Railroad Forums 

  • Marker Lights

  • General discussion about locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment
General discussion about locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment

Moderator: John_Perkowski

 #215365  by CarterB
 
Besides some of the more common RYGW marker rules, were there any railroads or situations where colors other than RYGorW were used for marker lights?

Did military hospital trains or other military movements (Civil War onwards) ever have special marker color rules?
 #215617  by TB Diamond
 
Do you mean classification lights? A marker light is on the rear car of a train or trailing unit of a lite engine consist and denotes the end of the train. On the line that I worked for, classification lights, per operating rule, were on the lead locomotive only. This operating rule was abolished several years ago.

 #215759  by CarterB
 
Nope, I meant marker lights (lanterns) for the rear of the train.
 #216013  by TB Diamond
 
Thanks for the clarification. The only color for a marker on the outfit I worked for was red, either solid or flashing. The rule was later ammended to include a locomotive headlight on low after DP came into being. Seems the RRs can change the rules to meet their needs when they have a need to.

 #216048  by Aji-tater
 
You ask if there were any colors used besides red, yellow, green or white. That does not leave much else to choose from! Blue is already used to indicate workmen on or under equipment so it would not be used as a marker. Lunar (pale bluish-white) was sometimes used in block signals. Some roads used purple to indicate a derail. I never heard of orange used for anything on the railroad. But none of those as far as I've seen was ever used for rear-end markers. Why would they? The yellow and red, or green and red, markers were pretty much standard.

 #216764  by CarterB
 
A poster in another forum had mentioned that during the Civil War that perhaps the markers were a purple color on the hospital trains. I have seen nothing so far to confirm nor deny such.

 #216816  by SRS125
 
CarterB wrote:A poster in another forum had mentioned that during the Civil War that perhaps the markers were a purple color on the hospital trains. I have seen nothing so far to confirm nor deny such.
I have seen purple lenzes befor on E-Bay on older Lanturns but there not something you see on there every day. Most marker lights that I have seen are Red White, Amber, Green, and Blue. For lights on the trail end of a train I have seen Red mostley being used and althow rare I have seen Amber lenzed end of trains as well.

 #217065  by Aji-tater
 
SRS, you said you have seen blue marker lights. I don't believe it. For probably 100 years or so blue has been used to protect equipment while men are working on or around it. I have never heard of it being used as a color for a marker.

Re-reading your post one more time maybe you are confused about what a marker means - a marker light was displayed at the end of a train. Could be you saw blue lights or lanterns but they were not markers. Or maybe somebody had an old marker that was missing a lens, and found a blue one which happened to fit.

 #217218  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
The headlight burning on dim, has ALWAYS been considered a substitute, for markers, on the rear of a train. Long before DP was ever used, Light engines, and helpers have had them since the rules about continuously burning a headlight came into existance. Locos usually had markers installed on them, and they were used, where required, ALONG with a dim burning headlight. I have seen "blue" signals, along the ROW (ever had to call a signal "high blue"?) I know of several locations, on several railroads, where the green signal somehow shows a blue light. We still regard it as green, but it is clearly blue. I am sure any engineer, with enough miles under his belt, will recall one somewhere. I don't know if it's a lens installed from the wrong source, a lens/lamp combination, or what. Markers are accepted in the "red to orange" range. I have seen yellow, as well, but not as widely distributed as orange, or red. Blue provides protection, for Mechanical forces, whether carmen, or roundhouse persons, and recently added, were trackworkers, in sidings. The old green, white and red, head end markers, were for designating extras, second sections, and last following section, of the first section. They were not for marking the end of the train, although Conrail did utilize high visibility red marker lights, on most of the road diesels, right up to the end. These were used in conjuction with dim headlights. They are not, as some have speculated, used for marking the rear of a train, i.e. marker lights. (those Conrail engines excepted) Flags and lights, of the same colors (red, white and green) have always been carried on locos, until recent times. Markers, either on the hack, or hung off the last car, have always been red, or orange. (with the occasional yellow) Some ancient roads, used to also have green lenses, on the markers, to be turned facing the rear, when a train had cleared the main, for a following train, or to indicate a following section was the last section, of a train, to go by. Regards :-D

 #217229  by SRS125
 
Aji-tater wrote:SRS, you said you have seen blue marker lights. I don't believe it. For probably 100 years or so blue has been used to protect equipment while men are working on or around it. I have never heard of it being used as a color for a marker.

Re-reading your post one more time maybe you are confused about what a marker means - a marker light was displayed at the end of a train. Could be you saw blue lights or lanterns but they were not markers. Or maybe somebody had an old marker that was missing a lens, and found a blue one which happened to fit.
I had seen a Blue Marker Light once may have been something that was part of a maintaince train or something its been a long time thow.

I do rember Conrail with Yellow and or Orange EOT's in the early 90's I dp reall seeing one EOT with a Green lenzed EOT once someone must have thought it to be a red lenz and put it in by accdent.
 #217386  by TB Diamond
 
Great jog to the recall. When I began with the RR a loco headlight was used as a marker on locomotives at the rear of a train such as helpers or lite movements. However, this was done in conjunction with the classification lights in the red lens configuration. By the time DP came around, Rule 19 (if recall is correct) had been abolished (locomotives had the lights removed and the holes patched over). Therefore, the rear marker became the marker on DP units at the rear of a train. A few years prior to my retirement, DP units at the rear of the train were being equipped with rear end devices to serve as a marker in addition to the headlight on low. Per Rule 26 (again, if recall is correct), a blue light (or blue flag) always served as notice that men were working on, under or around rail equipment and that the equipment should not be moved until the blue light or flag had been taken down. In addition, the blue light or flag must not be taken down by other than the same class of workmen that placed it.

 #217421  by BR&P
 
Hey Golden-Arm, I think you just called me ancient, because I can recall green lenses on the rear end. Maybe I AM approaching ancient because I can't recall which road it was. In the 1960's NYC and B&O bay window cabooses had electric markers. If I recall, one road showed yellow to front and side, red to the rear. The other had green front and side, red to the rear. Darned if I can remember which was which. It's hell to get old, but I guess it beats the alternative!

SRS may have seen a string of camp cars in a siding with a blue light hung on them. While we usually associate blue lights with car knockers and engine house forces, they were also used to indicate occupied camp cars.

 #217934  by FarmallBob
 
BR&P wrote: If I recall, one road showed yellow to front and side, red to the rear. The other had green front and side, red to the rear. Darned if I can remember which was which.
BR&P - Thru the mid-60's I recall rear end markers on the B&O Rochester Branch trains showing green forward and side, and red to the rear. Later a single flashing red facing the rear was used. ...FB

 #218003  by SRS125
 
BR&P wrote:Hey Golden-Arm, I think you just called me ancient, because I can recall green lenses on the rear end. Maybe I AM approaching ancient because I can't recall which road it was. In the 1960's NYC and B&O bay window cabooses had electric markers. If I recall, one road showed yellow to front and side, red to the rear. The other had green front and side, red to the rear. Darned if I can remember which was which. It's hell to get old, but I guess it beats the alternative!

SRS may have seen a string of camp cars in a siding with a blue light hung on them. While we usually associate blue lights with car knockers and engine house forces, they were also used to indicate occupied camp cars.
That would be correct I have seen Blue lights on Camp Cars back in the mid 90's I recall seeing them on Conrail Camp Cars along with signs protecting them as well.

I had also seen this done on Former Conrail Camp Cars that were baught by the Ontario Northland Railroad which were parked on a sideing near Tomagami, Ontario.