RR Lanterns in the train room

A few thoughts:

1) Leave them in the condition they are, i.e.do NOT "restore" them.

2) Do NOT electrify them.

3) Try displaying them on their own shelf, or hang them from a nice brass hook.

Just curious, what railroads are they from? They should be marked.

The one on the left is;  Southern R Y, 

Center;  A.CL. RR

Right;  only markings on top dome;  New York,  Dietz Vesta

Agree with Hot Water - modifying them in any way would decrease their value.  If your really want them to light up there are small LED units that use a one of the circular batteries that you could put inside.  They even make some that look like flickering flames.  Don't drill holes to run electric wires or clean them with polish.

There was a young guy that used to be on the forum that posted photos of his display, but I can't find it.

He had four of them, he bought stage prop hands that he reinforced, attached them to his train room wall, and hung the lanterns on them. As if a man were holding the lanterns. Cool.

He lit them with some kind of 12-volt automotive lights. The wires were hidden along the handle of each lantern, hard to see. I don't know how he mounted the light socket inside the lantern, or what kind it was. They looked really neat at the corners of his small train room.

They were given to him by a railroad family in Pennsylvania.

Enjoy them.

Jim

I have 2 lanterns,  One is a C&S railroad and one that I purchased with out the guts( $5.00).  The gutted one I used outside and the C&S is a inside lantern.

Outside lantern ( next to Texas Pacific sign on wooden fence) was wired for a light.

The C&S lantern.

These pictures are approx. 15 years old and I still have the railroad equipment/signs in the picture, But I moved from Texas to Arkansas.

Doug,

I have four lanterns. The one the second picture I bought electrified for $15, I put a flickering bulb in it and have it on when I am in the train room. The other two I tested and they work as intended,  they sit on the window shelf, but when I have a train party I fill them with kerosene, light them up, and put them out on the front step. The other, the last photo, is missing the parts to make it work and is on display in the train room. The kerosene is sold at Walmart in the camping section.

Have fun with them.

I have an old Northern Pacific switchman's lantern.  It normally sits on top of a bookcase.  I've used lamp oil in it for the few times I lit it up during power failures.

I also have a pair of caboose markers made by Railfinders during the mid 1980's using the old Handlan Buck tooling.  Unlike most, I specified these should have the oil pots in them, rather than being 120v as normally sold.  They are stamped for the CB&Q.

Rusty

               Had way to many, sold or gave away a few through the years. Think I have 7 left?

                                              CNJ

                                SIRT

                                             PRR

                                                 NYC

                                                 NYC

I received three lanterns as a gift and haven't touched them. One is stamped "PRR" but I never really looked at them all. I will now. But, they will remain undisturbed.

Thanks for the replies, you've given me some good ideas.

Doug

Most of mine hang from the ceiling. I have 26, here are some photos. My first lantern was bought for $10 back in 1969, a CB&Q with a twist off font. Then in the mid '70, found a Santa Fe bell bottom at a flee market for $7 with an embossed globe. 

RAY

I have 4 Adlake lanterns that I wired for lights.  I used the lamp socket holders sold by Town & Country Hobbies.  Along with the 14 volt screw in light bulbs.  Very easy to do, just place lamp holder over the wick part, make sure wick is all the way down.  They screw in using a 1inch dry wall screw and fit into the wick part perfectly.  No need to drill anything, the two holes on side of lamp holder fit perfectly into wick chamber.  Wires come up and out vent holes on top near handle.  Wrap around the handle that hang on ceiling joists,  run wire to transformer.  I am using a AC to DC  Buck converter, to regulate the 14 volt light bulbs.  Here is a pic of that, along with the holder.  Very easy to do and looks good when the lights are off too.  Good Luck, I have mine wired into a few LCCA lanterns and Adlake lanterns that are new and never used.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LM259...c:g:90UAAOSwV4BZ0Yj-

http://stores.towncountryhobbies.com/e10ph/

I also recommend that you do NOT modfiy them to be electric lighted.  You can either get the clear lamp oil sold for oil candles and light them the correct way, or remove the oil pots(save them obviously) and get a couple of the battery powered LED flicker candles and put those inside them.   My RR lanterns are lamp oil fired and we use them when the power goes out.  I have one that I put citronella oil in it to burn and set it on our patio table to ward off skeeters when running my garden railway.     Mike the Aspie

SIRT posted:

               Had way to many, sold or gave away a few through the years. Think I have 7 left?                              

                       

                                             PRR

 

                                             

Some years ago a friend gave me a set of old cast iron curtain rod hangers.  Never used them.  Reference the pic above, now I know what to do with them.  Thanks!

Lou N

You guys have posted some nice pictures and thanks.  This is what I've come up with,  I went to Lowes and got a few "hanging basket" brackets.  I've put a red lantern on each side of my sign going into my train room.  The short hallway is a little dark so they don't show up as much as I would like for them to.  Here are a couple pictures,  see what you think.

Since my train room is an unfinished basement, mine just hang from the rafters.

Quote:

"He had four of them, he bought stage prop hands that he reinforced, attached them to his train room wall, and hung the lanterns on them. As if a man were holding the lanterns. Cool."

If I'm visualizing that correctly... don't think I would want to emulate it. Sounds like something you would see at the Addams Family house, or over at the Munsters!

Andre

I have three PRR lanterns, plus more assorted kerosene lamps and non-railroad lanterns than I care to count at the moment.  The ones in the basement are on the fireplace mantle; two of the railroad lanterns are a centerpiece on the kitchen table upstairs.

I also keep a couple of 5-gallon cans of kerosene from the gas station on hand, to fuel a kerosene heater during winter power failure emergencies.  That's what I use in the lanterns.  Far cheaper than the so-called "lamp oil" that's sold in small plastic bottles.

Some of the lanterns hanging around.

Hung this one up in the train room. Have a couple others but haven't done anything with those yet. The kerosene unit inside (tank and wick, all one piece) was removeable; it simply lifted out, and a common ceramic base with bulb socket was put in its place. It just sits down in the bottom where the kerosene unit was. I put a LED bulb in it (for the low heat and long life), only 15 watts, and it works great. I leave it on all the time. The electric cord just comes out the top and runs to the wall behind the lantern - can't really even see it. There wasn't any need to cut anything on the lantern to set this up.

laming posted:

Quote:

"He had four of them, he bought stage prop hands that he reinforced, attached them to his train room wall, and hung the lanterns on them. As if a man were holding the lanterns. Cool."

If I'm visualizing that correctly... don't think I would want to emulate it. Sounds like something you would see at the Addams Family house, or over at the Munsters!

Andre

LOL …. you're right! It was as if "Thing" on the Addams Family was holding the lanterns.

He had some very nice trains on his small layout, and he liked to have fun with it all. I also remember that he wired it up so that when he powered-up the layout, the four lanterns at the corners would light up.

I am very impressed with some of the lanterns and other memorabilia in this thread. I have several railroad lanterns, only one of which is in the train room. That is an Adlake Non-Sweating Switch Lantern, marked "BN".   I haven't electrified it. One of my other lanterns is a modern production "imperfect" lantern, that was sold at half price by Adams and Westlake. I may electrify both with LED lighting, although I don't want to modify the lanterns themselves.

jay jay posted:

I am very impressed with some of the lanterns and other memorabilia in this thread. I have several railroad lanterns, only one of which is in the train room. That is an Adlake Non-SweatingSLantern, marked "BN".   I haven't electrified it. One of my other lanterns is a modern production "imperfect" lantern, that was sold at half price by Adams and Westlake. I may electrify both with LED lighting, although I don't want to modify the lanterns themselves.

 

This one is actually a switch stand lamp, and not to be confused with the rear-of-train "Marker Lamps".

EBT Jim posted:

 

He had four of them, he bought stage prop hands that he reinforced, attached them to his train room wall, and hung the lanterns on them. As if a man were holding the lanterns. Cool.

Enjoy them.

Jim

 

 

 

Kinda like this.