Off the A66, Church Brough, Brough, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria With thanks to Oliver Davison for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on the old A66, which was downgraded to a local traffic only route, following the construction of the adjacent Brough bypass, in 1992 are two 10 m sheet steel Stainton columns installed in an opposite configuration, and fitted with Philips MA 50, 135 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium), lanterns. No other lighting exists on this section of road at all, making their appearance all the more incongruous. Google Street View's historical imagery provides an answer to their placement, however - back in 2009, snow gates still existed on this road; the idea being that the gates would be closed when heavy snowfall meant that onward driving was too dangerous for most regular vehicles. Presumably, the street lighting was provided to highlight when the gates were closed, though as the gates had been removed by 2023, the lanterns are unlikely to have been operated for many years.
The columns were probably installed as part of the bypass construction works in the early 1990s.
The heavy lichen build-up on both MA 50s also suggests that the lanterns have not worked regularly in a long time.
Neither lantern is fitted with a photocell control either, suggesting that they were operated manually - probably, only when the gates were shut. A feeder pillar exists a little further up the road, and may have housed the manual switch that operated them - I should have checked while I was there!
As these are earlier MA lanterns, they are missing the front bowl clips, which was a modification made by Philips later in the 1990s, to improve the sealing within the lantern - as can be seen, without the additional clip, the interior is more likely to allow dirt and moisture in.
Both lanterns still seem to be fitted with lamps, though of course, these may not work from lying disused for so long.
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