COLLECTION: Thorn EMI Gamma 6

The Thorn Gamma 6 was one of, if not the most iconic post-top lantern in the UK throughout the 1980s to the early 2000s. Lot's of them are still littered about. What makes these unique is their wide-range of lamp-type capabilities, GLS, SON, SOX and MBF/U to name a few. This one was the seventh lantern added to the collection, my first post-top and third SOX lantern. It's also quite special to me as this very lantern helped grow my interest in street lights when I was younger. It was outside my grandparents house throughout my childhood and I would often look at it and wait for it to switch on at night. Due to this I was thrilled when I received it into my collection!

Minus a clean, this was kept in as received condition, it's black paint worn in a unique way on it's top canopy. To open the lantern, the top canopy has a large, black canopy holder which can be unscrewed. The canopy can then be lifted off -as can the bowl- allowing for a view of the internal structure of the lantern. This lantern would have run 26W SOX-E when in service, however I use both 26W SOX-E and 35W SOX lamps inside.

It did run on a Royce Thompson P42E Two part photocell (disconnected yet still attached). It's very rare to see a 2 part photocell on a gear-in-head lantern, meaning it was probably originally operated by a timeclock behind the columns door.

The ballast is a Thorn EMI G5332.4. The lantern's identification sticker is located on the ballast plate. It allows us to see all the possible lamp types the Gamma 6 was made for. This one is the 26W SOX-E/35W SOX example. The Thorn EMI label means the lantern was manufactured between 1984 and 1987. Looking closer at the capacitor I found a date code of 05/87 hidden beneath the clip and heavily faded, meaning it was made in the first week of February, 1987. The whole lantern (when it was new) had an IP rating of 23.

Most of the gear is mounted in the base of the lantern, however the ignitor is significantly closer to the lamp-holder, being suspended from the metal support up top. It's ignitor is a Thorn EMI G53311.4.

The lantern was wired up and powered on, running a 35W SOX lamp, though I regularly interchange the lantern with 26W SOX-E and 35W SOX lamps.