Whitefish Bay, WI October 2012
15 pics
RemovedChecked on "as of" date (either in person or via latest GSV available), removal happened as late as that date or before
as of 2015
Whitefish Bay is a small community on Lake Michigan, about 4 miles north of downtown Milwaukee. It's of interest because up until 2015 at least, it was home to one of the few remaining series streetlighting "Central Station" installations left in the US. This type of installation predates most series installations in the US, where pole mount constant current regulators are dotted round the lighting area. Before pole mount regulators were developed, the only type of regulator was the air cooled station type, and so installations typically had all the regulators for the lighting area in one building, the so called central station.
The following pictures were taken in the Whitefish Bay central station, located in the basement of the Whitefish Bay Village Hall, 5300 N Marborough Dr. The room was very cramped, so no wider shots were possible. The power distribution frame for the regulators is done with scaffolding tube.
There are 4 series circuits fed from here, 3 of which have air cooled station-type regulators.
The other circuit seems to have a replacement pole-type oil cooled regulator.
A look at the top of one of the station type regulators- the moving arm and counterweights can be seen, as can the spacers in the coil windings to allow for air circulation.
One of the circuits seems to have been decommissioned, as can be seen from the open cutouts here. You can see the exit of the series loops to the street circuits directly behind the horizontal tube
that the cutouts are mounted on. Looks like there used to be 5 series circuits, one is disconnected.
A look at the top of one of the other regulators- get the fullsize pic and you can see this is a General Electric type RF, 15kW capacity, 2400V primary.
The same regulator, on the right you can see the dashpot which is an oil filled damper device designed to prevent the moving coil from oscillating in the event of a sudden load change, and at switch on.
A look at one of the oil switches controlling the primary to the regulators, and a packet containing the instructions for the RCOC under current relays- RCOC stands for Remote Control of Outdoor Circuits.
It's a Westinghouse trademark although this RCOC was made by the South Bend Current Controller Co.
The station type regulator that had been changed out for the oil filled one, was still there- presumably too heavy to move out.
A look at the rating plate on the out of service regulator- this looks like an older type, but still a type RF, 15kW 6.6A 2400V (2300V) primary.
The moving secondary coil can be seen here. This is attached to the counterweight and arm mechanism on top of the unit.
Another look at some of the primary wiring and insulators on the distribution frame.
At some point the system had been modified for photocell control- it originally would have been a time clock, or a manual switch. The feed for this is rather quaintly called the "electric eye".
Also to the right is some of the former system map- as far as we could tell, only 4 series loops remained.
Also to the right is some of the former system map- as far as we could tell, only 4 series loops remained.
Some of the lights on the streets surrounding the town hall- this is E Lexington looking towards Lexington Commons.
On top of the town hall, can be seen the "electric eye" controlling the series loops.