Coracle Way is the main road through Carmarthen town, so named because it runs parallel with the River Towy, which is famous for it's tradition of Coracle fishing.

When this photo was taken in Spring 2000 (on a film camera), this installation of GEC Z9554 135W SOX lanterns on grey metal columns was coming to the end of it's life. These were probably installed in the mid-1970s - they were certainly in place by 1982 as old photographs show.

In fact the installation of GEC Z9554s extended right through town, along Coracle Way, into Priory Street, out to the east past the village of Glangwili.

Photo taken 2000.

Shortly after the above photo was taken, in early 2001, the columns were given a coat of black paint with gold stripe - in line with most other main road columns in Carmarthen town centre.

Around the same time, some of the GEC Z9554s were replaced with these SON-T lanterns along part of Coracle Way. GECs in Priory Street and in Glangwili remained in place.

Photo taken September 2004.

In Spring 2004, a lone column along Coracle Way was replaced with a Nedal aluminium column (the first reported use of one in the town) and a Philips MA50 with gear. At the time, this section of Coracle Way was still lit with SOX - GEC Z9554s. This new column is the one second left in this picture. At the time, I thought this was a one off replacement.

During Summer 2004, column replacement started in earnest, and apparently at random. The same Nedal aluminiums were used, but this time with SON-T Urbis ZX3s - such as the one far left in this picture.

Here you can see the mixture of SOX and SON currently in place.

Photo taken September 2004.

Here's the replacement scheme in action. This photo was taken next to the roundabout shown in the previous photo.

The road in the background is Blue Street which leads to the town centre. This is lit by SON-T lanterns on shorter columns, which replaced Thorn Alpha 9s in the mid-1990s.

At the time of the photo, the GEC Z9554 in the background has yet to be replaced.

The replacement scheme has now moved into Priory Street, with some columns and lanterns being left. Some of the SON-T replacements shown in the second picture, less than four years old, have also been replaced with the new columns and black ZX3s as in this photo.

Photo taken September 2004.

This column with two brackets and Philips MA50s is the one in the centre of the roundabout in the third picture. This column was erected at a later date to the others with single brackets, when the roundabout was improved, and originally carried two GEC Z9554Ms with the later GRP canopy. These were both replaced at the same time during the mid-1990s with the Philips lanterns.

If the replacement scheme eventually includes this column it will be interesting to see what it's replaced with. It could be that the SOX lanterns are simply replaced with Urbis ZX3s.

Photo taken September 2004.

A smaller, unidentified flat glass SON-T lantern stands next to Carmarthen castle, along a street adjacent to Coracle Way. This lantern and column were put up in the late 1990s.

Photo taken September 2004.