Lantern Light Switches For the LV

Railwoodman said:

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

Click to expand...

Interesting...I don't get it with regards to the PRR, but never the less interesting. So now what I need is some picture evidence (color picture evidence) of what the Lehigh Valley used on their main line. The plot thickens! Something tells be it's going to be Green/Red....Place your bets!

I found some more tidbits.

I found this on a forum discussing these switches...

""""What you need to remember is that a switch lamp is a signal. It can give you a day indication just like a semaphore with a blade, the targets of the lamp are your day indication and of course the night indication is the lamp light with lenses illuminated .
Color of lamps and targets vary from RR to RR, but one color of target and lens means your Lined for the Main Route and the other is for a Diverging Route.
Here are some examples from my collection:
1.Erie RR Mainline switch lantern: Red target, red lens and White target with blue lens
2.Mainline lamp Red and Green lens/ no target
3.Yard lamp: White target, blue lens and Yellow target with yellow lens
4. B&O RR Green target with blue lens and yellow target with yellow lens
5.NYC RR Red target with red lens/ however, I believe it should have a purple lenses instead. Other target is yellow with yellow lens."""

-I also learned that a blue signal was mostly used for mechanical or track work notification
-The purple lens was mostly used in dwarf signals before they were phased out.
-a lunar white lens mean restrictive.

March 17, 2021

Hello Scott:

The information you seek is in the book of rules which I happen to have for the Lehigh Valley for 1953. The indications are given under Rule 703 A-D. The aspects are conveyed by the target the metal background of the switch light and the Light itself:

Red Target and Red Lens-Main track switch set for diverging route
White Target and Green Lens-Main track switch set for strait movement
Yellow Target and Yellow Lens-Yard or Side Track Switch lined for diverging movement
White Target and Green Lens-Yard or Side Track Switch lined for strait movement

As it happened the Lehigh Valley was controlled for a number of years by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Lehigh Valley did use PRR Position Light Signals on their main line. These were latter replaced with color light signals.

Some Resources

Abebooks and or ebay: The Rule Books and Employee Timetables are usually available at reasonable prices. Some are uploaded online

Morning Sun Books-They have a website. They have facility books for various railroads I think the Lehigh Valley has three. New York Central only has one.

Railroad Historical Societies are a useful resource.

John Pechulis Media or JPM has a website. In the case of the Lehigh Valley former Lehigh Valley Employees narrate the video's. These narrations convey a lot of information about the operation. Mike Bednar participates in a lot of the narrations. He was a bit critical of the NS. Many of Conrail's predecessor railroads were regional lines that did not operate under the model of large bureaucratic organizations many of these employees had a rough adjustment working for a NS or CSXT. For completeness here are Conrail's predecessor lines:

Central Railroad of New Jersey-CNJ (regional railroad)
Erie-Lackawanna-Merger of Delaware Lackawanna & Western and Erie Railroad in 1960 (Minor Trunk Line)
Lehigh & New England-Portions sold to CNJ then taken over by Lehigh Valley. Abandoned 1961 (Regional)
Lehigh & Hudson River-Bridge line to Maybrook, NY from Allentown, PA (regional)
Lehigh Valley (regional)
New Haven Railroad-Merged into Penn Central 1969 (regional)
Penn Central-Merger of Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central in 1968. (Major Trunk Line)
Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines (regional)
Reading Lines (regional)

HSSRAIL said:

March 17, 2021

Hello Scott:

The information you seek is in the book of rules which I happen to have for the Lehigh Valley for 1953. The indications are given under Rule 703 A-D. The aspects are conveyed by the target the metal background of the switch light and the Light itself:

Red Target and Red Lens-Main track switch set for diverging route
White Target and Green Lens-Main track switch set for strait movement
Yellow Target and Yellow Lens-Yard or Side Track Switch lined for diverging movement
White Target and Green Lens-Yard or Side Track Switch lined for strait movement

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! This is one search that has come to an end.