Collectible Railroad Lanterns & Lamps

Your Guide to Collectible Railroad Lanterns and Lamps

You can use railroad lanterns and lamps to decorate your home or office. A railroad lantern makes a great conversation piece, and some are very collectible amongst hobbyists. A railroad lamp uses lenses to amplify an internal light while railroad lanterns were used by workers to communicate information.

What did the different color lenses show?

Different-colored lenses on vintage railroad lanterns communicated essential messages to workers, including:

• White: Brakeman commonly swung them to communicate messages in railroad yards. Depot workers could also use them to tell trains to stop because they had a passenger.
• Red: These railroad lanterns told trains to stop at a flag station or tower. Workers often hung them by the tender box. They also hung one on the back of the caboose.
• Blue: Workers hung this color lantern on equipment that workers should not move.
• Green: Workers signalled trains to go forward with caution because the tracks were properly aligned, and wreck masters could use them to show that wrecked trains were ready to be moved.
• Yellow: These lanterns were hung on the outside of living cars. They could also be used by tower operators to show engineers that they had a message on a stick they needed to pick up while passing.

Types of railroad lamps

Railroad workers used a variety of lamps for different purposes, including:

• Switch lamp: Mounted to a railroad track switch, these lamps told engineers which way the track turned.
• Semaphore lamp: The white lens in these lamps amplified the light coming from the signal lantern.
• Train order lamps: These lamps were used at stations to tell trains to stop or keep going.
• Marker lamps: Workers hung these from the caboose to signal the last car of the train. They could also be used to signal workers when a train was on a sidetrack.
• Classification lamps: These lamps with movable lenses showed if the train was a regular or an extra.

What factors might influence the price of antique railroad lanterns?

Many different factors determine the price of affordable collectible railroad lanterns and lamps. Condition and age are the two primary factors determining the price of rare old railroad lanterns. Additionally, items from lesser-known railroads usually bring a higher rate. Those lanterns where the burner is present or ones that have a brass top are often more collectible. Clear and red globes are more common than other colored globes. On eBay, railroad lanterns with globes bearing a railroad name can be more expensive.