69CEA. Lowhill Lane, Longbridge, Rednall, Birmingham Located within the former factory site occupied originally by the Austin Motor Company, and later, British Motor Corporation, British Leyland, Rover, and finally MG Rover, are three GEC Z8526 lanterns for 250 - 400 Watt MBF (mercury vapour) or SON (high pressure sodium) lamps, with one of these attached to a 25 ft (8 m) Concrete Utilities' Avenue 3D column, with Arc 2 side-entry bracket. This may have supported a Z8128B lantern originally, as this image taken outside the still-extant Conference Centre building suggests. The other two Z8526s are attached to tubular steel columns, although one could be a later replacement, as it features the revised bowl design that the final versions of these lanterns used. Z8526s were used throughout the Longbridge factory site, although as all of the remaining buildings and roadways were demolished, with some now redeveloped for alternative uses, these are long gone. At the time of MG Rover's collapse in 2005, Lowhill Lane itself was lit with Revo 'Hadfield' lanterns on 15 ft (5 m ) tubular steel columns, also by Revo, but these had been replaced by 2016 - the older columns featured heavily in the many news reports that were broadcast from outside the Longbridge factory as the workforce left for the final time.
This column was obscured by trees for many years; these were removed after August 2021, allowing it to be seen in all its glory. Cars remain parked up within the site compound, as it is now owned by the SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd (the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation); the Chinese company that owns the MG marque in the modern era. Sadly, no car production occurs at the Longbridge site at all any longer - vehicles branded MG these days are imported from China.
Filler putty is seen applied on the joint between the column and the bracket, and also in the small section of bracket that is left open to allow the bracket to be secured during installation.
The Z8526 is an earlier version, with its aluminium canopy still featuring a reasonable covering of dark blue paint. The bowl is slightly misaligned in relation to its correct seating position in the canopy.
One of the two tubular steel columns is positioned on the access road leading into the site. In the background, 10 m columns supporting double-arm brackets and Thorn Alpha 8s are positioned between two roadways.
An elliptical lamp is visible within the lantern's interior. The green growth towards the rear of the canopy suggests that the lantern is not used after nightfall - the heat from a working lamp would prevent such growths on the aluminium.
The final Z8526 is located adjacent the former Car Despatch yard.
Further along Lowhill Lane, but within what was likely to have been a car park for factory workers, this Thorn Alpha 3 with the lamp control gear mounted inside the lantern is attached to a steel pole using u-bolts.
Given how overgrown the compound has become, unsurprisingly, this lantern appears to be disused now too.
The underside view shows that the bowl has also received some moss growth.
Dalmuir Road, a new-build street that was constructed on part of the factory's site, still retains some equipment - and lighting - that dates from the days manufacturing operations. Four GEC Z5643 post-tops are to be found by these concrete steps.
The bowl is missing from this example, though even in 2022, a portion of it still remained in place.
A smashed Philips SL compact fluorescent lamp exists within the lantern - this suggests that there is no discharge lamp control gear installed remotely to operate these lanterns. Notice the loose connector blocks that connect the supply cabling to the internal wiring.
The lantern to the right of this example was in even worse condition, with its canopy, bowl, refractor and lamp all being absent.
The lantern appears to have been in this state for many years.
Surprisingly, the lantern behind this one was still intact - or appeared to be.
The later attachment of a halogen floodlight suggests that light levels produced by the Z5643 alone were insufficient for illuminating the steps successfully.
The lantern fitted to the fourth column is also bowlless. An extra halogen floodlight was installed here too.
The refractor and lamp are intact, even if the bowl isn't.
A little further along the road, this Thorn Beta 7 was attached high up on a wooden pole, and appears to have been installed here to illuminate the steel structure (possibly, a former support for a conveyor system) beneath.
The bracket, and its integral fuse / control gear box attach to the pole with u-bolts.
A glass bowl is employed here; remarkably, it remains intact.
These Davis SL100 lanterns are attached to 8 m tubular steel columns along Dalmuir Road. As the SL100 is a 1990s' lantern (and thus, pre-dates this road), I wondered if the installations were also left over from when the factory was here; however, Google Street View imagery disproves this theory, so they must have been installed second-hand here; perhaps, temporarily.
All of the lanterns are fitted with Royce Thompson B16 shorting NEMA plugs. Indeed, when I arrived at the road, all lanterns were dayburning, but switched off a few minutes later - the master control photocell then sensing sufficient daylight to deactivate.
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