Thorn Gamma 6 Lantern Installations
The Gamma 6 is an icon in street lighting. They were wildly popular, and even all these decades later, they can still be considered as-such. Lots of lamp-types were available, including: 70W SON, 35W SOX or 80W-125W MBF/U. Both integral-geared and remote-geared versions were available, and a thick, slim or wide canopy would accompany the lantern.
Birmingham
This forgotten Gamma 6 is located in the private driveway of a house off Wharton Street. The two halogen floods fitted to the column indicate the Gamma 6 may no longer be in use. This lantern dates to the 1990s, evident by the thin canopy it possesses.
Burton-upon-Trent
Around the Burton War Memorial are a mix of post-top lanterns. One of the lanterns used here is the Thorn Gamma 6, featuring the 1980s-style canopy.
These are likely the original lanterns for this area, and all nearby columns may have had them installed previously.
Another example nearby, fitted with some decorative basket-hangers.
Price Court off Shobnall Road is lit with 1980s-styled Gamma 6s.
These are fitted with NEMA sockets in the centre of the canopy, on top of the turret.
Crewe
This is not quite a Gamma 6, but it is what's left of a remote-geared one! Located on the car park of Garden Street, off Weston Road Service Road, is this Gamma 6 base attached to a column. Other flood lights are mounted to brackets, so I imagine the Gamma 6 was seized to the column. When the flood lights were put up the Gamma 6 was taken apart and the floodlight used the base to mount to. This was the second time I'd seen this application of a post-top lantern's base.
Some wood has been used as a bracket for the supply cable and photocell controls.
A wide-canopied Gamma 6 survives along a footpath besides the A5019. The rest of this footpath is lit by Urbis Axias, so it's unknown why one Gamma 6 survived. It may be part of the residential area behind it, and not technically the footpath, as some older lanterns also exist there.
Another wide-canopied Gamma 6 is present on school grounds off Meredith Street. Unlike the previous example, this one is remote-geared, and may run an MBF lamp.
Lichfield
Located opposite the Tesco Express on Netherstowe, is this Gamma 6. It has the 1980s-styled taller top canopy, and is remote-geared. It's bowl is also horrifically yellowed.
A similar, remote-geared installation can be sighted along Swan Road, in one of the house's gardens. This Gamma 6 sports the wider canopy style.
A footpath along the Stowe Road - St. Chads Road has a 1980s integral-geared Gamma 6 mounted at 5m.
The aluminium canopy has become quite mossy!
Seckington
Down Church Lane are two SOX Gamma 6s featuring the 1990s canopy. With the last imagery being taken 15 years ago, it was unknown if they were still there when I went to see them.
The second example is located on the corner of a building.
Shuttington
In the nearby village of Shuttington, is a solitary Gamma 6.
The same lantern at night:
Tamworth
There's a few locations in Tamworth where they remain. This cannot be said for this example on a footpath in Glascote Heath. Unfortunately it's column was removed and replaced with a 6m hinged column with a Holophane V-Max mounted post-top.
But fear not! Along Blackwood Road, Two Gates, lots of Gamma 6s can be seen in a mix of CU Phosco P107s. They all seem to have a wide canopy and it's highly likely that the Gamma 6s here replaced failed P107s. They run a mix of 26W and 35W SOX. The sunset refracting through the bowl gives the illusion that it is day-burning, when, in fact, it is not.
The now-derelict Franky & Benny's and still-running Odeon Cinema car park is encompassed by a footpath, lit by WRTL 2600s and Thorn Gamma 6s. I started at the end opposite Lidl, and travelled down the footpath, snapping pictures of the lanterns. To see the WRTL 2600 pictures, see the WRTL 2600s page.
This example (previously running an elliptical 50W SON lamp) had it's bowl obliterated back in 2022 and it's canopy was mangled by hooligans. Despite this (with it's wide canopy) it is still very recognisable as a Gamma 6. The lamp does not work anymore.
The rest of the Gamma 6s here all run 50W SON like the previous example.
The first Gamma 6 I photographed is pretty ordinary. Unlike the 2600s on this pathway, the Gamma 6s seem to be working fine. This one operates on a Zodion (SS4?) Photocell.
The remaining Gamma 6s are located on the rear end of the path (towards the back of the car park). These all currently work.
A small crack is visible in this one's bowl, probably the most damage that they've suffered (minus the one on the adjacent pathway with a smashed bowl).
The feeder pillar is located at the end of the pathway just before you head under the underpass.
On the 30th January 2025, I was walking by to see that some pathetic low lives had gone along the footpath smashing up all of the lanterns. Unfortunately the damage was only spotted the next morning, and six Gamma 6s had to be removed when the emergency callout crews arrived. The first example had it's cover knocked loose. It's believed that they shook the columns until the unfastened replacement ballasts fell out, which were then used as projectiles to smash up other lanterns on the footpath. I had a good look around before the crews arrived and managed to collect four of the ballasts off the ground.
This second one's cover has not been so lucky.
The cover was smashed all over the ground below, and the ballast was located in the road.
This example's cover was missing a few months prior, but this left the SON-I lamp exposed. Oddly, there is an original ignitor stuck up by the lamp, so it could be defunct.
The following installation still clung on to it's ballast... barely. The ignitor was a loss, having been ripped in-two by the weight of the ballast and the wires attaching it to the lantern. Shortly after photographing, the ballast came down with a thud.
The door was also off, but that's not visible in the image here.
The last image I took was of one of the few intact Gamma 6s now on the footpath.
Stationfields is lit with various post-top lanterns, including Gamma Basiques and Gamma 6s. These appear to be fitted with LED retrofit lamps.
A pair of slim-canopied versions of the Gamma 6 exist on a footpath leading to Amington. The first one has the later-made (1990s), thin canopy with a Zodion SS6 photocell fitted on-top, where-as the other Gamma 6 has the thicker (1980s) canopy and is nearly identical to my own Gamma 6.
A footpath joining to Lowdham supports a Gamma 6, which survived the LED replacements of that pathway for a while; It has since been replaced. It's still the 1980s style gamma 6, but it has a NEMA socket instead of a two-part photocell like my own Gamma 6. It may also run a different lamp.
Kinsall Green Cars on Kinsall Green has a pair of remote-geared Gamma 6 lanterns fitted to 3m columns. Only one of these was pictured on a gloomy day in early 2024.
Tutbury
A residential area along Wakefield Avenue is lit with the 1980s-styled Thorn Gamma 6, with each one being fitted with a NEMA photocell.
It's not currently known what lamp-type these run, but I'd give an estimated guess that they run SOX.
The column in the background:
