Is this repro RR lantern prototypical?

Sure doesn't look "railroad type" to me. Maybe it is from a horse carriage or a very early automobile?

I agree--that looks like no railroad lantern I've ever seen. Get your money back.

You can read about real lanterns here.

Would look good in your train room . Real or not .

yamaha226 posted:

Would look good in your train room . Real or not .

To each his own, I guess but, I sure wouldn't put that thing on display in OUR "train room"!

Hello:  I have been buying and selling railroad items since 1974.  I can definitively state that  the lamp in question is NOT of railroad origin.  What it was used for I cannot say but it is not railroad. Check out my website at rrartifacts.com

Melvin D Pempsell

if it was smaller, it could be an inspectors lantern .... but this looks like something more stationary rather than hand held.

Melvin P posted:

Hello:  I have been buying and selling railroad items since 1974.  I can definitively state that  the lamp in question is NOT of railroad origin.  What it was used for I cannot say but it is not railroad. Check out my website at rrartifacts.com

Melvin D Pempsell

Melvin, I visited your site and you seem to specialize in American and Canadian railroads so should I therefore assume your statement, the lamp in question is NOT of railroad origin refers to American and Canadian Railroad origin?

There's a Made in India sticker on this repro so perhaps it is modeled after a lantern used by India's Railway system during its earliest days? Unfortunately, googling historic Indian railroad realia has been unproductive, but do you know any Indian or Eastern European railroad websites, historians, or experts I can consult to reference items used by those early railroads?

That lantern goes on a horse drawn buggy. I have seen those before.

It looks too old and beat-up to be a reproduction, too.  Unless it's a slightly old, beat-up reproduction.

Tim O'Malley posted:

It looks too old and beat-up to be a reproduction, too.  Unless it's a slightly old, beat-up reproduction.

Seriously? The easiest thing in the world to do is artificially age metal.

Technically, that thing isn't even a lantern. It's a candle holder. There's no pot, no wick. You can probably pick these up at any World Market.

The only thing it has in common with a real (or repro) railroad lantern is it has a carrying handle.

The OP should get his money back and put it towards an authentic and usable railroad lantern, which are still made today by Adlake.

You can get a brass blem lantern for only $30 bucks, or get a new zinc for only $60 (globes in your choice of color are extra).

You can get a Dietz for even cheaper.

ogaugeguy posted:

Melvin P posted:

Hello:  I have been buying and selling railroad items since 1974.  I can definitively state that  the lamp in question is NOT of railroad origin.  What it was used for I cannot say but it is not railroad. Check out my website at rrartifacts.com

Melvin D Pempsell

Melvin, I visited your site and you seem to specialize in American and Canadian railroads so should I therefore assume your statement, the lamp in question is NOT of railroad origin refers to American and Canadian Railroad origin?

There's a Made in India sticker on this repro so perhaps it is modeled after a lantern used by India's Railway system during its earliest days? Unfortunately, googling historic Indian railroad realia has been unproductive, but do you know any Indian or Eastern European railroad websites, historians, or experts I can consult to reference items used by those early railroads?

Hi:  I specialize in US and Canadian railroad because that is what sells.  I have found that foreign railroad items are dead inventory .  I really doubt that it was used on any railroad, as there is not full pot and burner, and there is no facility to hold the same.  As far as a candle goes, nope.  A candle would not provide enough light to see by.  The unseal sources of illumination for a railroad headlamp, tail end marker would have been whale oil, kerosene, acetalyne or electric.