2ABC. Beevor Street, New Boultham, Bracebridge, Lincoln With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on this road are several street lights that very much fulfil the 'Survivor' criteria, owing to their extreme rareness in the modern era. A redundant wall-mounted top-entry Metropolitan-Vickers SO-50 lantern for 140 Watt SO/H (low pressure sodium; the forerunner to the later 90 Watt SOX) lamps, dating from the late 1940s - mid-1950s, is seen to have been replaced with a 1970s' Thorn Alpha 5 lantern. Significantly, the Alpha 5 is itself a rarer version than other examples are - this one is designed for running a 140 - 200 Watt SLI/H (linear low pressure sodium) lamp; the same as my own example is. Given that Thorn discontinued production of the Alpha 5 in 1979 (it didn't feature in that year's catalogue), this replacement was approaching 50 years old when pictured in 2024. Further down the street, another extremely rare SO/H lantern remains extant - an Ediswan SSA/1, again dating from the 1950s. Google Street View evidence suggests that the remains of another SO-50, and an AEI Amber were also installed along here in 2012, but both of these had been removed by 2024. Two 25 ft (8 m) Stanton 6 concrete columns with B-type brackets had managed to survive, however, these two had also become derelict, and no longer supported any lanterns.
The Alpha 5 and SO-50 are pictured first. The building is the former Ruston Proctor (later Ruston & Hornsby) works.
I wonder why the bracket supporting the SO-50 was left attached after it became redundant, following the installation of the Alpha 5.
The SO-50's fuse / control gear box was re-used to supply the Alpha 5 - a length of steel wire armoured cable links the enclosure to the lantern. One of the bi-pin lampholders, necessary for running the SLI/H lamp, is visible through the front of the bowl, though I am uncertain that a lamp remains within the lantern. As SLI/H lamp production ceased in the 1980s, this lantern has probably been out of use for around 40 years itself, and has probably spent more time in this state than in operation.
The SO-50 is nothing but an empty shell, and probably has been like this since being superseded by the Alpha 5.
The Alpha 5, as a design, began life as the AEI (Associated Electrical Industries) Amberline (when used with SLI/H lamps) and the Fleetwood (when used with four 3 ft (914 mm) 30 Watt linear fluorescent lamps) in the 1960s. A clue that this example is a later Alpha 5 exists in the opened fuse box.
A very rusted Thorn G.53261.T ballast, for 200 Watt SLI/H lamps, remains in the box. I wonder why the original 140 Watt gear from the SO-50 was not reused, as the Alpha 5 could have run a 140 Watt SLI/H lamp instead, and thus, saved on needing to change the gear over. The Thorn ballast takes up considerable space within the enclosure, although I think that it would still fit into it without having to resort to the door being left open.
Close-up of the fragment of the Thorn label that exists on the ballast - this style of logo existed throughout the 1970s.
Initially, I thought that the SSA/1 was an intact SO-50, and only when I approached did I realise its true identity.
Similar to the later Thorn Alpha 1 and Revo Sol-d'Or lanterns, the bowl on this lantern slid forward, in order to gain access to the lamp and internal wiring.
Appropriately, a mid-1950s' merger of Ediswan with Siemens produced the new Siemens Edison Swan company; the parent company (AEI) having acquired the remainder of Siemens Brothers and Co. at around the same time, after being a minority owner for that company for several years previously. Metropolitan Vickers had merged with rivals British Thomson-Houston (BTH) in 1928, creating AEI, although both companies continued as separate entities until the end of 1959, when the old names were consolidated into the single AEI brand officially. AEI itself then disappeared in 1967 after being purchased by the General Electric Company (GEC), with the lighting division having been shared with Thorn Electrical Industries since 1964, in a company known as British Lighting Industries. Following the 1967 GEC purchase, the remainder of AEI's lighting division was absorbed by Thorn.
Remarkably, the lantern appears to be fully intact; albeit, a little grubby internally.
The bracket has a noticeable lean to it, when viewed against the wall.
The two derelict Stanton 6B concrete columns are to the side of the abandoned factory buildings.
Virtually nothing remains of the lantern that was once attached to this bracket. The small pulley wheel attached near the bracket fin suggests that the lantern might have been able to be lowered to the ground to facilitate maintenance.
Zooming right in on the column base shows that the ballast remains within, although it has fallen off the backboard under its own weight, and come to rest in the supply cable access hole. Although the label is long gone, the ballast's general construction suggests that it was a BTH / Metrovick product too.
The second column is positioned alongside some former access gates.
Heavy spalling is present on this column. The inner steel conduit is exposed at the far end of the bracket, and looks to have corroded away, perhaps under the weight of the lantern.
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