Philips XGS104 (MI36) Lantern Installations

The next example has seen better days, it looks to have been reversed into by a van or car travelling down the footpath. It was enough to loosen the column's extension bracket, causing a noticeable bend.

The column's base has been wrapped tightly in electrical tape.

Despite the column's wounds, the lantern appears intact. In fact the 36W SOX-E lamp looks to be ok too!

Long Eaton

Some Kombipacks are installed along Manor House Road. These are not part of the street lighting scheme along this road, instead being privately-owned.

The black base of the lamp means these are 36W SOX-E lamps.

Here's another example installed on a building at the end of the road:

Loughborough

Canal Bank is home to a number of wall-mounted SOX fittings. One of these is an MI36 which is positioned at about 6m above ground-level.

One of the clips is actually undone here, and if you look closely you can see the bowl is loose at the front as a result.

Stoke-on-Trent

An access road to Royal Mail, Station Road was lit with two XGS104s. These installations are very interesting, and my jaw dropped upon looking at one of the images!

These could be the Kombipack versions. The first column is a bog-standard hockey-stick, with the correct lamp fitted inside (36W SOX-E).

But the second installation is where things really go to pot! If my eyes are not deceiving me, thats an 18W SOX-E lamp in there!

The two red lines are the reflection of a Royal Mail van on the refractor lines, the lamp doesn't even extend to the support! The lamp is also practically fully black as a result of being run on a 36W or 55W gear, unless the gear was swapped which I doubt. Notice as well that the lantern uses an adaptor to fit atop the column. There are also some Phosco P127s on the site here, and this column would have held one too. The hockey-stick likely replaced another concrete column.

Tamworth

They are still in service in great numbers in Tamworth, but this is soon to change. Tamworth Borough Council's building actually has them installed on it! They can be seen here.

This lantern (much like the XGS103) can also be mounted post-top, with an adjusted back canopy to include a mounting spigot. This one is just off Sandy Way, Tamworth.

These ones are located on County Drive- or should I say, were. They're gone now, fallen victims to the LED replacement schemes. I was lucky enough to snap pictures before they went! If you look in the background, you can see a couple of 14W Holophane S-Lines, the council's residential LED lantern of choice!

A close-up shows the two-part photocell poking out of the canopy. Nearly all of the MI36s on this road have them.

As you can see, this lantern's canopy is where most of the worlds oxygen is produced...

MI36s were also sold as security lights when they were on the market, so lots of businesses still have them, even if they don't work anymore... This one actually runs 26W SOX-E, unusual considering they were made longer for 55W SOX.

Toton

On Gregson Gardens is a single surviving Philips MI36 which sports a dead SOX-E lamp (36W). The bush could be the reason this wasn't changed, as access is too difficult.

Whittington

Chester Road in Whittington is (for now) home to several XGS104s. As is blatantly obvious in the following images, they are on borrowed time. In the foreground of column RR2's picture, a CU Phosco E950 is mounted on a 6m CU Ware column.

It's a shame, as the lantern looks ready to endure another four decades of service!

Column RR3 is the next XGS104 on this road. The exact same situation has occurred here too. With the new column, it's easier to see the XGS104's column is leaning backwards.

Column RR6 is in a similar situation to columns RR2 and RR3.

Column RR5 would have also hosted a Philips XGS104, but it was replaced in 2017 with a Thorn Beta 2.