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Restoring Salvaged Lights
A significant part of Trainspotters’ business is vintage lighting, whether we’re salvaging, buying, restoring or selling, it’s how it all started and it continues to drive us forward.
We are very lucky to have a skilful and knowledgeable (small) team who are happy and enthusiastic about spending the majority of their time here at New Mills, restoring vintage lighting.
Go Slow
We liken their skills to those of craftspeople – some of the lights we receive are extremely old, very rare or exceptionally fragile and in handling they require slight of hand, historical context and technical know-how. This is not mass production, each light is treated individually and handled differently depending on its condition… the process takes time.
While some lights don’t make it, most of the lights we salvage are saved and lovingly brought back to life but this is only possible because of the dedication, passion and expertise of our workshop team.
Restoration is done in phases and here we’ve set out the evolution of some Vintage Polish Street Lights (recently salvaged for a restaurant project) to demonstrate the process behind restoring vintage lights.
Receive | Review
This is the dirty bit. Lights will often have spent years hanging in abandoned or mothballed warehouses, gathering dirt and dust. When they arrive, we count and assess the batch for an overall impression. They’re then lined up ready for stripping down in our dirty workshop area. This is an apron, gloves and mask zone!
Replace | Reuse | Rework
The lights are completely disassembled and laid out in their individual components, then each batch of components is reviewed for suitability – can they be salvaged?
If salvageable (and in most cases they are because we’re talking about a time when things were built to last) they are cleaned up and put aside for re-assembly later. Cleaning can involve brushing down, rubbing down with wire wool, washing off in our industrial wash area, oiling in some cases and occasionally rust removal.
Any components that are not salvageable, we then either source original parts or look for high quality replacement pieces, always considering how this will look within the finished piece. An authentic salvaged piece cannot be compromised with cheap parts.
If there is a need for parts to be polished, these are sent off to our local polishers to be blasted, linished and polished to various finishes. Anything destined for a paint colour or vitreous enamel is first taken to the polishers then transferred on to our painters.
Items that need ‘painting’ are generally blasted in preparation which removes any residual finish from before and ensures the smoothest base surface as possible. The part is then spray coated in a two-part process and ‘baked’ to set to a durable finish.
Components being polished continue on, missing out the paint process, and are generally polished to a mirror or chrome-like finish.
Reassemble | Rewire | Restock
Once all the components have been returned to our workshops the process of reassembly begins.
Lights salvaged for stock (not to fulfil existing orders) are not PAT tested yet, they are placed into stock either fully assembled or semi-assembled if they’re oversized, to be PAT Tested at a later date once assigned to an order. This ensures that every light that leaves the building has had a very recent PAT Test.
If the lights are destined for a current project we continue with the wiring and testing process and finish the reassembly completely.
Trainspotters offer several flex colour and length options to customers so this is where any special requests are processed. We also offer bespoke wiring options such as DALI dimming, airport rated units and so on.
Lights ear-marked for a customer order, go through the PAT Test process for safety and are packaged up in our shipping/ dispatch department.
What is PAT Testing?
In brief Portable appliance testing (PAT) is the term used to describe the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe to use. You can find further information about PAT on the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website here
Trainspotters were awarded plastic-free champions by Surfers Against Sewage. All wadding, padding, wrap, tape and boxes are essentially paper based and plastic-free. Larger crates and pallets contain timber and metal components so everything is recyclable if not reusable.
Lights are carefully boxed to withstand transportation and labelled. Larger loads heading overseas are crated-up or palletised for easy and safe transportation.
Trainspotters provide a free of charge service for all UK addresses using an overnight courier service. Consignments are collected 4 days per week from Monday to Thursday. International consignments are charged at very competitive rates using a select group of preferred carriers. More information on shipping can be foundhere
Last week we visited this vast decaying chemical plant in Hungary. It’s currently being demolished from one end whilst we endeavour to spirit the wealth of industrial lighting it contains out of the other. Whatever your take
Restoring Salvaged Lights
A significant part of Trainspotters’ business is vintage lighting, whether we’re salvaging, buying, restoring or selling, it’s how it all started and it continues to drive us forward.
We are very lucky to have a skilful and knowledgeable (small) team who are happy and enthusiastic about spending the majority of their time here at New Mills, restoring vintage lighting.
Go Slow
We liken their skills to those of craftspeople – some of the lights we receive are extremely old, very rare or exceptionally fragile and in handling they require slight of hand, historical context and technical know-how. This is not mass production, each light is treated individually and handled differently depending on its condition… the process takes time.
While some lights don’t make it, most of the lights we salvage are saved and lovingly brought back to life but this is only possible because of the dedication, passion and expertise of our workshop team.
Restoration is done in phases and here we’ve set out the evolution of some Vintage Polish Street Lights (recently salvaged for a restaurant project) to demonstrate the process behind restoring vintage lights.
Receive | Review
This is the dirty bit. Lights will often have spent years hanging in abandoned or mothballed warehouses, gathering dirt and dust. When they arrive, we count and assess the batch for an overall impression. They’re then lined up ready for stripping down in our dirty workshop area. This is an apron, gloves and mask zone!
Replace | Reuse | Rework
The lights are completely disassembled and laid out in their individual components, then each batch of components is reviewed for suitability – can they be salvaged?
If salvageable (and in most cases they are because we’re talking about a time when things were built to last) they are cleaned up and put aside for re-assembly later. Cleaning can involve brushing down, rubbing down with wire wool, washing off in our industrial wash area, oiling in some cases and occasionally rust removal.
Any components that are not salvageable, we then either source original parts or look for high quality replacement pieces, always considering how this will look within the finished piece. An authentic salvaged piece cannot be compromised with cheap parts.
If there is a need for parts to be polished, these are sent off to our local polishers to be blasted, linished and polished to various finishes. Anything destined for a paint colour or vitreous enamel is first taken to the polishers then transferred on to our painters.
Items that need ‘painting’ are generally blasted in preparation which removes any residual finish from before and ensures the smoothest base surface as possible. The part is then spray coated in a two-part process and ‘baked’ to set to a durable finish.
Components being polished continue on, missing out the paint process, and are generally polished to a mirror or chrome-like finish.
Reassemble | Rewire | Restock
Once all the components have been returned to our workshops the process of reassembly begins.
Lights salvaged for stock (not to fulfil existing orders) are not PAT tested yet, they are placed into stock either fully assembled or semi-assembled if they’re oversized, to be PAT Tested at a later date once assigned to an order. This ensures that every light that leaves the building has had a very recent PAT Test.
If the lights are destined for a current project we continue with the wiring and testing process and finish the reassembly completely.
Trainspotters offer several flex colour and length options to customers so this is where any special requests are processed. We also offer bespoke wiring options such as DALI dimming, airport rated units and so on.
Lights ear-marked for a customer order, go through the PAT Test process for safety and are packaged up in our shipping/ dispatch department.
What is PAT Testing?
In brief Portable appliance testing (PAT) is the term used to describe the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe to use. You can find further information about PAT on the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website here
And we’re off!
Trainspotters were awarded plastic-free champions by Surfers Against Sewage. All wadding, padding, wrap, tape and boxes are essentially paper based and plastic-free. Larger crates and pallets contain timber and metal components so everything is recyclable if not reusable.
Lights are carefully boxed to withstand transportation and labelled. Larger loads heading overseas are crated-up or palletised for easy and safe transportation.
Trainspotters provide a free of charge service for all UK addresses using an overnight courier service. Consignments are collected 4 days per week from Monday to Thursday. International consignments are charged at very competitive rates using a select group of preferred carriers. More information on shipping can be found here
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