concrete lamposts!

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kit
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by kit »

RJDG14 wrote:Assuming the road through your village is publically owned, the only way to get lamposts installed legally would be to request the council, and I very much doubt they'll grant permission for you to install old concrete columns.
It was more a fantasy! The next village to me has a solitary well maintained concrete column and I always look at it with slight jealousy on my cycle to work.

My in laws live in Ruislip on a road with beautiful concrete columns of which I am equally jealous.
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by RJDG14 »

You could buy one cheap and get it installed in your garden or on your driveway if you have the space.
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kit
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by kit »

RJDG14 wrote:You could buy one cheap and get it installed in your garden or on your driveway if you have the space.
Me and Mrs Chris are having a debate at the moment, I want a concrete column with a SOX bulb, she wants a cast iron Victorian column.

Luckily I think my workplace might be redeveloping an area with lots of SOX so I might be able to get the switchgear and a few bulbs for free. Unfortunately they are on uninspiring steel columns so will pass on those.
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by RJDG14 »

What's your driveway/garden size? If it's big enough you could get one of each (perhaps one in the front, one in the back garden).

If you want to go for something truly vintage, search around for one of the very few remaining mercury vapour bulbs.
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Truvelo
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Truvelo »

How about this for a most unusual installation these days. I've seen these lanterns in plenty of old photos but never in person.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.63756 ... 312!8i6656
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by MotorwayGuy »

Not many left around here or in any of the London boroughs now. There are two remaining unsleeved concrete columns with original lanterns here, the second one was struck a few years ago and was replaced. What makes these notable is almost all side roads had columns of this Stanton design instead which replaced older CU and Revo columns that are seen in old photos, but a few streets were missed out. Even those are rare now, with most having been sleeved or re-sleeved last year, and Bexley council policy is now to replace existing SON fixtures with LED on side roads and HID on main roads. Any defective SOX lanterns are being replaced with second hand SON stock until the whole street is converted to LED.

Bromley and Greenwich have hardly any concretes left now.
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Glenn A »

MotorwayGuy wrote:Not many left around here or in any of the London boroughs now. There are two remaining unsleeved concrete columns with original lanterns here, the second one was struck a few years ago and was replaced. What makes these notable is almost all side roads had columns of this Stanton design instead which replaced older CU and Revo columns that are seen in old photos, but a few streets were missed out. Even those are rare now, with most having been sleeved or re-sleeved last year, and Bexley council policy is now to replace existing SON fixtures with LED on side roads and HID on main roads. Any defective SOX lanterns are being replaced with second hand SON stock until the whole street is converted to LED.

Bromley and Greenwich have hardly any concretes left now.
A few of these concrete Stanton designs exist in Cockermouth with the original lanterns, but it's only a matter of time before LED takes over. In Whitehaven, where considerable numbers of concrete columns still exist on the B5295, A5094 and B5345, most have now been resleeved and given new lanterns with LED. One or two orange sodium lanterns exist from the early eighties replacement scheme, but these are bound to go before long.
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by DavidB »

On Saturday I was on a train passing through Smethwick and just north of Rolfe Street station I spotted a Thorn Alpha 1 on what looked like an original Stanton column. I've found it on Streetview here. I've searched Sabre to see if this has been spotted before but I came across this thread from 2012 discussing the demise of such lighting in the town. Is this one a rare survivor?
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Chris5156 »

DavidB wrote:On Saturday I was on a train passing through Smethwick and just north of Rolfe Street station I spotted a Thorn Alpha 1 on what looked like an original Stanton column. I've found it on Streetview here. I've searched Sabre to see if this has been spotted before but I came across this thread from 2012 discussing the demise of such lighting in the town. Is this one a rare survivor?
It's only half as rare as you think - if you turn around 180 degrees there's another one!
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by c2R »

Here's a good Before and After view of some sleeving and replacement LED bulb on a concrete column (between 2009 and 2016)

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.91371 ... 312!8i6656

Another one here - I did always think this was a thing of beauty:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.89752 ... 312!8i6656

It's interesting how it's possible to retrofit to such a variety of different posts...
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Truvelo »

Chris5156 wrote:
DavidB wrote:On Saturday I was on a train passing through Smethwick and just north of Rolfe Street station I spotted a Thorn Alpha 1 on what looked like an original Stanton column. I've found it on Streetview here. I've searched Sabre to see if this has been spotted before but I came across this thread from 2012 discussing the demise of such lighting in the town. Is this one a rare survivor?
It's only half as rare as you think - if you turn around 180 degrees there's another one!
Smethwick was full of Alpha 1's at one time. There was one outside our house which was replaced shortly before we moved. I happened to be in at the time and managed to film it.

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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Robert Kilcoyne »

Truvelo wrote: Smethwick was full of Alpha 1's at one time. There was one outside our house which was replaced shortly before we moved. I happened to be in at the time and managed to film it.

The Alpha 1 was very popular north and west of Birmingham; I can remember seeing Alpha 1's in Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Cradley Heath, Halesowen, Stourbridge, Dudley, West Bromwich and Walsall, mostly on concrete columns. They contrasted very much with Birmingham, which was full of Stewart & Lloyds columns with mercury GEC Turtles until the late 1970's when SOX lighting was adopted.
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Truvelo »

Some anomalies exist where the boundaries shifted during local government reorganisation in 1974. This scene has all the hallmarks of Birmingham but was transferred to Sandwell. The main giveaway is the Alpha 1 on the S&L column.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.50156 ... 312!8i6656
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DavidB
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by DavidB »

Chris5156 wrote:
DavidB wrote:On Saturday I was on a train passing through Smethwick and just north of Rolfe Street station I spotted a Thorn Alpha 1 on what looked like an original Stanton column. I've found it on Streetview here. I've searched Sabre to see if this has been spotted before but I came across this thread from 2012 discussing the demise of such lighting in the town. Is this one a rare survivor?
It's only half as rare as you think - if you turn around 180 degrees there's another one!
Yes, I now realise that it was actually the one on the shorter arm which I spotted from the train. :oops:
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by L.J.D »

Suppose the real question is are there any Alpha 1s in London , because I sure don't recall ever seeing one in the 8 years I lived there. :o
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Jc98 »

Hi all I’m new to this and bringing up an old chat , but I’ve got an question does any one know a concrete Lampost with a small hole by the door way to the light needs a replacement post, I can’t upload the pic ?
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by RichardA626 »

I deliberately drove down Hempshaw Lane in Stockport to see if it still have Alpha 1s, which is still has, though a few have been replaced.

Most of the side roads in this area used to have swan necked cast iron or concrete columns until a few years ago, but most if not all have been replaced now.
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Big Nick »

Jc98 wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 20:32 Hi all I’m new to this and bringing up an old chat , but I’ve got an question does any one know a concrete Lampost with a small hole by the door way to the light needs a replacement post, I can’t upload the pic ?
Best way to show a pic on SABRE is to use a photo host like Photobucket, Flickr, Tinypic, ImageShack or PostImage. Save your picture on one of these and link it to a post on this forum.
Good luck!
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Jc98 »

Big Nick wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 23:53 [quote=Jc98 post_id=<a href="tel:1067396">1067396</a> time=<a href="tel:1566588760">1566588760</a> user_id=13036]
Hi all I’m new to this and bringing up an old chat , but I’ve got an question does any one know a concrete Lampost with a small hole by the door way to the light needs a replacement post, I can’t upload the pic ?
Best way to show a pic on SABRE is to use a photo host like Photobucket, Flickr, Tinypic, ImageShack or PostImage. Save your picture on one of these and link it to a post on this forum.
Good luck!
[/quote]
Cheers mate think I’ve worked it out
https://flic.kr/p/2h4zsGj
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Re: concrete lamposts!

Post by Worcestershire Wolf »

Love this fine example on private land near the M1/A617 Heath Interchange:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.19930 ... 312!8i6656
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