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Reply to "Need Help to ID These Southern Pacific Train Lights"

Don, the one with the lever is an electric locomotive classification light ("class light").  I presume that the lever has two positions (clear[white] and green) or three with the addition of red.  You will notice that the outside glass is a magnifying lens, allowing the colored spectacles to be small enough to be mechanically moved inside the lamp housing.

 The large lamp with the top vent and side bracket is a marker lamp, for use at the rear of a train.  It appears to be still lighted with kerosene and a wick.  There were still some kerosene markers in use until well into our lifetimes, as some cabooses did not have electric lighting.  My wife and I honeymooned in Mexico in 1982, and all of our passenger trains still displayed kerosene markers.

The third lamp is not exactly the same as the switch lamps that I'm familiar with, but it appears to be a switch lamp of a different brand.  I'll bet there's a lantern collector who can say for sure.

Last edited by Number 90

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