Railroad Lanterns

[NW Mailing List]

The passenger conductor had a lantern with a split green and clear  
glass to differentiate his signals from anyone else, so that his  
signal was the only one the engineer would take.

Walt
ex-SCL car knocker


On May 20, 2008, at 12:32 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:


> In brief, there are five colors for railroad lanterns:

>

> Clear- general lighting and signaling between the train crew during  

> switching and other train movements.

> Red-   STOP or similar warning

> Green- used for indicating a proceed signal or similar

> Amber- used for indicating a approach signal or similar

> Blue- “blue flag” showing that a track is blocked and the equipment  

> on the track must not be moved and a train or locomotive cannot  

> (Absolutely!) cannot be moved past the blue light or flag.  Only the  

> individual or ‘trade’ that places a blue flag can remove the flag.   

> This is used when working on rolling stock.

>

> You can learn the overall use of each of the colors in the Operating  

> Rule Book for the railroad in a particular year.  Over time there  

> were many different issues of Operating Rule Books.  Each railroad  

> tended to do things a little differently than their others.

>

> In general, ‘clear’ and ‘red’ would be issued to a caboose as  

> standard equipment.  The locomotive would be issued with the same  

> colors.  Amber might be issued as a alternative to the ‘red and  

> amber’ marker lamps for the caboose.

>

> Red, amber, and green would be issued to towers and depots to be  

> used as alternatives to the normal railroad signals.  Of course the  

> operator or agent would have clear lanterns as well.

>

> Blue is generally issued to the car department or the loco shops to  

> block tracks so the equipment can be worked on safely.

>

> I am sure there are numerous other situations that the older heads  

> can tell you about as to who gets what colors for the lanterns.

>

> Gary Rolih

> Secretary N&WHS

>

>

>

>

> From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org 

> ] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List

> Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 8:13 AM

> To: NW Mailing List

> Subject: Re: Railroad Lanterns

>

> The blue globe would be a repair track color.  Same purpose as a  

> blue flag:  A warning not to move the equipment protected by a blue  

> flag or light because a worker could be working on or under that  

> particular piece of rolling stock.

>

> --Rick Morrison

> ----- Original Message -----

> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 11:44 PM

> Subject: Railroad Lanterns

>

> Can anyone tell me the significance of the different colored globes  

> on railroad lanterns?  For instance there is on on EBay with a blue  

> globe, what would that designate, etc?  Thanks for any help anyone  

> can give!

>

> Charlie

> ________________________________________

> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

> To change your subscription go to

> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

> ________________________________________

> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

> To change your subscription go to

> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20080520/7fbe2e8b/attachment-0001.html>