Off Station Road, Kintbury, West Berkshire Attached to a 6 m base-hinged Abacus tubular steel column within the small car park for the adjacent Kintbury Railway Station is a GEC Z8260 lantern, intended for running twin two foot (600 mm) 40 Watt MCF/A (linear fluorescent) lamps, although the lantern appears to have been converted to run two 18 Watt lamps instead in more recent times, owing to the obsolescence of the 40 Watt lamps, and is still believed to be in operational condition now. The Z8260 was a common sight on British Rail infrastructure, and so its existence here is not surprising, particularly as the station platforms were also lit with Z8260s in the past (as proven here) - the fact that one survives is more astonishing, however, as many were converted to discharge lamp, and later, LED, lanterns instead.
The column is installed between two parking spaces in the car park.
The bowl has had to be cable-tied in place.
The original Quickstart ballast looks to have been changed to a newer high frequency electronic ballast to run the thinner 18 Watt lamps.
An older Abacus column may have been used here previously, with the bracket and lantern being transferred to the replacement. Traces of the original Network SouthEast (1986 - 1994) red paint are visible, especially on the column base section, beneath the current Great Western Railway grey with dark green bands.
Where the current paint layer has flaked from the bracket, the First Great Western blue / purple is also visible.
The front bowl clip is missing from the lantern, which is probably why the cable tie arrangement has been used, although as the weight of the unsupported bowl has caused the plastic to hang slightly open, causing dirt to gather within it, I am surprised that the cable ties weren't secured nearer to the front of the lantern.
Despite the dirt, the lower of the two lamps is still visible within the lantern.
Kintbury village itself still has a few Thorn Beta 5 lanterns installed on the local roads. While designed for operating 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamps, the Beta 5s are now fitted with Venture Re-SOX LED lamps instead; this example is seen on Inkpen Road.
The top-entry example is fitted to an AC Ford pole bracket.
Unusually, the wiring between the bracket and the fuse box (positioned further down the pole) is encased in conduit, rather than being exposed, and clipped to the surface of the pole.
The older lantern seemed to meet with approval from a local wasp too!
This wall-mounted side-entry example is on High Street.
The fuse box cover is marked 'P1', which could mean that it is a Parish Council-owned installation.
An older and newer example were installed on consecutive poles on Church Street.
The LED Lamp is plainly visible within the lantern.
The newer example's bowl has also required a repair using a cable tie, owing to the front plastic clip having broken.
A gravel track that joins Church Street, and is known as The Croft, featured this example.
The pole here looks a relatively recent replacement, suggesting that the bracket and lantern were transferred from another pole that used to exist at this location.
A small GRP enclosure houses the electricity service cut-out here.
Further up Church Street is this older corner bracket.
The bracket is fed via an overhead electricity supply, although as the means of supply has been renewed using PVC cable, the dual porcelain insulators (that would have supported the older separate live and neutral cabling) have been left in place.
The original, and now, disused, oval-shaped fuse box attached to the bracket carries Lucy Oxford branding.
The final pictured example was attached to a pole located adjacent the former Prince of Wales pub on Newbury Street.
The bracket design here is far more functional in appearance when compared to the example seen above.
As with all of the Beta 5s pictured, a Zodion photocell is fitted in the lantern's NEMA socket.
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