King Street had a unique lighting scheme, possibly prompted by the major building works which changed much of the face and character of the street in the 1970s.

The lighting engineer selected the Philips MA 3 for the entire length of the road. This was the first use of a Philips lantern in the city and they probably originally used 250W MBF lamps. (The Philips MA 3 was one of the first lanterns produced by Philips for the UK market, but was never a popular).

Most of the scheme survived until its complete replacement in August 2012.

King Street looking north-east from Hobson Street This section of Hobson Street was lit by REVO Horizon Majors.
The lighting was staggered along this straight section of road.

Moving east and past the junction with Manor Street. Lighting is now single-sided along the gentle bends.

The lighting along the eastern section of King Street.

The final row of single-sided columns along the final part of the road.

One of the last three remaining Thorn Alpha 3 lanterns at the street's eastern end.
This lantern replaced an MA 3 in the 1990s.

Newmarket Road is the only industrial thoroughfare into Cambridge and a major traffic route. The gasworks and airport were built along its route and were soon joined by various industrial workshops, small industrial units and various car garages. Although the gasworks has long gone, the airport is still there, the car garages have moved to the outskirts, and the eastern end of the road is dominated by large retail stores.

The lighting of this important thoroughfare reflected its growing importance. Evidence suggests that it was originally lit with AEI Amber lanterns on Stewarts And Lloyds gas reservoir columns, but the building of the Elizabeth Road bridge, the duelling of the eastern region of the road, and the special requirements of lighting near the airport resulted in a diverse, and unique, street lighting solution.

I wonder if the lighting engineer used Newmarket Road for lighting trials. This would explain the variety of lanterns and why some could only be found along this stretch of road. Starting from the western end of the road, the lighting engineer elected to use Thorn Alpha 5s (SLI/H model), REVO Hyperion As, ELECO Goldenray GR150s, Relite Hyperion 135s, Thorn Alpha 5s (SOX model) and finally GEC Z9454Cs and GEC Z9545s cut-off lanterns for the road near the airport.

In the end, the lighting engineer elected to use the REVO and ELECO models. Therefore Newmarket Road was the only road in Cambridge where the Thorn Alpha 5 was installed.

The lanterns all got gradually swapped and out and changed over the years leaving a mixture of Thorn, REVO and ELECO lanterns mixing shoulders with later Urbis and Philips lamps. However, it was still possible, over forty years later, to work out the remaining scheme.

The following set of photographs was taken in August 2012 as all the street lighting was replaced as part of the Cambridge PFI.

Starting outside Cambridge and moving west into the city.
The first columns are short due to the proximity of the airport's runway.
These 5M columns are fitted with GEC Z9454C cutoff lanterns.

There were originally four but one has been replaced.
The GEC Z9454C was a rare lantern in the UK and
was only installed on Newmarket Road in Cambridge.

Just west of these small columns are a cluster of GEC Z9545s.
This was the successor of the Z9454C but as a cut-off lantern is rare in the UK.
Again, they were only installed in Newmarket Road because of the airport.

Looking back east towards the smaller columns.

Most of the Z9545s, and another section of Z9454Cs, were replaced by Urbis ZX2 lanterns.
But further westwards, the first of the original Stewarts And Lloyds gas columns can be found.
Times have been bad here and none have their original Amber lanterns.

This column has been "sleeved" and now supports a conventional bracket.
It's also fitted with the replacement gear box - this appears to be of sheet metal construction
and was probably made "in-house" by the lighting department.

The wider section of road between Ditton Lane and the roundabout with Barnwell Road is lit with Thorn Alpha 5 lanterns.
This is the deep bowl version designed for SOX lamps.

The roundabout is now lit with a variety of 135W LPS lanterns.
Some of the Thorn Alpha 5s have been replaced by REVO Hyperions over the years.

Moving westwards past the roundabout and the lighting switches back to the 1950s installation.
One of two brackets with a long outreach can be seen here.

The final long outreach bracket marks the end of the original 1950s installation.
It now switches to a short section of Relite Hyperion 135 lanterns as the duel carriageway goes over the railway.
The first of the Hyperions has been replaced by an ELECO Goldenray 150.

This part of the installation has not survived well and most of the Hyperion 135s have gone.

Moving on westwards and we're onto the last duelled section of Newmarket Road.
This section is lit by ELECO Goldenray 150s.
Most of the later part of this stretch has been replaced by Urbis ZX2s as the road was upgraded.

The next section of the road is lit by REVO Hyperion A lanterns with flat bowls..

And the final section is lit by eight Thorn Alpha 5s.
These are fitted with the streamline bowls designed for SLI/H lamps.
Balfour Beatty are seen in this shot installing the replacement Philips Iridiums.

This last shot shows the western end of Newmarket Road and the final Thorn Alpha 5s.
Replacement columns have already been installed.