My wife's father worked for Southern Pacific and had these lights among other things. Not sure if they are caboose or engine lights or maybe switch stand lights. Both are cast metal and very heavy. Thanks for any help. He also had a GS-4 bell but they left that at the old house after he passed. Don
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Just found another one boxed up for years. I think this is a engine marker light as it has a lever that changes the color of the lens. Her father added the pipe mount at the bottom to attach it to a fence. Don
Very nice collection, sorry I can’t help you identify them. That’s awesome that he had the bell off of a GS-4, any idea what happened to it? I can’t imagine what that would be worth today!
The only thing I know about it is it was bolted to the back yard fence by their BBQ. When my wife's mom sold the house she couldn't get the bolts out so she left it with the house. I didn't know my wife then or I would have gotten it off the fence. Her dad worked in the Oakland SP shops for years after the war. Don
Don, the one with the lever is an electric locomotive classification light ("class light"). I presume that the lever has two positions (clear[white] and green) or three with the addition of red. You will notice that the outside glass is a magnifying lens, allowing the colored spectacles to be small enough to be mechanically moved inside the lamp housing.
The large lamp with the top vent and side bracket is a marker lamp, for use at the rear of a train. It appears to be still lighted with kerosene and a wick. There were still some kerosene markers in use until well into our lifetimes, as some cabooses did not have electric lighting. My wife and I honeymooned in Mexico in 1982, and all of our passenger trains still displayed kerosene markers.
The third lamp is not exactly the same as the switch lamps that I'm familiar with, but it appears to be a switch lamp of a different brand. I'll bet there's a lantern collector who can say for sure.
Hey Don!
A little behind times
Hunkered down in Georgia for the month of May can't work in Michigan!
Cool lights!
Hoping everything's good and safe in Hawaii
Mark
Thanks Mark, we seem to be one of the safest places to be other than most of the folks here are out of jobs. Most of our planes are grounded. Sad. Don
I can't think of a better place to be! We're down on saint Simons island Georgia another nice place and pretty safe!
Good to hear from you Don!
Mark
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
