Off Gunnings Road, Oversley Green, Alcester, Arrow, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire Situated within the car park for the Rotary Foundation's offices are three 25 ft (8 m) concrete columns made by Concrete Utilities to their 'Highway-X' design, each using a single side-entry 'Highway' bracket. What is particularly notable are the lanterns that are attached to the brackets - these comprise the original, early 1960s' design of AEI (Associated Electrical Industries)'s 'Amberline' 51/77202, for 200 Watt SLI/H (linear low pressure sodium) lamps - a lamp technology that has been obsolete since the 1980s; the AEI brand itself having disappeared in 1967 when GEC (General Electric Company) absorbed the company's electrical division, with the street lighting side becoming part of Thorn Electrical Industries instead.
Such is the rarity of these lanterns that I wasn't quite certain of their identity during the time of photographing them, but I knew that they were something especially noteworthy, so rather a lot of pictures were taken!
Despite being over 60 years old, the installations are in incredibly good condition - even the brackets show no signs of spalling, despite having served as perches for shy wood pigeons throughout their lives.
The design reminded me of Thorn's Alpha 5 lantern when I saw it, which is understandable, given that later versions of the Amberline used the same lantern body as the Alpha 5.
A rather substantial aluminium rear casting features a removable panel, which allows access to the lantern's innards for maintenance.
Viewing the column from the other direction, its familiar 'bellied' base section is visible.
The second column is to be found in a rear corner of the car park.
Despite the lanterns probably having not worked for the best part of forty years when photographed at the end of July 2026, only a light amount of dirt has gathered within the bowls.
The acrylic (Perspex) bowls have discoloured slightly over the years, but not substantially.
A central slotted bolt secures the removable rear panel ordinarily.
The same installation, as seen from the other direction.
I wonder if the bowls on these lanterns are fixed to the canopy, with the lamp then being positioned on something that slides backwards for maintenance (or maybe, the bowl and canopy slides forwards) - either way, this must have been quite a fiddly operation if so, given that the 200 Watt SLI/H lamp was 3 ft long. This may explain why the later Amberline / Alpha 5 saw the lantern design changed to a conventional hinged bowl.
Some very minor damage appears to have occurred to the rear of the canopy / bowl on this example.
I wonder how reluctant to release the thumbscrews might be after being fixed into place for so many years without receiving any maintenance.
Refractor panels are attached to the bowl plastic, rather than being part of the same moulding.
The gradually tapering bowl design was continued into the later Amberline / Alpha 5 design.
It was after I took this photograph that I spotted the front lampholder, and realised just what sort of lamp was likely to exist within this lantern.
Even more incredibly, a SLI/H lamp still exists within the lantern.
The third column is positioned at the entrance to the car park.
One of the refractor panels has detached here, and has slid into the underside of the bowl, giving a fabulous view of the lamp.
The other refractor on this side of the bowl remained in place, however.
The lamp's arc tube design appears to be of the AEI / Thorn style too - imagine if this is actually the lantern's original lamp!
The slipped refractor is clearly visible when the lantern is seen from below.
This front view gives a rough idea of how the lampholders attach internally; in all likelihood, the bowl and canopy probably was intended to slide forward, much as with Thorn's own Alpha 1 and original Alpha 3 (itself also being sold as AEI's Optispec 1 lantern during the transition period when Thorn had a controlling share of AEI's lighting division, before the 1967 change saw them take it over completely).
The bracket here is also in far better condition than would be expected from an installation of this age.
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