Lantern Light Switches For the LV

B

BlackDiamond1964

Shadow Banned By N3V
I've started work on making Lehigh Valley's Coxton Yard during the transitional era. According to the old photos of the yard, they used lantern switches like the following.
84483ee8120a749aadcf07c454bddce3.jpg
images.jpg


While there are no close ups of the yard switches, the color of the switches is not known. A search in the topic revealed that the light color lenses were pretty much had universal meaning through the railroad industry, however the pairing of colors and the colors of the outer rings changed for each railroad.

Could anybody tell me how the Lehigh Valley RR might of used these lantern switches and what colors might they have use?
 
JCitron said:
I figured that might be difficult and you'll probably have to hunch it. I've watched that series of videos by this guy.
Click to expand...

I still have a little time before the junctions needed to be placed. So there is still some more time to research. I've put the word out. I'm might be useful to know how other railroads used these lantern signals in their yards.
 
I really thought the white made sense as they are very visible, but then it got to winter.... Now I am not so sure. Your picture looks like blue and amber, but that seems odd too... I did find this:

These combinations are for the standard four lens, two color switch lanterns.

  • Red / Green: red: dead end siding / green: main line or running track.
  • Yellow / Green: (yard switch) yellow: diverging route / green: running track. ...
  • Red / Yellow. red: derail in place, no movement / yellow: derail down movement allowed.
That is located at this discussion: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37535

And, I found this interesting reading FWIW: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/36/jresv36n1p1_A1b.pdf

But I don't know if any of it applies.


 
Last edited:
Forester1 said:
I really thought the white made sense as they are very visible, but then it got to winter.... Now I am not so sure. Your picture looks like blue and amber, but that seems odd too...
Click to expand...

The pictures I posted were just general examples if the switches and not LV switch examples. I looking into emailing some LV model railroading sites to see if they happen to know something.
 
I received an email for an engineer that works he Coxton Yard today and he don't have a clue what switches were used back then. By guess is the information is being lost to history so I decided to contact the anthracite railroad historical society and see if they can put me in the right direction to find the answer. Gee, the things you got to do just for a little realism into a route! For now, back to some track building...I will give an update on this when the time comes.
 
I remember seeing pictures somewhere of the Lehigh and New England using lanterns on their switch stands. This isn't the one I remember but this might be helpful.

578fe2c15ffee_378985b.jpg
 
And low and behold, this maybe the one you're looking for! White and yellow just like the LNE. This is taken at Sayre, PA in 1975 also showing the D&H Shark Nose.

26be738ee75837092dc6a2293b905faa.jpg
 
JCitron said:
And low and behold, this maybe the one you're looking for! White and yellow just like the LNE. This is taken at Sayre, PA in 1975 also showing the D&H Shark Nose.

26be738ee75837092dc6a2293b905faa.jpg
Click to expand...
It appears that there is a green lens with a white ring and amber lens with a amber ring. Great picture! I'm curious if that configuration was just used in the yards? I wonder what was used on the main line? That should be a bit easier to figure out. At any rate, it's a great starting point. Thanks again John!
 
Good luck with your project.

The LV is one of my favorites and sadly one of the railroads that Conrail did in just like the EL because both competed fiercely with the PRR and NYC and later PC for that east-west traffic. When Conrail came along, they couldn't rip these two up fast enough. Today, both would have been great haulers of container traffic between the Great Lakes and NYC area.
 
While I didn't get the full information I seek on these lantern switches, I did get some information. These lanterns as a separate entity from the switch itself. There were mounted on the switch stand. One color would show switch normal and the other would show diverging (or not normal).

What I still haven't figured out yet is what was typically used in a LV yard. I'm dusting off all my Lehigh Valley books, maybe there is an answer someplace in there. On a side note I'm also looking for the actual length of the Coxton Yard turntable and it's possible Trainz model counterpart. While I'm modeling the Roundhouse the turntable will be separate.
 
You do realize that up8328 made these same switchstands? They have the name 'New Century Switch Lamp' followed by the individual colors and whether they have ballast or not.
 
jordon412 said:
You do realize that up8328 made these same switchstands? They have the name 'New Century Switch Lamp' followed by the individual colors and whether they have ballast or not.
Click to expand...

Yes, those are the switches I plan on using but I need to know all the color combinations I'll need. I've also sent him a PM about a updated set of switches that will match my track but he doesn't seem to be very active on these forums lately.
 
Great yard picture ! It would be nice to find an affordable copy of the the Encyclopedia of Railroad lighting (with illustrations) that could give the answers for these LV lanterns. The cheapest I've seen the book on EBAY is over $200 !
 
JimDep said:
Great yard picture ! It would be nice to find an affordable copy of the the Encyclopedia of Railroad lighting (with illustrations) that could give the answers for these LV lanterns. The cheapest I've seen the book on EBAY is over $200 !
Click to expand...

I believe I'm making this more difficult then it is.
From what I was reading there are six universal lens colors to switches, signals and lanterns...

Red
Yellow
Green
Blue
Purple
Lunar White

I believe I need to find the true meaning for each of those colors and go from there.
 
A wee bit more information...
I found a site that explains that most railroads that used these lantern switches used a combination of Green/White, Green/Red and some Green/Yellow in their yards. As we seen from the Sayre Yard pictures, the LV use Green/Yellow and this would make sense. However I'm a bit confused over the Railwork's PRR Horseshoe Route that uses White/Yellow? Was this what the PPR used, or was this a mistake? Just curious.

I also discovered that the purple color was rarely used in the US after 1940.
 
I will try my best to answer . The Pennsy used white/red for Mainline . White being used as CLEAR . White/yellow in yards . But not always . Blue/yellow was used . I have a yard lantern from the Delmarva branch That's Blue/yellow . Someone correct me if wrong , but the lantern colors changed as to use of track . And type of track . Mains , siding , spers and industry .

This conservation is one that many don't agree on . Including myself . As I had always thought the lantern I had was green/ yellow till we lit it once . Club members have said and have photos of Pennsy using green/yellow and Red/Green . So I've taken the stance of what I like and have .

Matt

PS There was a web page that had a lot of info on all roads on this . I'll try and find again
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Sessions for the Shortz & Kerl layout
Replies
2
Views
2K
zsuda
Z
P
Sessions for the Port Zyd & Fulazturn layout
2
Replies
22
Views
6K
WimVTrains101
W
J
What would YOU had done if you won the $1.5 BILLION lottery jackpot?
2
Replies
38
Views
10K
Zeldaboy14
Z
K
  • Locked
LV - The Forks of the Delaware
9 10 11
Replies
200
Views
73K
Kree8tiviT
K
J
Need people with knowlege of the Lehigh Valley RR
Replies
7
Views
2K
gfisher
G
Back
Top