Westinghouse Toy Train light bulbs, where were they used?

Madison Hardware sold those bulbs as substitutes for #432. They sold them in clear, red, and green. They even came up with a way to put a dimple in the tip, and sold them as beacon bulbs. But they didn't work very well as beacon bulbs because the dimples weren't that well formed, and the bulbs did not get hot enough. (but for a while, those were then only bulbs readily available)

Those 1455 bulbs are 18 volt, 1/4 amp, just like 432 bulbs, BUT 1455 bulbs have G-5 globes, while 432 bulbs are G-4 1/2.

When installed, most folks would not be able to tell the difference.

They will fit 022 switch controllers just fine.

I used to buy those bulbs by the hundred. The "G" on your box looks very familiar.
Some folks like to have those boxes because they look old (they probably are), but I would not put a premium on them because they may have come from Madison.

Somewhere along the line, I picked up a case of them, they did not come with the orange boxes, they were packed in trays of 100.

(please note, some of what I've written repeats what Bill has already written).

Also Bill raises the question of whether those bulbs were used prewar.

I've heard rumors to that effect.

They may have mapped the prewar bulbs to 432's because the 1455's were out of production. I have several manufacturers bulb catalogs, none of them list the 1455. They probably aren't old enough.

Hi C.W.:

Thanks for the responses.  Could that be your hand-writing on that one box?

So apparently Madison sold them as replacements for any 18-volt screw-base large globe bulb that Lionel used, even if the original was a G4-1/2?

Anyway, I just found my AF post-war service manual reprint and there is no #1455 bulb listed on the bulb chart in that book, either.  So we can rule out that those bulbs were original equipment in post-war S gauge flyer, too. 

Bill

quote:

Thanks for the responses.  Could that be your hand-writing on that one box?

No, I meant the "G" looks a lot like the markings Madison Hardware put on the boxes.
The dark green bulbs look like they might have been painted by them.
The light green bulb and red ones do not.
When illuminated, the coloring done by Madison usually looks uneven.

One time, when I was purchasing clear bulbs, Lou gave me a bag of loose bulbs and brand new old stock boxes and liners for then. The boxes were still flat, having never been assembled.

quote:

So apparently Madison sold them as replacements for any 18-volt screw-base large globe bulb that Lionel used, even if the original was a G4-1/2?

Yes, I don't think they had 432's in large quantities, if at all.

They seemed to always have lots of 1445, and clear 1455 bulbs. There were a few times they did not have the colored 1455 bulbs available.
Another bulb they rarely had were 1447 bulbs.