Ancient British streetlights abroad

[Chris5156]

Here's two stills from a TV news report filmed in a town in northern Uganda. I had to go back and find the pictures - the columns and curved concrete arms are of a type that I recognise well but which you don't see much any more!

There's a real mix and match variety of lanterns there - possibly an MA50 or similar.

Pictures are from BBC World News TV.

[Bryn666]

Imperial influence at work there - those are Concrete Utilities columns were a design orignating in the 1930s and discontinued in the late 50s.

[SC2]

Signs in Uganda are apparently also a strange mix of things, but with a British influence as you'd expect. I've got some pictures somewhere, I'll try and dig them out at some point.

[Chris5156]

Imperial influence at work there - those are Concrete Utilities columns were a design orignating in the 1930s and discontinued in the late 50s.

That old! Quite incredible. They're certainly getting good use out of them.

That's quite a long way to ship massive concrete streetlights in the 1950s, too - I can't imagine northern Uganda was an easy place to send heavy cargo.

[Brenley Corner]

I suspect that the warm & dry climate helps preserve them, that and lack of finance to replace them.

[chris486]

That's quite a long way to ship massive concrete streetlights in the 1950s, too - I can't imagine northern Uganda was an easy place to send heavy cargo.

They would have been made up from a mould at a local concrete works.

[Bryn666]

Pretty much.

Gibraltar still had similar vintage columns well into the 1990s for the same reasons regarding weather.

[Truvelo]

Don't forget that we still have some ancient concrete columns here, including some which are on their last legs

[RichardA626]

Don't forget that we still have some ancient concrete columns here, including some which are on their last legs

I noticed some in Halifax just the ones in the picture, about 50-60 years old.

[A4174_Adam]

When I was last in Malta I spotted a couple of Thorn Alpha 9s in Valletta.