31A. Station Street / Salisbury Street, Wednesbury, Sandwell, West Midlands With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Attached to many of the buildings on these two streets are GEC 'Difractor' Z8128 lanterns, or the remains of them - all appear to have lain derelict for many years. The fact that so many examples exist, all mounted in the same way, suggests that all of the buildings were once part of a larger concern, but have been split into individual businesses following the closure of the larger company. They may even have served as the only street lighting on these roads in the past, although as no cabling or fuse boxes exist on the outsides of the buildings, all must have been in private ownership, with the cables being on the insides instead.
The first example is to be found near the corner of Bills Street.
Sadly, the bottom of the glass bowl is broken, although as this appears to be an early example of a Difractor, owing to the wire cage surrounding the bowl, most of the pieces remain within it.
Peering up through the damaged bowl reveals that a large mercury vapour reflector lamp (MBF/R) is fitted. This is not the correct type of lamp to use with the Difractor's optics; however, it makes for an interesting sight nonetheless.
A short distance down the road, this example is to be found.
The bowl is missing here completely, as is the outer bulb of the last mercury vapour lamp that the lantern ran.
Another rather sorry-looking example followed.
Here, only the canopy remains.
Standing beneath the lantern, the missing reflector allows the lampholder, and its associated asbestos-sheathed wires, to be seen. The supply cables are of Vulcanised India Rubber (VIR) insulation, which has perished through age, exposing much of the conductor within.
A possible early replacement is this Z8430CM, which is still fitted to the same style of wall bracket as the Difractors are.
The lantern is a later example, as it features a bowl optimised for phosphor-coated (corrected) mercury lamps; hence, the "CM" suffix - the original Z8430 being designed for the clear, original MA/V-type mercury lamps.
Another Difractor is attached a little further back to the same building.
Aside from a small amount of moss on the bottom the bowl, the lantern is in good condition.
This Difractor example has a narrower, tapering bowl, but this is also surrounded by a wire cage (though it is damaged). This lantern appears to be fitted with an MBF/R lamp too.
When photographed in August 2023, this part of the street was lit with Philips SGS 203s - lanterns that, themselves, were becoming 'Survivor' material by this time, owing to LED replacements. I liked the comparison between the Z8430CM and the Philips product.
Heading onto Salisbury Street, another Difractor with a broken bowl was to be seen.
Only the front portion of the bowl remained in place.
The bowl on this example was more intact, but still had a break in it.
The wire cages were designed to hold the bowl together in the event of the glass breaking, though the feature was removed on later examples.
Someone in the past had been especially precise in ensuring that the bracket was in perfect alignment with the apex of the building - this makes me happy!
Two further examples were visible on a private access road behind one of the buildings. The presence of several modern floodlights in the vicinity suggests that these lights do not work any longer.
Another example with a tapering bowl was to be seen back on Salisbury Street itself.
Remarkably, this example's bowl was undamaged.
As a bonus, the building that is home to the Shree Hindu Samaj Mandal Temple has two Revo 'Eastbourne' post-top lanterns installed on columns within its grounds.
The translucent glass panels in this example are cracked, and a portion of one panel is missing altogether, allowing the internal construction of the lantern to be glimpsed.
The other lantern is in slightly better overall condition.
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