SOX lighting "dying" on motorways-multiple areas in network.

[Ben302]

Medway Council have been, in recent months replacing failed SOX bulbs with CFL, especially on lanterns mounted on concrete columns. The warm white output of these bulbs hark back to the days when almost every side road lantern was Mercury - Although is 1980's housing estates where Low pressure sodium orange dominated, there is increasing numbers of CFL popping up. Although I imagine this is being used as a temporary stopgap until the columns themselves get replaced with a shiny new Alcoa column and LED lantern. It seems that the days when a failed bulb was replaced with a 2600 or Arc running SON are over

[Brenley Corner]

Medway Council have been, in recent months replacing failed SOX bulbs with CFL, especially on lanterns mounted on concrete columns. The warm white output of these bulbs hark back to the days when almost every side road lantern was Mercury - Although is 1980's housing estates where Low pressure sodium orange dominated, there is increasing numbers of CFL popping up. Although I imagine this is being used as a temporary stopgap until the columns themselves get replaced with a shiny new Alcoa column and LED lantern. It seems that the days when a failed bulb was replaced with a 2600 or Arc running SON are over

I work in the Borstal area in Medway and was very surprised to see this had been done. I only see them working in the winter evenings and this only seems to have been done in the last year - since last winter.
I must say that it looks very bizarre especially if you are expecting a lantern to light up SOX and it flashes into life as a CFL.

Tony

[Ben302]

Medway Council have been, in recent months replacing failed SOX bulbs with CFL, especially on lanterns mounted on concrete columns. The warm white output of these bulbs hark back to the days when almost every side road lantern was Mercury - Although is 1980's housing estates where Low pressure sodium orange dominated, there is increasing numbers of CFL popping up. Although I imagine this is being used as a temporary stopgap until the columns themselves get replaced with a shiny new Alcoa column and LED lantern. It seems that the days when a failed bulb was replaced with a 2600 or Arc running SON are over

I work in the Borstal area in Medway and was very surprised to see this had been done. I only see them working in the winter evenings and this only seems to have been done in the last year - since last winter.
I must say that it looks very bizarre especially if you are expecting a lantern to light up SOX and it flashes into life as a CFL.

Tony

The Eleco SOX lantern mounted on a CU concrete outreach column at the bus stop near my house failed about a week ago, (hence my original post) It's output had gone from a dim orange with a red tinge to flickering on and off then failed completely last week. It was reported and within a couple of days while I was at work, a team came up with a man cage and the lantern was opened the dead bulb removed and a CFL popped in. It looks odd being the only white light in a road lit by a mix of SON and SOX. It also reminds me of the early 80's when the same Eleco side entry lanterns ran Mercury.

[Patrick Harper]

It's because of job cuts at the Philips plant in Hamilton (one of the last in Europe making SOX lamps), the lamps are probably quite expensive now. Hopefully they can keep production going for the time being.

[sotonsteve]

SOX lamps have been more expensive than SON lamps since the 1980s, but in recent years the cost of SOX lamps has increased as popularity of the light source has decreased and production of lamps has been scaled back. There is still sufficiently enough SOX in Europe to warrant continued production, although in 5-10 years time the story is likely to be very different.

[KeithW]

It's because of job cuts at the Philips plant in Hamilton (one of the last in Europe making SOX lamps), the lamps are probably quite expensive now. Hopefully they can keep production going for the time being.

I believe the inverse is true, job cuts at Hamilton happened because of the decline in sales of SOX lamps. On checking I find the Philips press release says.

"Unfortunately, as a result of a lower than expected global demand for our-low pressure sodium lamps (SOX lamps), we informed the workforce at our Hamilton facility on May 14 we are proposing to reduce the level of production at the facility during the third quarter of 2015"

[Patrick Harper]

You misunderstood the post. I was referring to the cuts in the supply lines causing a rise in the cost of manufacturing SOX lamps, making them more expensive for users.

[sotonsteve]

Correct, SOX lamps are getting more expensive as production reduces. The cost of SOX lamps is now becoming a factor in making councils look to replace with other light sources, but by no means the sole factor. The exception to this is 135W and 180W lamps which are very expensive, and in recent years some councils have been phasing out higher wattage SOX lanterns as they are getting too expensive to relamp. Other councils have instead fitted 90W in place of 135W lamps or 135W in place of 180W lamps, the former of which won't do the lifespan of the lamps much good.

[Patrick Harper]

That being said, the contractor for the M25 and connecting arterial routes (Connect Plus M25) are still servicing 180W and 135W equipment, even installing like-for-like casual reps into this year. Notable examples being the M1 south of Chiswell, the M40 around Denham, and the A1(M) around Hatfield.

Given that 180W lamps are somewhere in the region of £70 EACH, how are they justifying the expenditure?

[James]

Yep, seen pics and other info about it on UKASTLE.

The most significant stretches of SOX left now are on the M1 and A1(M) in Herts and near Kegworth, the M4 in Wales and the M602 in Manchester. Unless someone corrects me everything else is pretty much gone.

I'm not an lighting expert but think the M1 J23-J24 is still SOX
https://goo.gl/maps/Rzbmam4GNNB2

Its looking pretty poor these days and quite a bit is broken compared to the newer columns North and South of here

Still looks good at night with the combination of central reservation lighting and lighting at the edge between J24 and the A42

[The Equalizer]

Yep, seen pics and other info about it on UKASTLE.

The most significant stretches of SOX left now are on the M1 and A1(M) in Herts and near Kegworth, the M4 in Wales and the M602 in Manchester. Unless someone corrects me everything else is pretty much gone.

I'm not an lighting expert but think the M1 J23-J24 is still SOX
https://goo.gl/maps/Rzbmam4GNNB2

Its looking pretty poor these days and quite a bit is broken compared to the newer columns North and South of here

Still looks good at night with the combination of central reservation lighting and lighting at the edge between J24 and the A42

I understand it's still SOX due to them producing the least glare and so affects pilots less when flying into East Mids Airport next door.

[sotonsteve]

I reckon the reason why there is still SOX on the M1 near East Midlands airport is because it is newer than a lot of motorway SOX installed elsewhere. Glare has nothing to do with it, because the alternative would be full cut off SON or LED, which produces zero upward light from the lantern. In comparison, the MA50s at East Midlands are only cut off, as the presence of bowls means there is a small amount of light that refracts upwards from the lanterns.

[kit]

Does anyone know what is going on with the SOX at the start of the M40? Every year or so I go down there and less than 50% of the lamps are working, and I think they must be due to replace them. Then suddenly most of them spring back into life, only for them to die off reasonably quickly again.

Is this them being replaced with lower wattage lamps then they were designed for to save money? Given than 99% of the M40 is SON it's always seemed an odd choice to maintain such a small amount of SOX.

[The Equalizer]

I reckon the reason why there is still SOX on the M1 near East Midlands airport is because it is newer than a lot of motorway SOX installed elsewhere. Glare has nothing to do with it, because the alternative would be full cut off SON or LED, which produces zero upward light from the lantern. In comparison, the MA50s at East Midlands are only cut off, as the presence of bowls means there is a small amount of light that refracts upwards from the lanterns.

I do apologise with such a misleading first post! On further investigation elsewhere one suggestion is it's more to distinguish the airport lighting from the road lighting, as SON lights up with a similar colour - looking at Google Maps https://goo.gl/maps/a24rDdBsLas on a dull day shows the hint of pink on the runway perimeter lights.

However - looking this image of the EMA approach at night http://ukga.com/images/content/image24807.jpg the runway lighting as a whole is pretty distinct from the single line of SOX road lights (again hint of pink in the approach lights though) - but I guess it's important for safety to remove any ambiguity, especially during adverse weather conditions.

It would be great if they went with LED on that stretch of the M1 if not a glare issue.

[sotonsteve]

It would be great if they went with LED on that stretch of the M1 if not a glare issue.

I would put money on it happening within the next five years. On some parts of the motorway and trunk road network, like down my way, they are replacing almost everything with LED, including less than 10 year old SON lanterns. The SOX on the M1 at East Midlands is over 25 years old, and the lamps are getting increasingly expensive to purchase as a result of supply and demand.

[Patrick Harper]

Curiously, the A42 approaching M1 J23a is now one of the few places one will find Alpha 4's on the trunk road network. Infact, the two units north of the motorway confirmation sign on the northbound onslip are the only Alpha 4's left on the motorway network.

I was up there a couple of days ago and the lights seemed to be reasonably well maintained, with SON replacements confined to the Finger Farm Roundabout. The SOX on the sliproads at J18, J16 and especially J15a seemed to be working well, though looking tatty as ever. Highways England contractors seem to try to keep light sources consistent with whatever local authorities are using, and Northhamptonshire still has plenty of SOX around, which probably explains it.

The question is would East Midlands Airport consider subsidising lamp replacement for the SOX lanterns if HE threatened their future, given that the maintenance costs are spiraling upwards.

[sotonsteve]

Motorway lighting only matches what county councils etc were installing because up until a decade or so ago county councils and their contractors still had heavy involvement in the maintenance of motorways and trunk roads, even though they did so on the behalf of the then Highways Agency, and before 1994 the counties were fully responsible for managing their own motorways and trunk roads. Where SOX is installed on motorways and motorway slip roads, it would have been procured and installed by the county councils, before contractually the Highways Agency and county councils split apart. Nowadays, lighting on motorways and trunk roads seldom matches what is installed on county roads. Even on some junction improvement schemes where both county and motorway lighting is being replaced at the same time by the same contractors, the specifications can be vastly different. Take M27 Junction 5, where in the latest junction improvements Hampshire has green painted steel columns with Iridiums and the motorway slip roads have unpainted aluminium columns with Lumas.

East Midlands Airport have nothing to do with lighting on the M1. They never did. The county councils used to, but no longer do. Hence, the suggestion that East Midlands Airport would go out of their way and subsidise routine maintenance for Highways England is a complete load of garbage.

[Patrick Harper]

A number of members suggested that the SOX existed to give contrast to the SON running lights used for the runway. That was the basis for my last point.

[Brenley Corner]

To see SOX disappear (mainly from motorways) in favour of 'pinky amber' SON lighting, is a little sad. Still, there are plenty of places where SOX is still active, like the north circular bit of the M25. It's not just the orange glow that I like about SOX lighting; some columns and lantern combinations (like the lighting on the NC bit of M25!!), look stunning (I might be exaggerating). But, it's going to cost far too much for the Highways Agency to remove all SOX lighting. Anyway, the dream can still be saved at the very start and end of the M45 once it becomes 'a heritage motorway'. Mercury could be there too.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "NC bit of the M25", but the only stretch of the M25 left with SOX is through J31 & J30 - less than a mile in length. Indeed, that stretch may disappear with the current J30 improvement works.

[Patrick Harper]

Mate, that is a six year old post! At the time the M25 was illuminated with SOX (or nothing) from J21 to J26 and J27 to J30, i.e the northern side of it. And I hadn't yet realised the M45 story was a hoax.