Penns Lane, Walmley, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, West Midlands With thanks to Leo Conway for informing me of these Survivors. Installed on a short residential service road that parallels the main Penns Lane, and is accessed from the junction of Milverton Close, are two installations that managed to avoid Birmingham's mass street lighting replacement work in the early 2010s. The first to be seen is a 15 ft (5 m) Concrete Utilites' Byway-NX column supporting a GEC Z5681 post-top lantern, running an 80 Watt MBF (mercury vapour) lamp. This combination appears to have been the original choice of street lighting for this small housing estate, as there were several other examples installed on the two roads prior to the column replacement works, with the AC Ford AC 850 attached to a small stub bracket being used for casual later replacements. Where entire column replacement was necessary, AC 850s were also used; indeed, the second surviving installation here is such an example.

The Byway-NX is Concrete Utilities' equivalent of Stanton's 1805 narrow concrete column; indeed, the 'N' in the column name represents 'Narrow' - the standard 'Byway-X' having a bellied base section.

Only when I zoomed in on the lantern did I realise that it was, in fact, lit during the day - the 50 Hz flicker of the MBF lamp causing my camera to struggle to focus. The dayburning fault has existed for so long that the lamp now emits a very dull glow that isn't even visible in this photograph.

The glow is just visible when standing beneath the lantern, but it is still not especially remarkable.

Aside from 'Concrete Utilities' being cast into the 'drop-latch' inspection door, and the CU logo and 'Kitemark' symbol being moulded into the concrete, there is little difference in the overall appearance of the Byway-NX compared to the 1805. I believe that the latter is slightly narrower still, however, which is one of the reasons that these columns are now rather infamous for suffering structural issues. Similar issues with the Byway-NX are not as widely reported, however, suggesting that these columns are sturdier. (Just to reassure everyone - the wobbly horizontal line above the door in this photograph is not a crack, but a length of rusty wire.)

The next column along is a 5 m Fabrikat tubular steel type fitted with the AC 850. The column features the typical wider base (ironically) that was common on Birmingham's residential steel columns.

A SELC / Westire miniature photocell provides the means of automatic switching for the AC 850.

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