Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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RJDG14
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

Quite likely, sadly. At least I have confirmation that the light in the Railway Village was.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Patrick Harper »

Incidentally, the lone MBF-ballasted Phosco P178, only a stone's throw from my house, was fitted with a SON-H lamp earlier this week (replacing a much older MBF lamp that had finally given up the ghost). Since then the electricity supply has gone kaputt on the column and at least one other, Ringways was having a look at it a few days ago.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by BugsBunny »

About two weeks ago I went to Wrotham for a fireworks display. Apart from some HPS retrofits, there seems to be quite an amount of mercury vapour left. Surprisingly most of the lamps are in good condition, with only a handful dim/failed lanterns. Not a horrid LED in sight!
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

Very little left.

Those in the lighting community that know me are aware that I'm an avid mercury scouter-outer and have gained the occasional nickname of "Mr Mercury"...

with that said, there are really no merc strongholds that I know of. Just the odd side road or cul de sac that strangely still runs mercury in groups. The last place I went to was Cranbrook Drive in Maidenhead, I made a special trip out there because they have an entire housing estate lit up by post top mercuries, quite bizarre to see in 2016 but most are very dim and at a height where they do a poor job of lighting.

The other places to look out for it are caravan parks, certainly in Scotland they seem to have a bit of a thing for mercury Gamma 6s.

NO mainline mercury at all that I know of, apart from this long forgotten example that I passed today on the M6:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.17683 ... 6656?hl=en

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.17706 ... ,16z?hl=en

I am actually about to make a post about it as I think it's relevant.

Then there's the odd places most people will never see.. I passed a GEC clear main on the railway going into the highlands and the Psychiatric hospital in Lochgilphead (west Scotland) has all kinds of weird and wonderful looking mercury (and SOX) lanterns on ancient concrete posts.

I know a few years ago there was also the odd mercury post top in Greater Manchester on traffic islands between Altrincham and Sale if I remember correctly... but that's anecdotal.

Of course I can back all of this up with pictorial evidence.. being somewhat a fanatic of "in the wild" mercury still standing!
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

trencheel303 wrote:Very little left.

Those in the lighting community that know me are aware that I'm an avid mercury scouter-outer and have gained the occasional nickname of "Mr Mercury"...

with that said, there are really no merc strongholds that I know of. Just the odd side road or cul de sac that strangely still runs mercury in groups. The last place I went to was Cranbrook Drive in Maidenhead, I made a special trip out there because they have an entire housing estate lit up by post top mercuries, quite bizarre to see in 2016 but most are very dim and at a height where they do a poor job of lighting.

The other places to look out for it are caravan parks, certainly in Scotland they seem to have a bit of a thing for mercury Gamma 6s.

NO mainline mercury at all that I know of, apart from this long forgotten example that I passed today on the M6:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.17683 ... 6656?hl=en

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.17706 ... ,16z?hl=en

I am actually about to make a post about it as I think it's relevant.

Then there's the odd places most people will never see.. I passed a GEC clear main on the railway going into the highlands and the Psychiatric hospital in Lochgilphead (west Scotland) has all kinds of weird and wonderful looking mercury (and SOX) lanterns on ancient concrete posts.

I know a few years ago there was also the odd mercury post top in Greater Manchester on traffic islands between Altrincham and Sale if I remember correctly... but that's anecdotal.

Of course I can back all of this up with pictorial evidence.. being somewhat a fanatic of "in the wild" mercury still standing!
Are you sure that's mercury? It could be SON as well. It also looks as if half the lantern is missing.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

If you mean the Alpha Three on the motorway, yes. I drove by it at night and spotted it from -literally- a mile off as a white contender in a sea of orange. When I actually passed it I looked over and saw something positively bulb-like that was burning a mercury colour.

The bowl is missing, which is common on aged alpha threes and is in fact the case on most that I see now that are still in service.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Focus 2 »

They were some examples in Whitby when last there in 2009. I'd imagine they'll be gone now sadly.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

I don't think the Swindon ones have long to live. The council has recently installed LEDs alongside some of the other lights in the street, so I'm guessing the remaining mercury ones will follow soon.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

For those who remember, did most merucry lights look white or blue to the naked eye? The ones I saw in Swindon a short while back and the few in Whitby are almost white, maybe with a slight tinge in the right lighting, but the one near Church Stretton looked a light blue (for the few seconds that I was driven past it).
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by scott125 »

Theres a Whiskey distillery in North Glasgow (Bowmore?) that i see from railway line out of Queen St , looks like it has old mercury !
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.88237 ... 6656?hl=en
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

RJDG14 wrote:For those who remember, did most merucry lights look white or blue to the naked eye? The ones I saw in Swindon a short while back and the few in Whitby are almost white, maybe with a slight tinge in the right lighting, but the one near Church Stretton looked a light blue (for the few seconds that I was driven past it).
It depends. The variances are nowhere near as wide as metal halide - which can actually be moderately distracting when it is piecemeal - but there are variances nonetheless.

When I stopped in at Tebay services recently, I had to do a double take when I clocked numerous Alpha Threes in the car park. The lamps were a very neutral white colour, with an added tinge of warm colour tone. I thought for a minute that they might be MH, but then found that an unlikely scenario as lumen levels weren't high enough for the 400W suggested by the lamp size. It's entirely plausible that they were either recent relamps or just good quality -- regardless I'm confident they were mercury... you'll have to trust my deduction as I am not in the habit of carrying around a spectrometer!

From my experience on the collection side of things, most mercury lamps tend to look a little "cooler" in colour, however Thorn/GE Kolorlux lamps do exhibit this warmish glow, as they have a very thick and effective phosphor that turns the lamp a deep red when initially struck, and that red tone never totally leaves even once fully run up, at least while the lamps are fresh. I also have a 100W /C Phosphor Westinghouse lamp from the USA that has similarly warm tones. However, cheaper lamps with a poorer phosphor covering have little in the way of warm tones and can even take on a slightly daylight blue hue like clear lamps.

As a generalisation, I'd describe coated mercury lamps to have a cool neutral white colour with a slightly grimy or dirty feel to it, largely thanks to the strong green mercury line. I've noticed a similar effect on cheap white halophosphor fluorescent lamps, some of which have a truly yucky appearance. As described above better quality lamps feel less like this although age takes its toll on all lamps. CLEAR lamps are a sight to behold especially for us Brits who never really embraced them. When I first laid eyes on a [lit] clear mercury lamp I was quite surprised to see how relatively pure a white it is. It's not quite true white, more like an icy light blue-grey colour.. but far more white than its low colour rendering suggests - it's quite bizarre seeing a generally white light render skin as green and strong reds as a dull brown, and although similar to the standard "daylight" colour, the unique spectrum of mercury make them truly unique lamps to look at. Most cameras lie and render it as a green or blue colour and conversely not many people colour-correct their photographs.

scott125 wrote:Theres a Whiskey distillery in North Glasgow (Bowmore?) that i see from railway line out of Queen St , looks like it has old mercury !
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.88237 ... 6656?hl=en
Can't decide what the lanterns are but you could well be right. Would be a first in Glasgow for me - as you and me both know anything pre-SOX appears to be incandescent!
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

It's interesting to see how similar expensive mercury and LED look to the naked eye - LED is a pure white and mercury can also appear that way provided it has a phosphor to neutralise the blue tone.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

Somewhat, yes. The TRT aspect LED light even looks like it is traditionally lamped when you see it from a distance. The LEDs are clustered mostly in the centre so to the naked eye it looks like a lamp. It's nice seeing streets return to a crisp white colour, although it can be patchy if the lamp posts were put up in the SOX or perhaps mercury era. I have seen this first hand where a SOX lit street with 35W looked good with widely spaced lamp posts, but now has large swathes of "barely moonlight" with the new LED lanterns. Some are better than others.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by scott125 »

trencheel303 wrote:
RJDG14 wrote:For those who remember, did most merucry lights look white or blue to the naked eye? The ones I saw in Swindon a short while back and the few in Whitby are almost white, maybe with a slight tinge in the right lighting, but the one near Church Stretton looked a light blue (for the few seconds that I was driven past it).
It depends. The variances are nowhere near as wide as metal halide - which can actually be moderately distracting when it is piecemeal - but there are variances nonetheless.

When I stopped in at Tebay services recently, I had to do a double take when I clocked numerous Alpha Threes in the car park. The lamps were a very neutral white colour, with an added tinge of warm colour tone. I thought for a minute that they might be MH, but then found that an unlikely scenario as lumen levels weren't high enough for the 400W suggested by the lamp size. It's entirely plausible that they were either recent relamps or just good quality -- regardless I'm confident they were mercury... you'll have to trust my deduction as I am not in the habit of carrying around a spectrometer!

From my experience on the collection side of things, most mercury lamps tend to look a little "cooler" in colour, however Thorn/GE Kolorlux lamps do exhibit this warmish glow, as they have a very thick and effective phosphor that turns the lamp a deep red when initially struck, and that red tone never totally leaves even once fully run up, at least while the lamps are fresh. I also have a 100W /C Phosphor Westinghouse lamp from the USA that has similarly warm tones. However, cheaper lamps with a poorer phosphor covering have little in the way of warm tones and can even take on a slightly daylight blue hue like clear lamps.

As a generalisation, I'd describe coated mercury lamps to have a cool neutral white colour with a slightly grimy or dirty feel to it, largely thanks to the strong green mercury line. I've noticed a similar effect on cheap white halophosphor fluorescent lamps, some of which have a truly yucky appearance. As described above better quality lamps feel less like this although age takes its toll on all lamps. CLEAR lamps are a sight to behold especially for us Brits who never really embraced them. When I first laid eyes on a [lit] clear mercury lamp I was quite surprised to see how relatively pure a white it is. It's not quite true white, more like an icy light blue-grey colour.. but far more white than its low colour rendering suggests - it's quite bizarre seeing a generally white light render skin as green and strong reds as a dull brown, and although similar to the standard "daylight" colour, the unique spectrum of mercury make them truly unique lamps to look at. Most cameras lie and render it as a green or blue colour and conversely not many people colour-correct their photographs.

scott125 wrote:Theres a Whiskey distillery in North Glasgow (Bowmore?) that i see from railway line out of Queen St , looks like it has old mercury !
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.88237 ... 6656?hl=en
Can't decide what the lanterns are but you could well be right. Would be a first in Glasgow for me - as you and me both know anything pre-SOX appears to be incandescent!
Ive seen these at night , very old metal colunms , they looked mercury ! Not sure if they still are in service . Not a public road or anything maybe 1960s lights.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

trencheel303 wrote:
RJDG14 wrote:For those who remember, did most merucry lights look white or blue to the naked eye? The ones I saw in Swindon a short while back and the few in Whitby are almost white, maybe with a slight tinge in the right lighting, but the one near Church Stretton looked a light blue (for the few seconds that I was driven past it).
It depends. The variances are nowhere near as wide as metal halide - which can actually be moderately distracting when it is piecemeal - but there are variances nonetheless.

When I stopped in at Tebay services recently, I had to do a double take when I clocked numerous Alpha Threes in the car park. The lamps were a very neutral white colour, with an added tinge of warm colour tone. I thought for a minute that they might be MH, but then found that an unlikely scenario as lumen levels weren't high enough for the 400W suggested by the lamp size. It's entirely plausible that they were either recent relamps or just good quality -- regardless I'm confident they were mercury... you'll have to trust my deduction as I am not in the habit of carrying around a spectrometer!

From my experience on the collection side of things, most mercury lamps tend to look a little "cooler" in colour, however Thorn/GE Kolorlux lamps do exhibit this warmish glow, as they have a very thick and effective phosphor that turns the lamp a deep red when initially struck, and that red tone never totally leaves even once fully run up, at least while the lamps are fresh. I also have a 100W /C Phosphor Westinghouse lamp from the USA that has similarly warm tones. However, cheaper lamps with a poorer phosphor covering have little in the way of warm tones and can even take on a slightly daylight blue hue like clear lamps.

As a generalisation, I'd describe coated mercury lamps to have a cool neutral white colour with a slightly grimy or dirty feel to it, largely thanks to the strong green mercury line. I've noticed a similar effect on cheap white halophosphor fluorescent lamps, some of which have a truly yucky appearance. As described above better quality lamps feel less like this although age takes its toll on all lamps. CLEAR lamps are a sight to behold especially for us Brits who never really embraced them. When I first laid eyes on a [lit] clear mercury lamp I was quite surprised to see how relatively pure a white it is. It's not quite true white, more like an icy light blue-grey colour.. but far more white than its low colour rendering suggests - it's quite bizarre seeing a generally white light render skin as green and strong reds as a dull brown, and although similar to the standard "daylight" colour, the unique spectrum of mercury make them truly unique lamps to look at. Most cameras lie and render it as a green or blue colour and conversely not many people colour-correct their photographs.

scott125 wrote:Theres a Whiskey distillery in North Glasgow (Bowmore?) that i see from railway line out of Queen St , looks like it has old mercury !
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.88237 ... 6656?hl=en
Can't decide what the lanterns are but you could well be right. Would be a first in Glasgow for me - as you and me both know anything pre-SOX appears to be incandescent!

Do you have other pictures of mercury besides the three of the one at the services? I'd be interested in seeing if you do.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

RJDG14 wrote: Do you have other pictures of mercury besides the three of the one at the services? I'd be interested in seeing if you do.
[all posts are thumbnails. click to view]

Atlas Alpha Three running mercury on the slipway to Burton-In-Kendal services, M6. Just beyond the end of the motorway boundary. If it's the original lantern to when this stretch of motorway was completed, that makes it about 45 years old.

Image


The same, but with the camera panned slightly right to show comparison between it and a SON replacement. Inset shows closeup of the Alpha Three.

Image

More services mercury... this time at Tebay. Link to another site because photobucket is being a git.

https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery ... pid=129315


Mercury in a ridiculously high mounted Gamma 6.

Image


"Mouldy cheese" Mercury Thorn Precincts at my local hospital. Some of these have one SON lamp and one HPL lamp, but these two are pure originals. The off colour is accurate - but is probably mostly in part to the yellowed optics.

Image


Worn mercury lanterns in Amsterdam:

Image


Cranbrook Drive - Maidenhead. A bizarre situation - an entire street still lit by Mercury, you would think it was intentional. They were post tops with pretty poor optics and all in need of a relamp. Nice to see and nostalgic and all, but a full moon gives as good in terms of light levels.

Image

The saturation on this is really a bit too strong but I've uploaded a correction to photobucket and it hasn't appeared. It's so slow - I really should look to find another image hoster.


A clear mercury lamp from my collection run up:

Image


An MA/V (clear medium pressure mercury) lamp run up:

Image


Note I have colour corrected the huge amounts of green the camera adds in the above photos! Generally you don't need a spectrograph or diffraction grating or any of that guff to tell if a lamp is merc. As said above it has a certain unique feel from the strong green line that you get used to when scouting it out. Plus, equivalent wattage MH lamps have more lumens.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by scott125 »

trencheel303 wrote:
RJDG14 wrote:For those who remember, did most merucry lights look white or blue to the naked eye? The ones I saw in Swindon a short while back and the few in Whitby are almost white, maybe with a slight tinge in the right lighting, but the one near Church Stretton looked a light blue (for the few seconds that I was driven past it).
It depends. The variances are nowhere near as wide as metal halide - which can actually be moderately distracting when it is piecemeal - but there are variances nonetheless.

When I stopped in at Tebay services recently, I had to do a double take when I clocked numerous Alpha Threes in the car park. The lamps were a very neutral white colour, with an added tinge of warm colour tone. I thought for a minute that they might be MH, but then found that an unlikely scenario as lumen levels weren't high enough for the 400W suggested by the lamp size. It's entirely plausible that they were either recent relamps or just good quality -- regardless I'm confident they were mercury... you'll have to trust my deduction as I am not in the habit of carrying around a spectrometer!

From my experience on the collection side of things, most mercury lamps tend to look a little "cooler" in colour, however Thorn/GE Kolorlux lamps do exhibit this warmish glow, as they have a very thick and effective phosphor that turns the lamp a deep red when initially struck, and that red tone never totally leaves even once fully run up, at least while the lamps are fresh. I also have a 100W /C Phosphor Westinghouse lamp from the USA that has similarly warm tones. However, cheaper lamps with a poorer phosphor covering have little in the way of warm tones and can even take on a slightly daylight blue hue like clear lamps.

As a generalisation, I'd describe coated mercury lamps to have a cool neutral white colour with a slightly grimy or dirty feel to it, largely thanks to the strong green mercury line. I've noticed a similar effect on cheap white halophosphor fluorescent lamps, some of which have a truly yucky appearance. As described above better quality lamps feel less like this although age takes its toll on all lamps. CLEAR lamps are a sight to behold especially for us Brits who never really embraced them. When I first laid eyes on a [lit] clear mercury lamp I was quite surprised to see how relatively pure a white it is. It's not quite true white, more like an icy light blue-grey colour.. but far more white than its low colour rendering suggests - it's quite bizarre seeing a generally white light render skin as green and strong reds as a dull brown, and although similar to the standard "daylight" colour, the unique spectrum of mercury make them truly unique lamps to look at. Most cameras lie and render it as a green or blue colour and conversely not many people colour-correct their photographs.

scott125 wrote:Theres a Whiskey distillery in North Glasgow (Bowmore?) that i see from railway line out of Queen St , looks like it has old mercury !
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.88237 ... 6656?hl=en
Can't decide what the lanterns are but you could well be right. Would be a first in Glasgow for me - as you and me both know anything pre-SOX appears to be incandescent!
http://www.streetlightonline.co.uk/Loca ... Z8896s.htm

The lanterns at the Distillery look like these
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by RJDG14 »

Found some more in Swindon! This time they're in the car park of a Hungry Horse pub, opened under original ownership in about 1988 (the lights look about this age). Given it's private property, the owners could decide what lighting to use. How do I know they're mercury? Well about half of them were dayburning today, and one of these was missing half of its lantern case, so I was able to zoom in and see "MBFU" on the side of the bulb, much like I was able to in the Railway Village.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

Thorn Gamma 6 I think.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Truvelo »

I like the no dustbin symbol on the bulb. As if there would be a spillage of raw mercury should the bulb crack.
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