SOX Strongholds
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SOX Strongholds
As the spread of LED lighting continues at pace across many areas, remaining SOX populations are becoming ever more depleted. Are there any strongholds of SOX lighting about within LA areas around you?
Locally to me, there are still large amounts of SOX in Bury Council's area. Despite a programme of LED conversion on many of the borough's side roads http://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=11284 large amounts of SOX remain, especially on the main roads. The main roads are not subject to this replacement programme, so LEDs are only fitted as casual replacements.
I'll link to some of the best of the bunch, although, as there are so many to choose from, I've had to be selective.
Main road installations:
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Some side road installations:
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Locally to me, there are still large amounts of SOX in Bury Council's area. Despite a programme of LED conversion on many of the borough's side roads http://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=11284 large amounts of SOX remain, especially on the main roads. The main roads are not subject to this replacement programme, so LEDs are only fitted as casual replacements.
I'll link to some of the best of the bunch, although, as there are so many to choose from, I've had to be selective.
Main road installations:
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
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Some side road installations:
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Re: SOX Strongholds
My favourite is the first side road photo.
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
Big and complex.
- Patrick Harper
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Re: SOX Strongholds
Although Herts has an LED programme in progress, and all failed lanterns are being changed for LED units, some boroughs are only slated to have their U roads (except all-night lanterns, which were changed two years ago) switched to LED in 2019. Some streets have been lucky enough not to require casual replacements for many years, faciliating unusually unspoilt stretches for 2017.
Ground Lane, Hatfield is one of them. Endless small shoe MA90s, rusty brackets but when I crossed that road at dusk a week ago as many units as I could see were all working. There is even a casual rep galvanised column further down, but rather than fetch a new lantern the old one was remounted on the new column.
Ground Lane, Hatfield is one of them. Endless small shoe MA90s, rusty brackets but when I crossed that road at dusk a week ago as many units as I could see were all working. There is even a casual rep galvanised column further down, but rather than fetch a new lantern the old one was remounted on the new column.
Re: SOX Strongholds
Speaking of Herts are these at M1 J6 still there? They've been like that for at least a decade and it's as though someone's forgotten to remove the old columns. The problem is the new columns are now themselves outdated so yet another set of replacements will no doubt go in shortly.
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
Big and complex.
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Re: SOX Strongholds
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9533917 ... 312!8i6656
Perhaps not a stronghold, but one of the most unlikely paid of survivors, are these two in the link above right in the heart of Edinburgh in St Andrew Square. One was still working this week, I would have expected these to have be,n replaced years ago in such a high profile city centre location!
Other City centre survivors are in Jeffrey Street near Waverley Station:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9512421 ... 312!8i6656
Perhaps not a stronghold, but one of the most unlikely paid of survivors, are these two in the link above right in the heart of Edinburgh in St Andrew Square. One was still working this week, I would have expected these to have be,n replaced years ago in such a high profile city centre location!
Other City centre survivors are in Jeffrey Street near Waverley Station:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9512421 ... 312!8i6656
Re: SOX Strongholds
The one in the distance has a really ornate bracket. I would put a preservation order on it.Worcestershire Wolf wrote:Other City centre survivors are in Jeffrey Street near Waverley Station:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9512421 ... 312!8i6656
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
Big and complex.
Re: SOX Strongholds
https://goo.gl/maps/QWdLr6MGNKF2
Surprising surviving line of Revo Hyperions on Cohen (brave that they're still there) columns on the A51.
Surprising surviving line of Revo Hyperions on Cohen (brave that they're still there) columns on the A51.
Bryn
Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already.
She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Blog - https://showmeasign.online/
X - https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn
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Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already.
She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Blog - https://showmeasign.online/
X - https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@BrynBuck
- haymansafc
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- Location: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
Re: SOX Strongholds
The A41 to the south of Christleton and Waverton still retain a reasonable stock of various Phillips MA's and GEC Z9554's. However, their days now appear to be numbered because as of two weeks ago, random chunks of them (three or four columns at a time) have been randomly replaced with LED lanterns on the existing columns. The contrast going from a patch of SOX lighting to LED and then back to SOX is stark...
Yes, these (now very rare) two GEC 'Bricks' just to the south of here still survive also...for now.
These two concrete beauties still survive (including the identical top entry column if you spin the camera around), but all the other lanterns in the immediate area on the side streets were sadly replaced with LED’s about four months ago - including a fresh LED lantern on the rested column on the street corner - just to the right of the streetview picture.
Yes, these (now very rare) two GEC 'Bricks' just to the south of here still survive also...for now.
These two concrete beauties still survive (including the identical top entry column if you spin the camera around), but all the other lanterns in the immediate area on the side streets were sadly replaced with LED’s about four months ago - including a fresh LED lantern on the rested column on the street corner - just to the right of the streetview picture.
The journey is never over until the arrival.
- trencheel303
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Re: SOX Strongholds
I’m just down ‘t road from bury, and all I can say is the sox is disappearing at an alarming rate. A few years ago, many of the small cul de sacs and suburb type areas around many parts of Bolton were sox. Now quite a lot of them are LED (holophane factor small) with main roads, like the A58, being done as well. Farnworth through to Kearsley had 135W MA50s plentiful and they’ve now almost all gone as well. The m61 off the kearsley roundabout where it meets the A666 still has some of the 180/135W MA installations but I don’t expect them to last long. It was only a few years ago I came down and at least half the m60 was purely sox and fully working as well.
Re: SOX Strongholds
Need to check if these are still there as they have replaced similar in recent years .Worcestershire Wolf wrote:https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9533917 ... 312!8i6656
Perhaps not a stronghold, but one of the most unlikely paid of survivors, are these two in the link above right in the heart of Edinburgh in St Andrew Square. One was still working this week, I would have expected these to have be,n replaced years ago in such a high profile city centre location!
Other City centre survivors are in Jeffrey Street near Waverley Station:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9512421 ... 312!8i6656
The lanterns on the ones at St Andrews look whiter which suggests they may be 90s .
-
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Re: SOX Strongholds
They are definitely still there as I noticed them in person when I was in Edinburgh last week!scott125 wrote:Need to check if these are still there as they have replaced similar in recent years .Worcestershire Wolf wrote:https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9533917 ... 312!8i6656
Perhaps not a stronghold, but one of the most unlikely paid of survivors, are these two in the link above right in the heart of Edinburgh in St Andrew Square. One was still working this week, I would have expected these to have be,n replaced years ago in such a high profile city centre location!
Other City centre survivors are in Jeffrey Street near Waverley Station:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9512421 ... 312!8i6656
The lanterns on the ones at St Andrews look whiter which suggests they may be 90s .
-
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Re: SOX Strongholds
There's still plenty of SOX installations left in Northern Ireland, although mostly in residential and rural locations. Main road SOX is now pretty much a thing of the past here. Where I live has a complete installation of about 50 lanterns dating from the mid 1990s, although many SOX areas are now disfigured with SON and, more recently, LED casual replacements. You can still find the odd installation with unsleeved concrete columns like this one:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.57685 ... 6656?dcr=0
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.57685 ... 6656?dcr=0
Re: SOX Strongholds
Was in Edinburgh earlier and only one was working . On the other side of the road there is the same type of column but missing a lantern , might be old tram stuff . There used to similar SOX lanterns that looked really old at the bottom of the mound but now replaced by modern heritage stuff.Worcestershire Wolf wrote:They are definitely still there as I noticed them in person when I was in Edinburgh last week!scott125 wrote:Need to check if these are still there as they have replaced similar in recent years .Worcestershire Wolf wrote:https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9533917 ... 312!8i6656
Perhaps not a stronghold, but one of the most unlikely paid of survivors, are these two in the link above right in the heart of Edinburgh in St Andrew Square. One was still working this week, I would have expected these to have be,n replaced years ago in such a high profile city centre location!
Other City centre survivors are in Jeffrey Street near Waverley Station:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9512421 ... 312!8i6656
The lanterns on the ones at St Andrews look whiter which suggests they may be 90s .
New https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.95153 ... 6656?hl=en
Old , how old do you reckon these lanterns are?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.95151 ... 6656?hl=en
An Edinburgh Classic , not as common as they once were , How old do think these are?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.93153 ... 6656?hl=en
- Norfolktolancashire
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Re: SOX Strongholds
I had the fortune of travelling around the Wirral this weekend and noted a lot of SOX still, including this one.haymansafc wrote:The A41 to the south of Christleton and Waverton still retain a reasonable stock of various Phillips MA's and GEC Z9554's. However, their days now appear to be numbered because as of two weeks ago, random chunks of them (three or four columns at a time) have been randomly replaced with LED lanterns on the existing columns. The contrast going from a patch of SOX lighting to LED and then back to SOX is stark...
Yes, these (now very rare) two GEC 'Bricks' just to the south of here still survive also...for now.
These two concrete beauties still survive (including the identical top entry column if you spin the camera around), but all the other lanterns in the immediate area on the side streets were sadly replaced with LED’s about four months ago - including a fresh LED lantern on the rested column on the street corner - just to the right of the streetview picture.
http://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.398221 ... 312!8i6656
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Re: SOX Strongholds
Here in Oxfordshire there is plenty of SOX around including some on main roads, although casual replacements are SON or LED.
However, I don't really get their replacement strategy. Whole stretches of newish SON gets ripped out and replaced by LED, whilst joining roads with the same lighting remain SON. In some places sliproads have new LED but the mainline is still SON. Where they do large scale replacement normally they leave a stranded odd SOX column.
In slightly bigger news I was sorry to see the SOX at the start of the M40 go. For so long it seemed dying, and then they would all be repaired again. Now all LED.
However, I don't really get their replacement strategy. Whole stretches of newish SON gets ripped out and replaced by LED, whilst joining roads with the same lighting remain SON. In some places sliproads have new LED but the mainline is still SON. Where they do large scale replacement normally they leave a stranded odd SOX column.
In slightly bigger news I was sorry to see the SOX at the start of the M40 go. For so long it seemed dying, and then they would all be repaired again. Now all LED.
- StockburyRoundabout
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Re: SOX Strongholds
Lot's of GEC Bricks still exist at Thorpe Interchange (M25 J12/M3 J2a) in 2020 despite the M25 widening in the early 2000s and M3 Smart Motorway works more recently. This remains one of the strongholds of this lantern type.haymansafc wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 22:54 Yes, these (now very rare) two GEC 'Bricks' just to the south of here still survive also...for now.
Now with added Grade Separation!
Re: SOX Strongholds
There's also GEC Bricks on the M60 south of Denton either side of the railway bridge. I assume it's to reduce glare for train drivers.
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
Big and complex.
- StockburyRoundabout
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Re: SOX Strongholds
That does sound logical due to the position of the only two in that immediate area.
More examples of a now rare lantern!
Now with added Grade Separation!