69CAH. Tram Way, Blakeley Hall, Rood End, Sandwell, West Midlands With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Situated within the compound for the Rical Group are three ELECO HW-878 post-top lanterns, with two of these attached to ELECOSlim 1308 15 ft (5 m) concrete columns; the other, attached to a wall bracket on the building itself. The HW-878 is the version of the lantern that has a base section that matches the profile of the concrete column, and could accommodate a single 100 - 200 Watt GLS (incandescent) lamp or an 80 - 125 Watt mercury vapour (MBF) lamp. The sister versions of the HW-877 and HW-879 feature a circular base section instead, for mounting to a standard 76 mm (3 inch) diameter post, with the former type running the same lamp types as the HW-878 did, and the latter being dedicated to running a 45 - 60 Watt SO/H / SOI/H (low pressure sodium) lamp - the 60 Watt type being the precursor to the 35 Watt SOX lamp. With Rical having entered into administration in January 2025, the long-term future of these installations is a little more uncertain, but at least, they survived long enough to be documented here, whatever happens subsequently.

The lights are positioned in front of the company's main office building, with the columns installed within a narrow grassed area. The wall-mounted example is installed in this way as a column installed at its position would be in the way of vehicles accessing the area to the right of the building.

The wall bracket looks very industrial in its design, though its steel construction is succumbing to heavy rusting. Despite this HW-878 not being fitted to an ELECOSlim column, the hexagonal base casting is still employed.

The presence of an LED floodlight installed to the left of the first column-mounted example to be pictured suggests that the older lighting may not be operational any longer.

This range of lanterns uses a common canopy and base casting design (whichever is used) that are shared by the HW-828 and HW-898.

The second column is located on the other side of the main door.

This column is in poorer condition, with a large vertical crack being visible immediately beneath the lantern.

A garage further down Tram Way is home to two base-hinged sheet steel columns supporting Atlas Alpha 3 lanterns, for a 250 - 400 Watt MBF lamp. One of these is pictured below.

This type of column, bracket and lantern combination seems quite popular for garage premises (I have pictured identical setups elsewhere), and must have been offered to specialist garage construction companies in the past.

As the 'Alpha Three' text looks to be missing from this example's rear casting, it is likely to be a 'late' Atlas-branded example, or an early Thorn one - later versions omit the two rear bowl clips.

< Previous | Next >

BACK TO SURVIVORS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS

BACK TO SURVIVORS