of the same complex, but with the two buildings now being in separate ownership, a dividing fence segregates the two sites.

The Amber must date to no later than 1967, as after that, Thorn Lighting (then known as British Lighting Industries) bought the remaining 35% of the Company's lighting division, with much of the old AEI product range then being discontinued in favour of Thorn's own lighting products - the Amber amongst them. Lengths of insulation tape secure the crumbling concrete around the bracket end.

A high wattage tubular SON lamp is visible within the Z9454. I am surprised that converting the lantern did not cause the bowl plastic to distort from the additional heat build-up. This bracket end is cracked too.

Somewhat ironically, the remaining electrical divisions of AEI would be bought by GEC in 1968.

There is damage to this side of the Amber's Perspex bowl. Although the plastic has become translucent, the more transparent underside of the lantern might reveal that this lantern has, similarly, been converted to SON too - it is difficult to distinguish as the bowl has a covering of dirt along the inside.

This view provides a comparison between the triangular-bottomed bowl of the Z9454, compared to the flat-bottomed bowl of the Amber. Single bracket versions of the same column type are installed on the replacement access road to Special Metals; these may have been fitted with Z9454s too originally, although today, accommodate Z8600s (Siemens / WRTL MRL 6s) instead.

Only one of the columns supporting the mystery post-top lanterns exists in the modern era, though more may have been present originally.

The bowl is damaged, with a large crack passing between the top and bottom of the plastic. The base casting employed is of a longer, more streamlined design that I have not seen previously.

More bowl damage is present on the other side of the lantern. The canopy appears to hinge open, as is standard with the Z567# series.

From this view, I am not certain that any lamp remains in the lantern.

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