RAILROAD MANUFACTURERS OF LANTERNS

FOR THE LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD

Over the years since its existence (1834), the Long Island Rail Road has used many different types of lanterns for Conductors, Trainmen, Car Inspectors, Signal Department personnel, etc.

Some of the various uses of these lanterns are noted below:

  1. Conductors, Trainmen, Brakeman, Flagmen, Engineers, Firemen, etc. operating personnel to stop, start and otherwise signal trains to perform certain functions, or warn them of an impending situation.
  2. Block Operators in Towers along the right of way to give train orders to trains, indicate the condition of the block of track ahead, etc.
  3. Signal Department personnel used lanterns for crossing protection hanging on gates for the railroad crossings, etc. and for block limit signals to guide trains as to which track was governed at a block limit station, etc. Also, for Semaphore signals along the right of way on poles and/or signal bridges.
  4. Switch lamps (lanterns) were also used many years ago to indicate the condition of the switch points for approaching trains (so an Engineer would know that the switch was correctly lined for his/her train) …green light on the main line or in a yard…or if the switch was “open” or not lined correctly for his/her train…red for a main line switch or yellow if within a yard. 
  5. Gatemen/Crossing Guards who manned shanties along the track had a red lantern to stop a train, if necessary, in an emergency if the gates failed or a vehicle was stuck on the tracks, etc., as well as to warn vehicles at a grade crossing that might not have gates or flashing lights that a train was coming.
  6. Car Inspectors would hang a lantern with a blue light to indicate that an inspector was on, under or between equipment (Rule 26) and that no train could enter a track displaying a blue lantern or blue flag or light. Car Inspectors also used early lanterns for illumination when inspecting trains.
  7. Right of Way personnel used Trackwalker lanterns (similar in shape to the Car Inspector lanterns noted above) that were carried by the trackwalker as he/she walked various sections of track for illumination purposes (especially at night and to warn approaching trains, etc.).
  8. Coach cleaners would fall into the above category with the blue lantern hung over the rear of a train to indicate that someone was cleaning the train, and a train must not couple to or even enter the same track (for fear of killing or hurting someone inside).
  9. There were also lanterns used on engines/tenders called classification lamps, marker lights on the end of trains, etc.

This list is by no means complete or an example of every lantern used for every situation or department of the LIRR but is reasonably complete for the purposes of this article.

Many of these lanterns were from various manufacturers. The purpose of this article is to present a partial list of these manufacturers that were the ones most used by the LIRR for its personnel.

By no means a complete list, the following railroad lantern manufacturers are the main ones to have supplied lanterns and lamps of various kinds to the Long Island Rail Road, as noted below:

  1. Adams & Westlake (aka ADLAKE) 1874-1887. This company evolved from many others dating back to 1857.
  2. Armspear Manufacturing Company 1902-1960. This company also evolved from other companies that ultimately became Armspear.
  3. Dietz and Company 1840-1992. Numerous companies represent the dates shown as mergers, reorganizations, etc. were a frequent occurrence.
  4. Dressel Railway Lamp & Lantern (Signal) Company (many variations) 1864-1968
  5. (Peter) Gray & Sons 1878-Present.
  6. Handlan Buck Manufacturing Company 1856-Present (variations).
  7. Keystone Lantern Company 1901-1930.
  8. (Hiram) Piper Lantern Company Limited 1833-Present.
  9. (William) Porter & Sons Company 1843-1925.
  10. Railroad Signal Lamp & Lantern Company 1885-1902. This company was reorganized into the Armspear Manufacturing Company.
  11. Star Headlight & Lantern Company 1889-Present (a plastic version in bright yellow (6-volt battery) is currently used today by the LIRR).
  12.  Steam Gauge & Lantern Company 1881-1898. This company was purchased by Dietz & Company (see above).

FUEL FOR LANTERNS

Types of fuel and approximate dates when they were used…

  •    Lard Oil  (rendered animal fat)  /  early settlers to the 1880’s
  •    Whale Oil  (with the Sperm Whale providing the best light)  / 1820’s – 1910
  •    Champaine  (distilled oil of turpentine from pine trees; explosive) /1850 – 1860’s
  •    Burning Fluid  (turpentine & alcohol; volatile lanterns  w/o chimneys) / 1845 – 1870’s
  •    Coal Oil (originally distilled from coal shale materials, then Albertine, a bituminous, asphalt-like material, and finally grahamite, a black , lustrous asphaltite found in West Virginia and Kentucky)  /  1850 – 1860’s
  •    Petroleum ( this is called Rock Oil or Crude Oil, but is NOT the same compound we use today as modern day petroleum)  /  1859 – 1870’s
  •    Kerosene ( a distillate of coal oil, petroleum, rock oil of crude oil)  /  1856 – present day 
  • (although the current version is more refined that it was years ago).
  •    Signal Oil  ( a heavy crude oil, which is a mixture of kerosene and lard oil, sperm oil or vegetable oil)  /  1860’s – 1920’s

 

Lantern Parts /  General  (top to bottom)

  •    The Bail or Handle
  •    Top Bell or Canopy (aka the dome)
  •    Globe  (inside fixed or removable glass)
  •    Canopy Lock Latch  )aka Thumb Latch)
  •    Inside top Bell are Baffle Plates  (aka Globe Retainers) that move up and down and cushion the globe while it sits in the frame for removable globes
  •    Wire Guards  (vertical and/or horizontal) that surround the middle of the lantern frame and thereby protect the globe
  •    Burner, Wick and Wick Raiser  (the burner holds the wick, while the wick raiser elevates or lowers the wick as necessary)
  •    Font  (generally the base or part of the base of the lantern holding the fuel)
  •    Base  (each lantern had what was called a “Bell Bottom”, while some models had an open base called a “Wire Bottom”)

Lantern Terminology:

  • BB  –  Bell Bottom
  • BTBB  –  Brass Top Bell Bottom
  • STBB  –  Steel Top Bell Bottom
  • WB  –  Wire Bottom
  • BTWB  –  Brass Top Wire Bottom
  • STWB  –  Steel Top Wire Bottom
  • C  –  Cast (as in Clear Cast, Red Cast) Globe
  • E  –  Etched ( as in Clear Etched or Red Etched) Globe
  • Tall Globe Lantern (Lantern Globe 5 3/8” or taller
  • Short Globe Lantern (Lantern Globe under 5 3/8”
  • TOB  –  Twist Off Bottom (refers to a fuel reservoir with burner font and wick raiser attached as on e unit, which literally “twists” off the bottom of the lantern frame)
  • Drop in Pot  –  the fuel container aka “pot” literally “drops in” to the bottom of the lantern frame
  • Pinch Pot  –  the bottom of the fuel container aka “pot” has two or three pieces of metal that you squeeze on “pinch” together to pull the pot from the bottom of the lantern to light the wick
  • Single Guard  –  this is a steel or brass wire (can be solid, twisted or flat a thin) that goes around the lantern frame horizontally, and acts as a guard to protect the globe if the frame hits an object  /  (generally up to 1910)
  • Double Guard  –  same as above, but had two horizontal wires around the globe (generally is use after 1913)

Color of Globes for Railroad Lanterns:

     There were five basic colors of lantern globes by all railroads, mostly for the same purposes for both freight and/or passenger service.

  • White  (or clear)  –  this color was used mainly by Train Crew Members called Conductors, Assistant Conductors, Brakeman, Flagman & Collectors to give hand signs to the Conductor or directly to the Engineer to start the train, stop the train perform a rear end brake test, apply or release brakes, etc.
  • Red  –  this color was used mainly by Train Crew Members as noted above (mostly to stop a train, red, in general, is a danger signal), as well as by Crossing Gate Guards at grade crossings, etc.
  • Yellow  –  this color was used by Block Operators in Towers along the right of way to indicate that a train had “Train Orders” to be picked up at the Tower.  Additionally, this color is used for Utility Assistant Conductors – also called “UB” or “Utility Brakeman”.
  • Green  –  this color was used for Block Operators with flags or lanterns with green globes to indicate that a block of track ahead was free of other trains, thereby giving train crews a “Clear Block” utilizing the color green.
  • Blue  –  this color was used for two main purposes.  One was for the inspection of equipment where workers may be on, under or between rolling stock, and a blue flag or light was placed on the track in front of the train being worked on.  The second purpose provided protection for Coach Cleaners (modern term CAM / Car Appearance Maintainers) to place over the end of the equipment to show that it is being cleaned and that an engine may not be coupled to or placed on the same track as one with a blue light or flag.

Globe Manufacturers:

  • Corning Glass Works – in one form or another, has been in operation since 1868 and has been making railroad globes ever since. They had a process called “NoNex” glass, and the symbol is on the back of most Corning RR Globes as a horseshoe shaped “C” (for Corning) and inside the “C” are the letters “nx” for NoNex glass.
  • Macbeth-Evans Glass Company  –  started in 1899 as a merger, and in1936 merged with Corning Glass as above’
  • Kopp Glass  –  Around the year 1900, this company was located in Swissvale, PA, and they make glass lenses of all kinds, especially for railroads, and are still making them today. The most common symbol on their glass is a large “K” in a circle, generally on the back of a globe (opposite the railroad name or blank slug plate.