The only reply I got from them was "I'll look into it" and I never heard back so when I drove by after the walls had been knocked down, I saw some of the smashed lights on the ground.

Those companies just don't care, they just care about selling it for scrap.

Exactly how I feel. And in some of the piles of bricks and rubble, I could see shiny things. Probably the remains of the highbays.
I would have been very happy to even have a smashed m250r1. I wish they could have removed it from the pile of trash from the building and set it aside.
Were the floodlights you tried saving HID or incandescent?

Were the floodlights you tried saving HID or incandescent?
[/quote]

The building wasn't that old, built in the 80s I think, so they were all HID, a mix of older HPS floods and some newer MH GE Powerfloods, it was both a collector and sentimental ambition for me since I started my employment career working in that building.

Update 9/30/15
The building is now completely gone. Only the roof truss reports and parking lot floods remain. Here is more info, along with better pics.

Sad.

About 2 years ago, Ameren installed some brand new GE M250R2 250 watt HPS Luminaires on the highway in my town.  The M250R2s replaced some older Cobraheads that were hanging, a mix of MV, HPS, and 1 PSMH GE M400R3 that was no older than 3 years old.  The purpose was to make it more uniform, and have all HPS lighting this particular part of the highway.  So, fast forward to now, they are turning this 2-lane highway into a 4-lane highway.  The electrical contractor re-routed the lines to the other side of the highway, and instead of moving the lights to the opposite side of the highway, I watched as they removed the lights from the old poles and instead of bringing them down, and placing them in the truck to be re-used, perhaps somewhere else, or to be put back up in the same location (I figured they would place them in the Street Dept. building for storage until it was time to put them back up), I watched as they threw them from the truck sans-glass lens and lamp, and watched them go bang once they hit the ground.  The lamps and lens they did bring down so they wouldn't shatter.  But it was completely heart breaking.  After watching them do it to 2 of them, there were 4 left, and I walked up and asked if I could have a couple to keep, and they told me "No, we can't give them out."  It made me so mad, ANGRY even that they said that after I sat there and watched them let them fall and just smash into the ground.  After watching them do a 3rd one, I could no longer watch, and I drove off.  Later that afternoon, by chance, I went and got Subway for dinner, and I saw a pick-up truck pull in as I was leaving, and when I went around the building to exit the parking lot, I saw this wretched man throwing the bruised and broken luminaires away in the Subway dumpster.  I didn't even try to go back, as I am not one for dumpster diving.  As I mentioned before, this was not the Electric Utility company, Ameren, this was some contractors who were contracted and paid primarily to re-route and install some new power lines so that the earth moving contractors could start building the extra lane on each side.  I do not blame Ameren for this, as I'm sure if my local journeyman had seen this, he'd have probably (...) a brick, considering how he was the one who spent 3 hours installing them one day.  That's my story.  Almost as sad, if not sadder than the original post.  I agree with the poster who said these people don't care.  Those lights were 2 years old or less and had a lot of life left in them.  The gray paint hadn't even faded, and you could still see the sun reflecting off of the fresh coated paint.    The Sad End!

About 2 years ago, Ameren installed some brand new GE M250R2 250 watt HPS Luminaires on the highway in my town.  The M250R2s replaced some older Cobraheads that were hanging, a mix of MV, HPS, and 1 PSMH GE M400R3 that was no older than 3 years old.  The purpose was to make it more uniform, and have all HPS lighting this particular part of the highway.  So, fast forward to now, they are turning this 2-lane highway into a 4-lane highway.  The electrical contractor re-routed the lines to the other side of the highway, and instead of moving the lights to the opposite side of the highway, I watched as they removed the lights from the old poles and instead of bringing them down, and placing them in the truck to be re-used, perhaps somewhere else, or to be put back up in the same location (I figured they would place them in the Street Dept. building for storage until it was time to put them back up), I watched as they threw them from the truck sans-glass lens and lamp, and watched them go bang once they hit the ground.  The lamps and lens they did bring down so they wouldn't shatter.  But it was completely heart breaking.  After watching them do it to 2 of them, there were 4 left, and I walked up and asked if I could have a couple to keep, and they told me "No, we can't give them out."  It made me so mad, ANGRY even that they said that after I sat there and watched them let them fall and just smash into the ground.  After watching them do a 3rd one, I could no longer watch, and I drove off.  Later that afternoon, by chance, I went and got Subway for dinner, and I saw a pick-up truck pull in as I was leaving, and when I went around the building to exit the parking lot, I saw this wretched man throwing the bruised and broken luminaires away in the Subway dumpster.  I didn't even try to go back, as I am not one for dumpster diving.  As I mentioned before, this was not the Electric Utility company, Ameren, this was some contractors who were contracted and paid primarily to re-route and install some new power lines so that the earth moving contractors could start building the extra lane on each side.  I do not blame Ameren for this, as I'm sure if my local journeyman had seen this, he'd have probably (...) a brick, considering how he was the one who spent 3 hours installing them one day.  That's my story.  Almost as sad, if not sadder than the original post.  I agree with the poster who said these people don't care.  Those lights were 2 years old or less and had a lot of life left in them.  The gray paint hadn't even faded, and you could still see the sun reflecting off of the fresh coated paint.    The Sad End!

That's really sad... I hate it when perfectl good fixtures (and other things too) get sencelessly destroyed when they aren't that old...
It also makes no sence why you would throw "trash" into someone else's dumpster so that they have to deal with it...

Or when some corporate policy requires stuff to be destroyed on purpose in order to prevent its reuse....

Or when some corporate policy requires stuff to be destroyed on purpose in order to prevent its reuse....

Wait, WHAT!?
 

Very common. It is around the lines of "this stuff should be scrapped in eco friendly way, if it is not destroyed, it could end up being taken away and later ending up in a landfill", or "we cannot take liability for anyone trying to reuse it and getting injured"

Very common. It is around the lines of "this stuff should be scrapped in eco friendly way, if it is not destroyed, it could end up being taken away and later ending up in a landfill", or "we cannot take liability for anyone trying to reuse it and getting injured"

I'm sorry, but it's more eco friendly to reuse the lanterns...

I don't like the idea of the lights destroyed for no apparent reason.Use of someones dumpster is actually illegal-it could be considered theft of service from another party.If those people dumpted those lights into my dumpster I would have kept them and had the dumpers arrested for the theft of service.They wouldn't do it again.Why didn't they dispose of the lights in their dumpster or salvage yard?

I'm sorry, but it's more eco friendly to reuse the lanterns...

They won't agree with that either. The lanterns are not LED therefore shold be scrapped and replaced with LED in the 1st place

Here is more info about the building as well as several more pics, inside and out.
http://history.vintagemnhockey.com/page/show/1424332-columbia-arena

Here is more info about the building as well as several more pics, inside and out.
http://history.vintagemnhockey.com/page/show/1424332-columbia-arena

Anyone catch the news article about the Rink #2 in those photos? "Sodium Vapor lights will be used in the addition, which are cheaper than the mercury vapor lights used in the present structure. It will save $5,400 per year."
 

Quote from: Zarlog on October 11, 2015, 02:17:33 PM

Here is more info about the building as well as several more pics, inside and out.
http://history.vintagemnhockey.com/page/show/1424332-columbia-arena

Anyone catch the news article about the Rink #2 in those photos? "Sodium Vapor lights will be used in the addition, which are cheaper than the mercury vapor lights used in the present structure. It will save $5,400 per year."
 

How did I miss that!? I don't know what the second rink looked like inside, or if the lights were replaced with MH units later, but they were probably some of the earliest HPS fixtures put into use. Either way, they are gone forever, so I will never know. 

Those fixtures look like they still had the bulbs, contaminating the debris and area with mercury and halide salts and stuff.