Quote:
Originally Posted by Lancs Lad
I bet they must have been 200 or even 300 watt bulbs. They must have burned at very hot temperatures, mustn't they?
I remember watching them being replaced with new bulbs, and being intrigued by the fact of them being screwed in - they must have been Edison Screw bulbs, and I had only ever encountered Bayonet Cap lightbulbs in our house!
I always wondered what they did with all the (perfectly good) bulbs they took out. I hope they didn't just throw them away - that would have been a terrible waste.
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IME, most incandescent street lighting used only 60 watt or 100 watt lamps by the 1960s. Higher wattages had generally been replaced by discharge lamps by then.
100 watt lamps were available with larger bulbs than the household 100 watt lamps. This reduced the surface temperature and increased the chances of the lamp surviving rain in lights with bulbs exposed.
The used bulbs were meant to be thrown away, they were not expensive in bulk and had little remaining life.
Some were no doubt taken home as perks or re-used unofficially.
Whether decades ago or more recently, the labour cost of replacing a lamp generally far exceeds the cost of the lamp.
1960s cost of lamp about a shilling, cost of labour (2 men+vehicle+employment costs) probably at least one pound an hour.
Cost of replacing lamps in street lights one by one as they fail, at least a pound each and could be two pounds depending on distance.
Cost of bulk replacement, whether failed or not, would be about three shillings, presuming 10 lamps an hour replaced at a labour cost of two shillings each and a lamp cost of another shilling.
Todays costs are much higher but still broadly similar in proportion.