WRTL 2600 Lantern Installations

The WRTL 2600 was a wildly popular lantern in the 1990s to the early 2010s. It was made with the idea that it could accept any lamp or gear, hence the vast array of screw-holes in the gear-tray. It's angular and bulky-appearance makes it extremely easy to identify, as it is somewhat-of-an outlier. It is most commonly seen running 50W and 70W SON. The canopy is made from GRP (fibreglass) with the bowl being made of polycarbonate.

Amington, Tamworth 

This 2600 is located on Caister, Tamworth. It's a day-burner due to a photocell unit failure. This could be due to many reasons, such as water intake for example.

I remember when these lampposts were everywhere: 5m Stanton & Staveley concrete columns with post-top 2600s mounted on them. They used to line every cycle-path, every residential street. I remember when I was about 6 years old, one of these on my grandmother's street was knocked down by a reversing ASDA truck. I was just fascinated with it. And I really like the 2600s on these columns for that reason. Since then, I've always loved how they look. The second example here is missing most of it's bowl, but it's lamp was replaced shortly after it was destroyed. You can clearly see the lamp holder and it's 70W SON lamp.

These next examples are on The Green, Tamworth. Two 5m columns with short curved outreach brackets support 50W SON 2600s. If you look closely in the background of image 1, you may be able to see the second 2600 hiding within the trees!

Following The Green onto Levett Road, a footpath can be sighted at the end of the road with several 5m concrete columns supporting (70W SON) WRTL 2600s.

The first column is a brilliant out-in-the-open example of one of these iconic installations.

Thank you to AgentHalogen_87 for pointing out this next column! At first glance, nothing seems out-of-the-ordinary... Take a look at the column's base!

Good luck servicing that! The door is half-buried! I don't know how that could have happened, other than doziness when installing the column...

The adjacent column is encompassed in trees, with the last metre-or-so poking out of the top.

The next column exists as an example of what the second installation should have looked like, rather than being half-buried!

The lantern is in good condition.

The next one was quite a sight against the reddish-purple of the tree it was in!

Another example (it can be seen if you look very closely at the wider-image of the installation above).

Continuing my stroll down the pathway, a day-burning WRTL 2600 was spotted. This one runs 50W SON... all the time!

The next column (24TC11):

Another installation on the same pathway, column 24TC12:

This is the very last installation visible on this pathway, but he wider-area is filled with WRTL 2600s! They line a decent portion of the footpaths and streets within a couple hundred metres, so I strayed a bit from my planned route to picture some of them!

The GRP canopy of this 70W SON lantern has suffered at the hands of vandals, but it still stands strong!

More 2600s could be spotted on 5m raise-and-lower Abacus columns located on a pathway running parallel to Mercian Way, Tamworth. They run 50W SON. These were removed in mid-2024.

These 2600s follow the footpath all the way to St. Andrews. The following installations were pictured on a cool spring evening.

Nearby on St. Andrews (while photographing the new S-Lines) I spotted this 2600 at night (running 70W SON-T).

Another example of some rarer columns supporting WRTL 2600s are these 5m GEC columns near Sandy Way, Tamworth. They don't appear to be anything special, and I almost walked right past them! The installations in question are columns T7 and T8 of the pathway.

But as I got halfway through the underpass, something was bugging me to turn around and investigate the column I had just walked by. Once I got back to it I started investigating to find any-kind of logo or branding, and in plain sight was this!

Perhaps it was how thin the column was, making it look slightly strange with the bulky Industria... Or maybe it was the horrendous state of the lantern's fibreglass canopy. Regardless, I'm glad I spotted it! There is actually another of these on the other side of the underpass, column T8.

Column T8 was photographed on the 8th May 2024.

Spraypainted numbers could be found all around Sandy Way, meaning column replacements are planned. This pathway has 4. They two closest to column T8 were photographed.

Silica Road, off Sandy Way had several WRTL 2600s on 6m hockey-stick columns. This was until May 2024, when they were removed. Old column T15 is pictured below:

Old column T16:

This one's a bit of a sad story, the rest of the path is coated with Holophane S-Lines and this 2600 is pictured frozen-in-time. awaiting it's inevitable column replacement, which was undertaken during February of 2024. I did not save the lantern.

Next up, probably the worst condition (still in service) Indal 2600 I've ever seen! It looks to have had a photocell repair at some point, evident by the industrial sealant tape on the top of the lantern's canopy. It may have actually been fitted with a mini-cell. This didn't last long however as the water soon found it's way past the tape and into the lantern itself.

It's bowl was actually so dark that when I first walked past it (at night) I thought it didn't have one!

Now let's play a game... Can you spot the 2600? On a forgotten and overgrown pathway on Woodhouse Lane, Amington, are four WRTL 2600s. Only one of these actually works. The others either don't, or they're too encased in vegetation to produce any visible light from the perspective of the road...

On Abelia (street light 27) is this wall-mounted WRTL 2600. It replaced a failed GEC Z8896 likely running 80W MBF. It runs 50W SON.

Sorbus has several 2600s mounted on hockey stick columns. These are due to be replaced on the 2nd-4th April 2024. These columns date back to around the 1980s.

Markers can be seen around the street, depicting where the new columns will go.

A newer (2000s) hockey-stick column is also seen on the street.

Belgrave, Tamworth 

This next Industria 2600 (was) located around Belgrave Lakes was taken down by vandals, but fear not! After I found the lantern on the ground, I collected it and it entered my collection on the 31st of August 2023. My guess is because the lamp was cycling (and it irritated them) they decided instead of reporting it, to smash it. That's some 200IQ Logic right there.

The column was (fortunately) no longer live; I proceeded to report it as "live wires". I feel bad for whoever had to put that column back up. The lamppost remained without a lantern for 3 weeks afterwards, until a Holophane S-line was installed on top. The 2600 was given to fellow collector AgentHalogen_87 on the 11th April 2024.

The lantern pictured just after I got home with it, fitted with a "new" bowl from my spares.

This is an image of a 2600 I took while it was being replaced, not far from the previous example. It was on a 5m hinged column and (wouldn't you know) was replaced with a Holophane S-line.

Consequently, the area around Belgrave lake supports only one surviving 2600, the only sodium lantern left anywhere nearby. This installation was recently fitted with a new 70W SON-T lamp after it had blown years ago!

Located at the end of Medway, Belgrave, exist 3 WRTL 2600s which are yet to be replaced. The three are pictured here at night. They run 50W SON-T

Kettlebrook, Tamworth

Another example of the Indal 2600 turning on for the night, located on Campion Drive, Tamworth.

I went back later to photograph them again.

It's a good thing I did, as these were replaced with Holophane S-Lines soon after.

Tamworth Town Centre

Comparable with the rest of the Town, Tamworth Town Centre has an abundance of WRTL 2600s. This first installation isn't really an installation anymore. A 6m hinged column in the town centre previously supporting a 2600 had been knocked down. I did look around for any parts or indeed the top of the column in case youths had dragged it off somewhere and it had been missed, but there was nothing. I revisited it on the 22/03/2024 to see it still in the same state as pictured below.

Not far away is Odeon Cinema, and the now-derelict Franky & Bennys. Orbiting the dual carpark is a footpath which is lit by 50W & 70W SON WRTL 2600s and THORN Gamma 6s. Starting opposite Lidl, I followed the path down, snapping pictures of the lanterns. Visit the THORN Gamma 6 page to see the pictures of those. Most of these are covered in decades of bird much from the overhead trees.

About 30 metres down the pathway is this day-burning 2600. As previously mentioned, this usually results from water intake into the photocell and/or NEMA socket. It could also be that the cell is covered with a liberal coating of bird muck.

In the background is a double-armed column supporting two WRTL 2600s. These lanterns honestly look better in pairs!

The double-armed column can be seen in the background behind this Gamma 6.

The feeder pilar was located in the bushes next to the underpass at the end of the footpath. I also spotted the lantern canopy-decorating culprits!

Upon following the path under the underpass, it leads you round to a staircase up to Ankerdrive, where one last 2600 awaits. It gives me itchy fingers just looking at it!

On a footpath through MacGregor Park, several 2600s line the pathways, each fitted with anti-vandal cages. This is to protect the bowls from vandalism, and rogue sports balls from the nearby park. Evidently, this plan has worked, as all the bowls are intact. Column 2:

Column 4:

Two Gates, Tamworth

Dunster, Two Gates is a street which used to support several CU Phosco P107s, but owing to a replacement scheme in 2009, only 4 remain. These WRTL 2600s were the replacement lantern of choice. A mix of 2600s an P107s are visible below, as-well-as the feeder pillar.

Column T1 is pictured below.