Off Castle Foregate, Greenfields, Shrewsbury, Shropshire With thanks to LeoLampposts for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on an access road leading to a former railway goods yard complex is a disused and abandoned 10 ft (3 m) cast iron column topped with a swan neck bracket. Google Street View imagery records that a typical railway-style reflector lantern still existed on the swan neck in November 2024; by August 2026, when these pictures were taken, this had gone - given that the lantern was hanging by its wires in the Google image, it may have been removed deliberately for safety, or the constant abrasion on the old wiring may have caused it to wear out, leading to the lantern falling away (I did have a quick look for it, but to no avail).
The column is painted the typical colours of the Great Western Railway - a salmon base with cream shaft and bracket. This choice of colours is not surprising, as in the past, the land behind the column was occupied by a group of houses known as Great Western Cottages, with a weighbridge existing just in front.
The swan neck bracket could be an ESLA product, judging by its decoration and finial patterning.
At some point, the column must have been rewired, with a two-core PVC-sheathed cable, along with a separate single core cable (possibly, the earth connection) protruding from the now-disused top-entry thread.
The column's paintwork has a distinctly distressed look, although as it is probably lead-based, has survived relatively well.
The nearby railway bridge still features a more intact installation of similar design above it.
The bracket's paintwork is in far poorer condition, and the column's remaining single ladder bar also doesn't look especially healthy.
Conversely, the reflector fitting's paintwork is in good condition, and a GLS (incandescent tungsten filament) lamp even remains installed within it.
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