Survivor from a PFI wipeout - a photo on Flickriver

Survivor from a PFI wipeout

            Saved by good fortune, this 1960s AC Ford, AC424 lantern came from Rugeley in Staffordshire at a time when the South Staffordshire CC's PFI lighting renewal program was sweeping across the County wiping out old lighting stock (2003-2008). 

I presume that it was Rugeley Town Council who originally specified these lanterns in the 1960s? However, despite the small town being host to a 1,000 megawatt power station; diminutive 50-Watt mercury lamps were used inside the lanterns to illuminate the town's side streets. It was normal practice in the industry to use brighter 80-Watt, 125-Watt mercury lamps, but the unusual use of 50-Watt lamps must have been a frugal measure taken by the local council to save the rate-payers money, but leaving the side streets dimly lit?

In my experience, the AC 424 was fairly uncommon, even though it was a well-constructed and simply designed fitting that offered a long service life with few problems. Today, they are impossibly hard to find.

Still with the tiny 50-Watt lamp fitted, the quaint looking lantern remains pretty much in acquired condition, other than the fitment of a new brass securing fastener. The runs of washed-out sage-green paint on the canopy date back many years, when the Town's lamppost stock was painted in this colour, the excess paint having run down from the supporting bracket during a spruce up, likely in excess of twenty years ago.

Taken on: May 11, 2013

Tags:

ac ford

ac424

50w

mbf

mercury

holophane

glass

bowl $Everybody's photos tagged with refractor$ refractor

Dudley

Rugeley

Street light

Street Lighting

Staffordshire

street lights « less

Sets appears in: • Restoration projects • Retro Stuff. more » • Staffordshire • Street Lighting « less

Camera: Canon PowerShot S90, f/2.0, 1/30 sec, 6mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot S90
Aperture:	f/2.0
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	6mm
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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