What is it and what is it worth?

I may be mistaken but that loosk liek a caboose lantern. I recently saw as set at a swap meet and the guy was asking $600 for the matched set with the brackets and he also knew the caboose they came off. Id say maybe its worth between $200 and $300 or whatever somebody will pay for it

I will start the ball rolling although I am sure an expert will  tell you. A marker lantern fr a caboose or engine, probably steam. I would guess a value of $150-200. nice lantern.

Yes, definitely a Marker Lamp, used on the rear of a caboose, passenger car, express car, etc., on the rear end of any train. Notice that one of the green lenses is on a "slide-up" panel, in order to access the interior of the lamp. It the lamp is complete, the kerosene pot with wick assembly will be inside. The separate circular piece, is the mounting bracket which fits around the base of the lamp assembly, and allows the whole thing to be "hung" on the appropriate bracket mounted on the rear of cabooses, passenger cars, etc..

Not be restored, which tends to hurt the originality & value in my opinion, that piece could be worth over $400, especially if it is marked with a railroad initials. Too bad you don't have a pair.

Frank, on American Pickers, just paid $200 on a recent new episode with one cracked lens. It was hard to tell if the clamp was there. Nice lantern!

A bit more information: It's definitely a caboose, or "rear end" marker, as others have mentioned. You can get an idea of what railroad it might have come from (if it's not marked) by consulting Rules of the Operating Dept. books to see what colors certain railroads used in their lamps, either red/green or red/amber. Values vary wildly according to condition, and especially railroad. For example; a New York Central marker in excellent condition might be worth, say, $300.00. A D&RGW marker in the same condition could be worth four times that amount. Depends on the size of the original railroad, (hence the amount of surviving stuff), and the "mystique" of the line itself. In the East, NYO&W has a loyal following; out west, D&RG(W), C&S, and Colorado Midland items sometimes bring amazing prices, while Illinois Central, Reading, New Haven, and some other roads just don't seem to generate the same enthusiasm.  Fascinating item, though. You're holding a piece of our early industrial heritage in your hand. This was once "high  tech"!

Very nice Gary. Just remember, if you drive around with it, to put on it's seat belt.

Gary,

That is an Adlake square top caboose marker lamp, Model 270. If it was marked with a railroad name it would be either on the shoulder area about where the bail ears are located or underneath one of the lens. They were also sometimes marked RIGHT or LEFT in the shoulder area. If it is complete, when you open the sliding door you should find the oil font and burner as Hot Water stated. When you open the top, there should be a removable two piece vent cone.

You have the lamp bracket which is good because they cost about $75. You will need the G socket bracket if you want to hang it on the wall. Looks like this.

If it is complete, the value is around $200. right now, a little more if it has a railroad name on it. I have been buying and selling railroadiana for a long time. You will find railroad lamps for sale with crazy prices, just like vintage toy trains. I guarantee these guys are not getting $400-$600. for these lamps.

You can get replacement parts from this company.

http://www.lanternnet.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

Here are some photos of my round top Adlake lamps which are earlier than the square tops. If you have any more questions let me know.

As I understand and have read, MARKER lights were used on the rear of a train. The lights on the front of a steam engine are CLASSIFICATION lights. What you have here is a Marker light from a caboose, passenger car, doodlebug, gas electric, or other car placed at the end of a train. Marker lights, when in use on a moving train, would show RED on the rear and green on the side.

Classification lights had clear lens, in most cases. They had movable colored lens inside which allowed the color change from clear to red or green/blue. 

It's interesting that most every model manufacturer (Lionel - MTH - Williams - etc) use red classification lights on steam engines. 

RAY

Ray of sunshine posted:

As I understand and have read, MARKER lights were used on the rear of a train. The lights on the front of a steam engine are CLASSIFICATION lights. What you have here is a Marker light from a caboose, passenger car, doodlebug, gas electric, or other car placed at the end of a train. Marker lights, when in use on a moving train, would show RED on the rear and green on the side.

Not necessarily, as it depends greatly on the specific railroad rules, as to what color is displayed to which side, and forward. The PRR had some very specific rules pertaining to multi-track territory as to which side of the rear-end displayed RED to the rear or YELLOW to the rear, on the opposite side of the rear-end. It can get pretty complicated.

Classification lights had clear lens, in most cases. They had movable colored lens inside which allowed the color change from clear to red or green/blue. 

Blue was ONLY used to protect a track where "men were working", and a blue light or flag may have been hung on the throttle.

It's interesting that most every model manufacturer (Lionel - MTH - Williams - etc) use red classification lights on steam engines. 

RAY

This is not mine, but a coworkers.  I ask him what he wanted for it before I posted it and he stated 50 bucks.  Just wait until I show him this thread.  I'll double check the piece again to see if there's any railroad stamp on it. 

Thanks again for all the input, very helpful

Don't forget, when comparing eBay for prices be sure to check the "SOLD" listings.  Anybody can ASK whatever they want.

Ok, Update.

Told my coworker what his lantern is possible worth, gave him all the info posted here and he didn't want to post it on Ebay.  So I ask if the fifty bucks offer still stands and he said yes.   So I have a lantern that I will mount in the train room.  I plan without modifying, install a light inside to light it up. 

Awesome. You did good Gary. Enjoy it.

If you have the kerosene burner inside the lamp, it is worth more.   The kerosene burners are valuable because most were pitched and lanterns converted to electric.   If you convert, offer the burner on ebay and give the proceeds to  your buddy.

For lighting, you might want to look at a 12V license plate light bulb and power supply.  We used them for display lighting the lamps on our 1912 caboose during our museum's Christmas event and it looked very nice.  The bulbs sat nicely on top of the burner to get the focal point of the light in the correct position in the lense.  I believe we fed the wires out under the slide up panel and just didn't shut I all the way.

I would highly suggest you keep the original burner with the lamp unlike what the poster above suggested for historical/value reasons.