Electric light for Gray switch lantern

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Dr. Scheer : 

Here's what little I know about N&W electrified switch lamps. Having more of the story is always better than having only a small part of the story. 

Sometime in the late 1950s, N&W began electrifying some main track switch lamps which were in territory where electricity was already available from the signal system. This was done by bringing 12 volts from a nearby signal case. In some places (probably where it was not convenient to run electricity for a lamp,) the glass lenses were removed and a Masonite disc was inserted into the lens opening, and covered with green or red Scotchlite reflective material, as appropriate. 

In yards, where there were a number of switches (as on ladders,) battery wells were dug in beside the switch head-block timbers. These were of a size to hold a battery of about the same proportions as a car battery of that time, appeared to be made of cast concrete, and had a cover which fit over the top. Some of the covers were stamped steel; others were fiberglass or molded composit material. I looked inside several of these battery wells, and the batteries were entirely sealed and had no ports for adding water. One M-of-W fellow told me the batteries were designed to last for a year (with the lamps being lit 24 hours per day,) and then changed out. I did pull out one of the lamps for examination, and it was a 1.5 volt lamp, bayonet style, with twist lock, and having a single contact on the base. The receptacles and lamp bases were the BA-15S type, the same size as present 12 volt automotive tail light lamps. The actual glass envelope (or "bulb") was round (not elongated or tubular or oval) and was about the size of a nickel coin. 

This system of a sealed low voltage battery using a 1.5 volt lamp was marketed to the railroad industry under the name "Atomic (something-or-other)," but I do not remember the exact name. Ads for this system were run for a few years in the railroad trade press, and then the advertising disappeared. >From the point of view of Train and Engine crews, switch markers run by this system were adequately illuminated for night use. 

Whether a switch lamp was operated by voltage off the signal system, or by voltage from a buried battery, a black 2-conductor stranded wire of about 3/8" outside diameter was run from the ground up into the marker and terminated on a small terminal block which used the standard ARSA (American Railway Signal Association) post/nut/thread combination standardized in 1910 (and still used today.) I no longer have a chunk of the wire, but I believe it was of 16 gauge. (16 gauge is the standard size for "case wire" in railroad signal installations.) The insulation was of good quality and I never saw it degrade, even at the point where it entered the acidic environment of the cinders. If the switch marker were mounted atop the pole of a high-level swch stand, it was tied to the upright rod in several places, using a bare piece of whatever sollid wire was available. 

As I recall, the Gray markers you inquire about simply had a hole drilled in the bottom sheet for lead in of the wire, and I don't think a grommet was provided. Other type electric switch markers (e.g. the Western Railway Supply "cannonball" type, which was widely used on the N&W) were provided with a threaded, right angle steel connector which threaded into the cast iron base of the lamp and had a knurled aluminum tightening ring and a conical rubber weather bushing at the outside end. 

The W.R.R.S "cannonball" electric markers, which became pretty much the N&W standard in early 1960s, used 5 3/8" lenses, also having the "spreadlite" ribbing on the exterior surface. 

All switch markers I ever saw on the N&W were fitted with a cast bottom female receptacle allowing them to be dropped in place over a standard 2 1/2" tapered rectangular mounting post on the switch stand. Some of these receptacles had a threaded hole in the side, allowing for a tie-down bolt to be inserted (1/2" hex head.) I do not recall the bolt and thread size, but can measure one, if you want. 

The last place I saw kerosene switch markers in use was at East Radford, in the early 1970s. Those were made by Armspear and had 3 1/2" lenses with the "spreadlite" ribbing on the front of the glass. 

Interestingly, the N&W used Red and Green colors for both Main Track and non-Main Track switches. Many other roads used Red and Green only on Main Track switches, and used other colors for non-Main Track switches. 

Some of the larger states had Public Utility Commission orders stipulating which switches must have iluminated switch markers. In Pennsylvania, for instance, the order was based on so-many-moves-per-day, and I think their number was 12 moves per day. I doubt that any of the states the N&W operated in had any such requirements, so the placing of illuminated switch markers was probably up to the disgresion of the railroad. (Do the N&W M-of-W Standard Plans contain a formal criterion for making this determination...?) 

The only exact memories I have of the Gray switch markers is that they were used on the Punkin Vine, some places on the Shenandoah Valley, and on the Main Tracks between East Roanoke and WB. The switch at Webster may also have been equipped with a Gray. (My memories go back to 1964.) Finally, I never saw a Gray switch marker rusted out, but they were a good, water-tight design and the N&W kept things pretty well painted back then. 

Illuminated switch markers, whether oil or electric, require maintenance. And that ranslates into manpower, and as we all know, manpower is that aswful thing which "dilutes shareholder value," or whatever other mantra is being put out by the Harvard Business School today. And that is why illuminated switch markers went away. 

You would probably play hob trying to find a 1.5 volt lamp for your Gray marker today. Why don't you just use a lamp standard to today's world? I have converted all my markers, switch markers and other railroad lamps to LED operation, as they are all lit 24/7. 

Do you know who made the Grays, and what happened to the company ? 

Sorry I don't remember more. Yes, I should have paid closer attention to the details as I was putting in my 15 years of train service on four Divisions of the N&W... 

-- abram burnett 

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