Philips SGS203 Lantern Installations
The Philips SGS203 is a lantern designed for wattages of lamp up to 250W. This wide range of lamp wattage means it can be seen in varying applications around the UK, such as main roads, residential roads, carpark lighting and it also used to be the countries go-to lantern for train stations! This lantern was manufactured with the idea that it would be maintained on-column. Due to this, the polycarbonate bowl sits in the lanterns base rather than being attached to hinges and clips. The canopy of the lantern is made from GRP (fibreglass). The squarish appearance of the lantern makes it one of the most recognizable lanterns in the UK.
Birmingham
The SGS203 is used in Birmingham in abundance. Due to them running 150W SON-T, most of them are quite crunchy-looking.
Significant portions of most of their bowls have gone missing, having fallen victim to the hot lamp. This one is on column 9 of Summer Hill Street.
This wonky SGS203 is located on column 11 of Pershore Street.
It looks like the post-top adaptor is too big for the column. The column is a newer installation, and the adaptor (as well as the lantern) was re-used.
Column 13:
This example has been severely charred by it's lamp.
Another burned SGS203 is located on column 1 of Dudley Street.
Both a NEMA photocell and a radio-node are present on the canopy. The photocell is likely disconnected and inactive.
Nearby Hinckley Street is lined with SGS203s. This is column 2:
Lichfield
This 100W SON SGS203 is located on Swan Road, Lichfield.
Tamworth
Some SGS203s are situated on Bracklesham Way, in Amington. They run 150W SON. Column T2 on Bracklesham Way is depicted below, it would have replaced a 150W Thorn Pilote T1.
The same lantern at night:
They continue down Bracklesham Way, scattered about the Thorn Pilote T1s. I stopped to photograph T2 on the roundabout connecting Bracklesham Way to Brindley Drive.
The SGS203s do not stop there, however. Taking the second exit (coming from Bracklesham Way) led me to more of these, used as casual replacements for more late Pilote T1s. Column T6 on Brindley Drive had, mounted on it, another 150W SON SGS203.
The same lantern at night:
After this, the next SGS203 is not visible until column T16, on the junction connecting Christchurch Road to Brindley Drive.
Continuing all-the-way to the end of Brindley Drive, a double-armed column with two 150W SON-T SGS203s can be sighted. Based on the map, I believe Brindley drive was meant to continue past this point. This installation of a double-arm column running parallel to the roadside is also evidence for this, though I could find no definitive evidence of this being the case.
This one's located in Fazeley, on the B4091. The poor weather conditions made picturing this lantern difficult (as you can see). I plan to return very soon to photograph more of these lanterns when the weather clears up a bit.
Browning Close supports two odd installations, featuring SGS203 lanterns on 8m columns. They light small garage areas, while the rest of the street uses 6m columns.
The second installation utilizes a glare-shield:
Several 70W SON installations of the SGS203 can be seen on the grounds of the M42 Tamworth Services. They don't have photocells as they're operated from within the building.
