N&W lantern on eBay

[NW Mailing List]

Brian

The N&W was originally organized as Norfolk and Western Rail Road after the AM&O went into bankruptcy in May 1881. Then the N&W RR went bankrupt and was reorganized in September 1896 as Norfolk and Western Railway. 

As far as I know, there was no government agency at the time to prevent two railroads from having the same initials, therefore you could have the Norwich and Wooster, Norfolk and Western and perhaps a few others.
From the railroadiana online data base:

NATCHEZ & WESTERN, Disposition/Successor: MISSOURI PACIFIC
NEBRASKA & WESTERN, Disposition/Successor: GREAT NORTHERN
NEWPORT & WICKFORD Disposition/Successor: NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD
NORFOLK & WESTERN Locations: VA, NC, WV, OH
NORTHERN & WESTERN, Disposition/Successor: CANADIAN NATIONAL
NORWICH & WESTERLY, Locations: RI, CT
NORWICH & WORCESTER, Disposition/Successor: NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD

This lantern is called a “fixed globe” type, which means the globe is not readily removed from the frame. It was introduced in the 1840s, and by the time of the transcontinental railroad completion in 1869, a newer design, most called the “tall globe” lantern had been introduced about 1865. These globes were removable, and a huge improvement over the previous “fixed globe” lantern.

It is most likely by the time of the arrival of the N&W in 1881, the fixed globes were rapidly disappearing or already gone for lack of convenience. 

I’ve seen lanterns marked with both N&W RR and many with N&W RY. But the initials and dates are always a bit suspect, as apparently during the USRA era, the N&W became a RR under them, and things have been marked N&W RR that are clearly not early enough to be the 1881-1896 period.

It is a neat lantern and in the display case in Roanoke at the Archives is a lantern of this type, with a cut-style “N&W” in the globe. Yes, when it was given to us, we knew it was not Norfolk and Western, but accepted as a great example of an early lantern that could well have been used on the predecessor roads.

Best
Ken Miller

> On Feb 6, 2023, at 6:35 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Dumb question time - was the N&W always a Railway? Or was it at one time the N&W Railroad before being reorganized into the N&W Railway?  It seems that an N&WRY marking would be appropriate to the famous Roanoke-based object of this group’s devotion.
> 
> Norwich (CT) and Worcester (MA) Railroad seems a more likely candidate for the lantern shown.
> 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/285134748928
> 
> Either way, this is a very interesting lantern - I have never seen one like this before.
> 
> Brian Gilleran
> Herndon, VA
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Feb 6, 2023, at 11:17 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> All:
>> 
>> As an FYI
>> 
>> https://www.ebay.com/itm/285134748928
>> 
>> Purporting to be a Norfolk and Western early lantern, already at over $400 as of this morning.
>> 
>> I will preface by saying that I am not a lantern expert, but having done a bit of research on this, can say this design lantern dates to about 1849, which pre-dates the Norfolk and Western itself by 22 years.
>> 
>> While it would be nice to think it is so, it is far more likely the Norwich and Wooster railroad founded about 1833 and running its first trains about two years later.
>> 
>> Lantern design had changed by the 1881 enactment of the Norfolk and Western, and this design had long been supplanted by more common designs.
>> 
>> Just wanting folks to know in case they thought this might be something Norfolk and Western. It is indeed a rare lantern, but in no way shape or form related to Norfolk and Western.
>> 
>> Best
>> Ken Miller
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