From when I was a nipper I have always had a fascination for street lighting but
I always kept it fairly much to myself as others may think I was dropped on my
head as a baby or something :o)But I always used to look at them and admire the different designs and used to often watch the low pressure sodium SOX street lamps turn on and off outside my home - gazing at them as they went from red through orange to yellow.
I used to sketch my own pictures of lamps and often wondered what it would be like to actually own a proper streetlamp for myself (not the post, but just the lantern itself - fully working with SOX and photocell). That wish has recently come true as I now own a Thorn Beta 2 and a Beta 5 bought from a fellow lighting enthusiast, which I have included photos of - click on the link below. I actually didn't realise just how big street lights are!!
My area of north Bristol has been lit by SOX lamps for years but now the conversion to high pressure sodium is slowly taking place and given time I don't think there will be any LPS lighting left, so I have made sure that I have taken photos of old lamps to remember them when they have long gone.
So I have decided to create a few webpages on my site showing the variety of lamps I have taken photos of around Bristol for your enjoyment also. Having searched around I never realised there were quite as many enthusiasts out there who also share a love for street lighting so perhaps I don't feel so out of the ordinary after all - Recently I worked for 5 months in the street lighting department at South Gloucestershire Council which broadened my knowledge.
I hope you enjoy looking at the photos I have taken - and feel free to browse the rest of my site as well. My thanks go to Mike Barford and Andrew Stanley who helped me enormously to identify a lot of the street lighting in my photos.
