Catenary street lighting locations

[RJDG14]

As of today, there is still some on the M1, around where it meets the M25.

[c2R]

As of today, there is still some on the M1, around where it meets the M25.

Spooky, I was also driving on the M1 on Friday and just logged on to make that very point. South of there, up to the interchange with the A41, there is also still some rather magnificant orange traditional motorway lighting.

[RJDG14]

The wide sodium vapour type, or orange posts?

[Patrick Harper]

As of today, there is still some on the M1, around where it meets the M25.

Spooky, I was also driving on the M1 on Friday and just logged on to make that very point. South of there, up to the interchange with the A41, there is also still some rather magnificant orange traditional motorway lighting.

Yep, low pressure sodium lamps, the type that was for decades the most economical light source, is still the most environmentally friendly and until recently the most efficient light source of them all. The scarcity of new lanterns and the cost of new lamps and control gear is pushing the technology into oblivion.

I happen to have some footage of the installation online:



Skip to 2:50 for Junction 5 onwards.

[RJDG14]

There's loads of low sodium lighting on the motorway network still.

[Patrick Harper]

TBH, not really. There's a couple of short sections on the M1, the A1(M) through Hatfield, the start of the M40, bits of the M60 and the M4 in Wales. Elsewhere it is mainly spurs and sliproads.

Low pressure sodium is not the same as high pressure sodium, which uses smaller lamps and lanterns and emits a whiter yellow light. Both of them are in decline though.

[kit]

TBH, not really... the start of the M40

Start of the M40 barely, only about 20% of the lamps lit and seemingly clustered around junctions. That said every time I think they are letting it die I go past a month later and it is all working again.

Yep, low pressure sodium lamps, the type that was for decades the most economical light source, is still the most environmentally friendly and until recently the most efficient light source of them all.

They are still by some way the most efficient light source in terms of lumens per watt even vs LEDs.

I'm lucky in that the hospital I work at still has largely 1970s original and well maintained SOX lighting which is very enjoyable to walk through compared to the glare from LED. Obviously either someone in Estates is a fan!

[Patrick Harper]

SOX's spectrum is almost entirely around the 589nm wavelength, which is a very deep yellow, almost amber. There is a possibility of this colour becoming feasible to employ again by way of laser diodes (589nm lasers are produced as pointers today), but that technology is not ready yet for commercial use so for the time being integrated LED lanterns will be what most highway departments turn to for their projects.

Hopefully the M1's catenary lighting will be retained for as long as possible, it really shows SOX's advantage as there are virtually no dark patches between the lanterns.

[RJDG14]

TBH, not really. There's a couple of short sections on the M1, the A1(M) through Hatfield, the start of the M40, bits of the M60 and the M4 in Wales. Elsewhere it is mainly spurs and sliproads.

Low pressure sodium is not the same as high pressure sodium, which uses smaller lamps and lanterns and emits a whiter yellow light. Both of them are in decline though.

There was more when Street View started imaging the UK in 2009. There used to be some on the M5, although they've since gone. I'm pretty certain the M6 and Northern Corridor motorways (M5_/6_) used to have some too.

High pressure sodium is (I believe) currently the norm for stretches not using LEDs.

[wrinkly]

Low-pressure sodium (yellow-orange) (also called SOX) has its own thread here.

High-pressure sodium (described above as a whiter yellow, though I always think of it as pinky-white except when it's starting up) is also called SON.

[Tmesisbob]

I've seen similar ones like that in Cheltenham.

What is the story with these columns? The bases appear to be old, but the columns themselves are painted galvanised steel, with most of the paint having peeled off. Looks like the old columns have been chopped off at the base and a new one inserted inside, with the original bracket re-instated.

[c2R]

It appears that these lights have disappeared from Central London within the past 12 months. In the 2016 view it looks like the posts are still visible.

2015 view

2016 view

I drove through yesterday; there is still some further in to London: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4877219 ... 312!8i6656

[Patrick Harper]

They might be retaining sections where adding lighting columns to the verges is too difficult.

[BtnMellors]

It certainly existed in Hove and Brighton, until at least the 1970s; in North Street, Brighton, Western Road, Brighton, and Church Road, Hove.
Have a look at this youtube clip, from about 3.30 (North Street pictured)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWsTb0FYknI

(Also, loads of tin lanterns, and a some Mellors)