SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

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liamf656
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by liamf656 »

traffic-light-man wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:13 I did enjoy a night time trip along the M53 recently, where there's still a run of working central reservation SOX on double curvy brackets between J9 and J10, which was nice to see.
Interesting you mention this one, as you’d think they’d be really old judging by the look of the brackets and the choice of lantern, however, previously they were normal twin brackets with mk1 Philips MA60s. The current curvy lanterns and the SRS202s were in fact installed in late 2014, making them some of the last SOX lanterns installed!
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Rambo »

There are still some sodiums along Thelwall new road along the bank of the Manchester ship canal at Latchford locks. Even though they aren't council, Peel ports have replaced nearly all sodium lights at the locks. These were for some (now) disused jettys and are not normally turned on but speaking to the lock keepers there recently they turned them on just for me :D
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Norfolktolancashire
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Norfolktolancashire »

Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 03, 2020 21:16 There are still some sodiums along Thelwall new road along the bank of the Manchester ship canal at Latchford locks. Even though they aren't council, Peel ports have replaced nearly all sodium lights at the locks. These were for some (now) disused jettys and are not normally turned on but speaking to the lock keepers there recently they turned them on just for me :D
Good to see there still are non-jobsworths that are willing to help!
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Jonathan24 »

Came across an interesting response to a FoI request regarding street lighting in Northern Ireland today. Was surprised to see that 25% of all lanterns are now LED (although, they have been rapidly changing them over the last year or so, so maybe not so much of a surprise). What was more surprising was that over 30% of the lighting stock is still SOX...Any side street SOX that I have seen is still being relamped, with only mainline SOX having the lantern replaced when the bulb fails.

https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/si ... 0-0166.PDF
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Truvelo
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Truvelo »

According to that list there are 64 mercury lanterns still in service.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Jonathan24 »

Truvelo wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 16:23 According to that list there are 64 mercury lanterns still in service.
Very interesting, I didn't notice that! I've no idea where they might be as I never recall ever seeing mercury lighting in Northern Ireland. Sounds like I've got some research to do...

EDIT - Would something like these use mercury? They are white, so guess it's either that or metal halide?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.56157 ... 384!8i8192
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traffic-light-man
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by traffic-light-man »

Jonathan24 wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 00:32EDIT - Would something like these use mercury? They are white, so guess it's either that or metal halide?

Link
To me, that looks far too new for a traditional mercury source. It could also be compact fluorescent, which would be a white non-LED source.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Raggit_Rich »

My local town in Sussex still has SOX lamps in a couple of the car parks.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.12581 ... 92!5m1!1e1
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Ben302
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Ben302 »

Medway still has isolated pockets of SOX, mainly in residential areas built in the 80's although almost all will be gone within a matter of weeks as they are progressively being replaced with new ALCOA columns and Thorn Isaro Pro LED lanterns? They seem to be replacing all the concrete columns with SOX lanterns in this wave, with new Posts and lanterns.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by BugsBunny »

Found this beauty just off Caledonian Rd. in Islington. The fact it’s dayburning means this likely won’t last too long but it’s still an excellent find. I’m not sure if it comes under council or private owned, though I suspect the latter as the rest of the road features some dodgy post top/floodlight installations that don’t look council approved to me!
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scott125
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by scott125 »

Stafford has some SOX still.

Rownham services on the M27 too, not sure how old it is.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by ManomayLR »

I really badly miss LPS.

It’s still going between Borehamwood and the South Mimms Interchange (but some of the lanterns have stopped working) and apparently they will be removed soon or switched to LED.
Though roads may not put a smile on everyone's face, there is one road that always will: the road to home.
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Truvelo
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Truvelo »

I have finally got hold of a type of SOX lantern I had outside my previous house for 27 years. The 90w SOX lamp may appear small when up in the air but here it is against my computer for size. They are big. A 180w SOX lamp is absolutely huge.
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thatapanydude
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by thatapanydude »

EpicChef wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 21:48 It’s still going between Borehamwood and the South Mimms Interchange (but some of the lanterns have stopped working) and apparently they will be removed soon or switched to LED.
Went past last week and yes some are still going but mostly hit and miss. I would prefer them replaced with LED as that section of A1 is narrow befitting of being lit.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by thatapanydude »

thatapanydude wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:56 The last few weeks have seen the SOX removal and column replacement on the A1 from Sandy to Baldock in fits and spurts though from Biggleswade North to South its fairly significant with new LED's.
An update on the A1 in Beds is that LED's are slowly creeping towards Sandy from Biggleswade North with the Biggleswade section of A1 now all LED bar the odd one or two.
A1/A1(M) >>> M1
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Patrick Harper
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Patrick Harper »

I got bored and updated a list I made of SOX on the motorway network many years ago. All of the remaining mainline units use Philips MA series heads now that the catenary system on the M1 has been removed.

A1(M): J2-J3 (disabled), J3-J4 (partially).
A666(M): J1-J2 (partially).
M1: J5-J6 (disabled), J23a.
M4: J40-J44 (outgoing).
M6: J25.
M25: J30 (one column).
M60: J24-J25.
M61: J2.
M62: J10 (partially), J20-J21 (partially).
M69: J2.
Last edited by Patrick Harper on Wed Dec 29, 2021 23:11, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by A1OZZ »

The SOX lighting on the A1 at Wittering has now been replaced with LED lighting. Google street view now shows a mix of old and new lighting. The double bracketed column BL105 which illuminates the scary central reservation crossing has been retained it seems.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by AlexBr967 »

Patrick Harper wrote: Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:35 I got bored and updated a list I made of SOX on the motorway network many years ago. All of the remaining mainline units use Philips MA series heads now that the catenary system on the M1 has been removed.

A1(M): J2-J3 (disabled), J3-J4 (partially).
A666(M): J1-J2 (partially).
M1: J5-J6 (disabled).
M4: J40-J44 (outgoing).
M6: J25.
M25: J30 (one column).
M60: J24-J25.
M61: J2.
M62: J10 (partially), J20-J21.
M69: J2.
Just to add there is some left on the M1 past J23a which survived the replacement of the ones between J24 and J23a
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Chris5156 »

The SOX lights on the sliproads at M25 J12 - which were original to the opening of the interchange in the 70s - have finally been switched off, and new LEDs are going up at the moment. They were still working until about a month ago, except for the southbound-to-westbound slip where they'd been out for quite a long time.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by StockburyRoundabout »

Chris5156 wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 09:42 The SOX lights on the sliproads at M25 J12 - which were original to the opening of the interchange in the 70s - have finally been switched off, and new LEDs are going up at the moment. They were still working until about a month ago, except for the southbound-to-westbound slip where they'd been out for quite a long time.
Once the SOX is gone from this area, it will truly be the end of an era. Started when the M3 was upgraded to Smart Motorway, removing the columns on the M3 carriageway completely and replacing columns on some slips.

Fond memories of the familiar orange glow of the SOX on the slips (and once upon a time the main M3 carriageway). That's been a sight for as long as a remember and they predate my existence by around 25 years at my estimation. The charm of SOX is something that we'll probably never see again.

I presume this replacement also includes the SOX still present on the verges next to the M25 carriageway on the approach to the slips?
Now with added Grade Separation!
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