I'm sure just about everyone on here owns or at one time has had some kind of railroad switch,marker,or class light. Some probably buy them to collect, because it's off their favorite railroad or because they find one at a garage sale or fleam market at a irresistable price,or just because they like them or like restoring them,or maybe all the above?

We all probably cringe when we stumble upon one that some individual has drilled a hole thru the top or bottom commiting that awful sin and making it into some railroad mood lamp! or has painted it some gaudy color. Years ago i bought a presentation lantern that someone had electrified and then did a Tole paint job on. The Tole paint job would have been fine if it had been done on some old barn lantern as the person actually did a nice job but on a RR presentation lantern,yuk! I not to long ago bought a older Adlake loco class light on Ebay that had been electrified, a gaudy brass ball was mounted on the dome top for some unknown reason? For me i enjoy the challenge of trying to restore them,be it hammering out the dents,replacing missing parts or maybe sometimes having to resolder parts or use a little JB weld filler wich works wonders.

Typically it seems like a light you may buy is often missing a lens or perhaps all the lens's. Ok, depending on the type of light what is the correct lens colors you want to use? Switch lights are usually somewhat easy to figure out. Lately some of the marker and class lights i've bought seem to be missing one or all lens's or some previous owner decided to put whatever lens in that fit! I've bought some RR lights over the years that had flat pcs. of cut glass put in them, non RR plastic reflectors, even pc.s of painted metal!

Some of the marker lights may take 4, 3, 2 or 1 lens. Looking thru some of the older RR rule books that show the rear and front light combinations, it can give you some idea of what color to use but is it say correct or only for that specific railroad? On some of the locomotive class lights i've bought some had 4 lens, some 2. Some had the outer clear lens be it 5 inch diameter on the older ones with the inner colored green lens that can be flipped in place with a lever or inserted into a slot from a inner storage pocket. some 4 lens class lights have 5 3/8 lens and have 2 clear and 2 green lens. Some lens have the outer vertical ribs while some have smooth outer lens.

What is the correct application? it seems there are so many variations out there that one can run across. Also is there a correct outer paint color? Most you see are black, i've seen some PRR, B&O, C&O markers painted yellow. Did some RR's go with certain colors for the paint? I recently bought a Dressell 3 lens rear end marker on Ebay. it came from Vermont and when i got it i found a little tag on the side that had M C R.R. wich i presume is for Maine Central RR, the odd thing the light was painted a Pullman green color that looks to be the original paint. I've havn't seen any other markers as of yet painted that green before. It had 3 lens, one is missing, the other's are a red and green. Should the missing lens be another red?

Anyone else have any comments or stories to share?

The green one might have possibly been used at the end of coach stock....? If it is the original paint and looks like Pullman Green, that would explain it.

Lucky ones who do find them at a cheap price.
Bene hitting garage sales, antique places and flea markets for over 20 years and have never run into a class light or lantern for any price other than right at normal market value or usually, way above.

Lee, It seems like it's usually alway's that other lucky guy who finds the good ones at a cheap price. I think my best ever flea market find was years ago when i saw a big old street car headlight that had a brass tag reading "incandesant headlight with serial number ect." on top. I asked the seller "what do you want for that old light"? He exclaimed "oh that's a old stage light, give me 5 bucks for it" I said "OK!"

I think today any time you can find a class or marker light for under $100 your doing good. It seems like all the antique stores and malls have prices ranging from $150 to $300 or more just on darn switch lights and them. Same goes for Ebay but occasionally a seller will list something in a none RR catagory. I think i did good a couple months back when i found a complete Adlake 4 lens loco class light with knob to turn the light and mounting bracket still attached wich was shown hanging upside down by a coat hanger wire from a front porch. It wasn't listed in the railroadiana catagory at all. I didn't hesitate to do the buy it now for $95, wasn't long after that i found a mate for it that was missing one lens and the turning knob for $75. Sure i wished they were cheaper but in this day and age i was happy i got them for that!

Some railroads did use different colors of paint for marker lamps. The ones I remember used yellow for the markers that were used in freight service and black on those that were used in passenger service.

As for lamp colors, some railroads used green and red on marker lamps and others used amber and red. Many of the southern roads such as the Southern Railway and Louisville and Nashville (I think) used amber and red. Years ago I had a matched pair of passenger service marker lamps off the C&O. They were in mint condition, but I sold them as I had no use for them at the time.

About the original post:
M.C.R.R. may be Michigan Central Railroad (New York Central System), as the reporting marks for Maine Central are MEC.

Jim, Ok i guess i was just assuming that since it came from Vermont that it may have been Maine Central, I just went out in the garage to take a look and the small affixed tag reads M.C. RR Has Maine Central always used MEC. even on older RR marked items? Things do travel around! as i saw a pair of AC&Y RR loco class lights from a ohio RR on Ebay a year or two ago that a seller in Oregon or Washington state had listed.

I have a old cast iron bolt on journal box cover dating back to at least the 1860's that was dug up in New England along with a few others wich all had M C above R R in raised letters across the front with no periods wich i was told were from the Maine Central. I'm presuming those would have predated the Michigan Central?

F.N., glad to hear you're branching out into other "old iron." I've seen yellow, black and green original paint. The lens aspects are more difficult. This will guide you into collecting old rule books where these things are often delineated ...

If you come across those with a single clear or yellow aspect, they were more often than not order board and siding signals where order boards were in play. Don't change out the clear/amber for a red or green, as many do.

That's about all I can shed on it. I enjoy restoring old lights and then using them on our trains.

marker light rules are about as varied from railroad to railroad as signals are. There are some basic standards you may go by from some signal information sources like perhaps one I had from MRR cutouts make a book out of it, they say a lot about the train, its condition, what the next train should look for and do, or passengers or local tower operators or whomever needs to know the indications. You could probably easily google your favorite railroad and get answers, check some books, NMRA tech sheets... I always scrounge train shows for rule books.

I've wondered if someone makes true blue replicas (switch lanterns etc) so I don't have to rip a real one.

Theres a compendium book of signals thats very good showing basic signal standards which I believe includes marker lights, hand signals and your regular signals.

If you REALLY want to buy a new marker or switch lamp, Adlake will gladly sell you one... at a price!

http://www.adlake.com/online-store.html

Adlake has also become cognizant of the Preservation sector, and has become much easier to deal with in purchasing parts:

http://www.adlake.com/historical-alliance.html

Repair parts are also available from a number of vendors, some with old stock, some reproductions. Here's a couple I've done business with:

W.T. Kirkman --
http://www.lanternnet.com/Merchant2/mer ... y_Code=LRP

Larry and Doris Krise: They run a seasonal business, so they're closed until April:
http://www.jeffpolston.com/KriseDepot.htm

The former Pyle National lighting line, including their locomotive/passenger car electric marker lights, was sold to Trans-Lite, in Connecticut. The company was sold in 2012, but is still in business - not sure if they still would entertain making up older P-N items under the new regime, but it might be worth a call:

http://www.teknowareinc.com/about_us

I've made attempts at contacting Teknoware. It seems the new owners don't want anyone in the company wasting any of their time dealing with the "old stuff". I spoke to one gentleman at the company who was supposedly knowledgeable about the old Pyle National parts and gave him a list of parts I was interested in but never heard back from him.

I can say this, the Great Northern replaced the lenses in some of their switch lamps with smooth faced bubble reflectors. They left the burner and pot in the lamp when they did it.
Mike

I'm not a fan of their hinged fronts. They don't replicate the function of the historical sliding fronts. Air sneaks in and around the door, blowing out the flame at speed. This would never happen with a sliding front. Your mileage may vary ...

Been doing some leisurely research after cleaning and updating my switch lantern collection to LED bulbs. There seems to be a lot of discussion here and other forums about the color meanings for switch lanterns.

Please note: I am referring to switch lanterns ONLY (not signal aspects / indications or marker lamps)

Here is what I have determined thus far. (Please note I have found no concrete evidence of this color assignment in any books as yet. I do have to go through my collection of vintage railroad specific rule books.

Furthermore, some color combinations may have varied by railroad. Also, in special cases there may have three colors used in a four lens switch lantern as in the case of a merging route, but I will not get into that at this time. These combinations are for the standard four lens, two color switch lanterns.

Red / Green:
red: dead end siding / green: main line or running track

Yellow / Green:
(yard switch) yellow: diverging route / green: running track
(diverging main line) yellow: secondary route / green: primary main line
(main to main crossover) yellow crossing from one track to another / green: straight

Red / Yellow
red: derail in place, no movement / yellow: derail down movement allowed
(may have also been used to denote a spur off a siding)

Blue lens-white target / Yellow Lens -yellow target:
blue: repair in place, enginehouse, shop track / yellow enginehouse lead or running track. (These colors may have been use for derails as well.)

Anyone interested is welcome to view my album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pmg517/se ... 948830028/

Any further information is welcomed. Happy New Year and all the best!