Over at the "Hickory Stripe v. Denim" thread, there was a discussion of vintage railroad personal lighting.

The esteemed Mr. Pincus of Pet Peeve, Conn stated:



This was followed up by Mr. Drew Black, who stated:



Mr. Superheater found a in-box JustRite lantern here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Railroad-Justrite-Electric-Lantern-/301294584261?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item46268e81c5

So, what other brand and makes of personal railroad lighting are period-appropriate?

Period-appropriate for heritage railway use:

Any of the metal Adlakes, the metal (stainless steel) Conger. Star Headlight & Lantern from upstate New York made metal lamps in the 40s-60s, including a larger "spotlight" style car inspector's work light. Star currently makes the plastic lanterns so commonly seen these days.

I don't think Handlan or Dressel or Dietz made battery lanterns.

There was a small, two C-cell stainless steel lantern called "Streamline", that was very commonly used by passenger conductors and trainmen. It was a very compact, 1/2 size version of the older 6-volt cell metal lanterns.

Howard P.

Here's the passenger train-sized battery lantern Howard mentioned. It uses 2 D cells. I bought this new from the Rolling Stock Company, a mail-order railroad clothing supplier back in my teenage years of the mid to late 1990s. Howard is right, it fits nicely in my conductor coat pocket, as well as the pocket on my denim chore coat. I've seen originals where the "signal" bulb is painted red, so the engineer can distinguish from light used to see, versus giving an actual signal.

Lantern has an inscription on it, saying it is made by "Streamline Products, Lebanon, Missouri." I could never find them when I lived in St. Louis.

I know I've seen--and used--halogen bulbs made for such lanterns; my automobile's ex-Conrail Star lantern sports such bulbs. Has anyone gone to LED technology yet, and can anyone suggest sources?

There's a time for authenticity and a time for doing the job it was designed for. By now I should be able to outfit a portable lantern with as much candlepower as the locomotive headlamps of old........

Star makes the new, plastic lanterns in LED versions, including the "car inspector's lantern." I have a LED signal lantern, and it works great.

http://www.star1889.com/products/railroad-products.asp

Like you, I'd be interested in a drop-in LED bulb replacement for a standard flashlight bulb. I've converted the MagLites in our cars to LED, but that was a purpose-made kit for that specific flashlight.

Amazon has some general replacements, I may need to research some of these:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=flashlight+bulb+led+upgrade&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=33844442635&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17211007171609572104&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5zhowcr0ia_b

There are downsides to LED's and Halogens.

Halogens aren't supposed to be handled with bare hands (why?)

and LED's remain at the same brightness regardless of battery charge-which is why Star's lanterns designed for LED's have a red warning light to indicate discharge.

Oil from your skin collects on the blub and can cause it to overheat and early bulb failure.

Oil from your skin collects on the blub and can cause it to overheat and early bulb failure.

Well that stinks. Certainly would make a bulb change in the field a pain.

By the way, I have two "justrites", some congers and a (metal) Star.

One is a carknockers lantern that belonged to my grandfather. He died two weeks after the doctor smacked my backside, so what I know about it-came from my grandmother. I rescued it from a 30 year slumber many years ago and found replacement #425 Bulbs at the I think now closed Biel's in Scranton. I was told it saw service at Penobscot, Ashley and Allentown.

Although justrite seems to have had more mining customers, they apparently had an "in" with the CNJ. My justrite trainman's lantern is marked CNJ.

I think I need an Adlake 31 variant to round out the collection.

My grip has a conger in it, but there's nothing like Lexan's indestructability.

Got me interested enough to dig out my old battery burners......Adlake 31 from the Union RR, and a Starlite 222 from the NP. Both well used but in decent condition, barring a little surface rust. I don't use them much any more which brings me to a question: batteries. What (if any) rechargeable dry cell clones are people using with success out there? Seems I get a new dry cell, use it for an event, and the dry cell is dead before the next time I need it.

dave

Don't these typically use a 6v lantern battery?

BAM!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-RAYOVAC-LANTERN-BATTERY-ADAPTORS-D-CELLTO-6-VOLT-BATTERIES-6VADP-FLASH-LIGHT-/221054716632?pt=US_Single_Use_Batteries&hash=item3377e34ad8

use your favorite D cell rechargeable, or disposable...

and for the #425 lamp:
http://www.grainger.com/product/LUMAPRO-Miniature-Lamp-2FLX7?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2FLV1_AS01?$smthumb$

they are also available at amazon.com, mouser.com, and others.

Rechargeable 6-volt lantern batteries exist, but are only a cost-effective solution if you have a fleet of them to charge and swap out, like a short line or museum operation.

LED's do dim with battery drainage it is just a lot of them have driveing boards that squeez every last joul out of the battery, but if you had one wired up directely to a battery it would dim. For LED's that get the job done I would use a Cree XML mounted to a heat sink, they can put out up to 1000 lumens.

Just use http://www.empco-lite.com/barricade/btry-holder.htm it holds 4 D cell batterys in a 6v shaped case and rechargable D cells are easy to find.

Dietz made a number 888 battery powered lantern. From what i've been able to find out, they were used by the B&O, NY City Subway System, and the New Haven. They did not appear to be that popular - my guess is that Dietz couldn't break into the market already held by Conger, Justrite, Adlake and Star.

BTW, my personal "period" lantern is a Conger.

The problem with the incandescent bulbs for vintage lanterns is the fact that they will suck a 6 volt brick dry in one full night's service. LED's are a possible solution. Some modern railroad lanterns, like the current offerings by Rail-Tek, are LED for both the spot and the signal beams. These lanterns can use the same battery for a week or more before the brightness begins to suffer.

I have managed to adapt a Conger to LED. The LED's I used were a bit flimsy, and, though they were mounted in an E-10 screw base, simply screwing the LED into the socket can break the LED free from the screw base.

The tricky part can be matching beam style and color. My LED's were a warm/neutral white, rather than the usual cold bluish light of most LED'S, to better replicate the old incandescent bulbs. However, the LED'S have their own built in lenses, meaning that the signal and spot beams are identical in shape and throw.

One note to keep mind, most drop in LED'S are center positive. Railroad lanterns, however, are set up to be center negative. Overcoming this issue is fairly easy to overcome if you choose to use LEDs; just buy one of those 6 volt D cell adapters and reverse the batteries in the holder.