Catenary motorway lighting

[Patrick Harper]

This thread is leaning off topic now but I have a film that shows the 2010-11 M25 J16-23 lights (some of which might have been in temporary use at M1 J6a-10 during the widening there) worked perfectly fine when they were first installed. Either they've been poorly maintained since or the longevity of certain equipment has turned out to be sub-par.

[ManomayLR]

This thread is leaning off topic now but I have a film that shows the 2010-11 M25 J16-23 lights (some of which might have been in temporary use at M1 J6a-10 during the widening there) worked perfectly fine when they were first installed. Either they've been poorly maintained since or the longevity of certain equipment has turned out to be sub-par.

Most of the lights are absolutely fine, but some columns (or groups of columns) here and there remain off, it could be a safety hazard as you often plunge into darkness then back into light repeatedly. There's also a very short patch of LED where new works unit sliproads were built. So you go from HPS orangey-white to LED bright white and then back to HPS orangey-white within a few seconds.

Considering the widening was fairly recent, how come we didn't see MS4-based VMS and LED lighting throughout? MS4s would have saved a lot of money compared to having full lane control signals on every gantry - and they can also display mixed case text and pictograms - which is more natural to read than all-caps text and distracting flashing lamps.

[Patrick Harper]

This thread is leaning off topic now but I have a film that shows the 2010-11 M25 J16-23 lights (some of which might have been in temporary use at M1 J6a-10 during the widening there) worked perfectly fine when they were first installed. Either they've been poorly maintained since or the longevity of certain equipment has turned out to be sub-par.

Most of the lights are absolutely fine, but some columns (or groups of columns) here and there remain off, it could be a safety hazard as you often plunge into darkness then back into light repeatedly. There's also a very short patch of LED where new works unit sliproads were built. So you go from HPS orangey-white to LED bright white and then back to HPS orangey-white within a few seconds.

Considering the widening was fairly recent, how come we didn't see MS4-based VMS and LED lighting throughout? MS4s would have saved a lot of money compared to having full lane control signals on every gantry - and they can also display mixed case text and pictograms - which is more natural to read than all-caps text and distracting flashing lamps.

Connect Plus M25 appears to have avoided using LEDs until 2018. I'm guessing they were waiting for the cost to come down. The works from 2009-2012 would have missed the window of opportunity either way.

[traffic-light-man]

Lighting equipment is itself a hazard if people collide with it (passively safe posts help but cost more, so you'll likely have to construct miles of barrier).

You could always spend time selecting between passive and non-passive with barrier, but then just give up when it comes to the huge high-masts.

Can't believe they've finally done away with those P213 high mast lanterns. Always a big part of my childhood seeing them at the start of trips across the country and the final stretch home, feeling utterly tired. Could often been seen at quite a distance off in areas of East Liverpool. Always thought they'd look cool with their canopies painted like toadstools.

Knowsley did away with theirs about 5 or so years ago. Their replacements were SON, which slightly surprised me at the time.

Indeed. As horrid as the high masts are, the original ones did hold a certain nostalgia for a local - particularly following the miles of SOX on the M62 from Tarbock in to town. The new LED ones LCC have used are incredibly good at making night turn in to day, but I'm not sure I'd like to live under them.

Knowsley were late to the LED party (I assume a financial decision by the PFI) broadly speaking, but they had replaced the SOX with good quality LED by the time these masts were refurbished, so the use of SON is quite strange. Those particular masts in the GSV were actually new (or relocated), moved from their original bases further in to the undergrowth and on the railway embankment.

[toxictots]

I have just read that these are the last Catenary Lights still in use (as of 2019).

I dont know if this is still the case

https://ibb.co/rbb2P0p

[Truvelo]

I have just read that these are the last Catenary Lights still in use (as of 2019).

I dont know if this is still the case

https://ibb.co/rbb2P0p

In 2021 the lanterns were removed with just the wires suspending between each column.

[ManomayLR]

I have just read that these are the last Catenary Lights still in use (as of 2019).

I dont know if this is still the case

https://ibb.co/rbb2P0p

In 2021 the lanterns were removed with just the wires suspending between each column.

The VMS on that motorway stretch are also very worn out, giving the whole thing a very derelict look.

[nowster]

I have just read that these are the last Catenary Lights still in use (as of 2019).

I dont know if this is still the case

https://ibb.co/rbb2P0p

And one of the oddity signs that Sabrista used to have a site dedicated to.