I just picked these up for a good price, I asked a guy having a sale if he has any railroad stuff he brought out these. He didn’t know what they were but they sure did look like classification lenses to me, is that what they are?
I don’t recognize them as working with any class lights I’ve ever seen. But every RR was a little different in terms of how they implemented such things, so I can’t say they’re not.
They actually look more like a globe designed to work with those protected housings used for typical screw-base household type bulbs. The bulb screws into the fixture, one of your globes screws onto the fixture, then a protective cage made of metal attaches over the globe.
Those are for explosion proof light fixtures. Nothing for a railroad.
Randy
Well good thing I only paid a couple bucks, why are they green and red? Thanks everyone for the replies
Mike
So that you can tell port from starboard?
There are some images here: https://www.google.com/search?q=explosion+proof+light+fixture+colored+globes&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS443US443&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=aBx0U9D4KsK2sATA8YCoAQ&ved=0CFUQ7Ak&biw=1024&bih=579
I think at place like movie studios the red light meant that they were shooting a scene and that no one was supposed to enter. So maybe red meant stop and green meant go.
Oh duh, I should have known that I basically live on Lake Erie. Now you said that they do look like nautical shiplights. Thanks
Mike
It’s also possible that they’re from a locomotive, but they’re not likely class lights. At the steel plant where I worked, most of the locomotives were converted to remote control, and part of that conversion included lights, mounted on the cab’s sides, to indicate to the groundperson running the loco that the appropriate radio command had been received.
They’re a little difficult to see in this company publicity photo, but they’re mounted on the cab side at the rear corner, and just below the eaves. From top down, Green, Red, Amber, and Clear:
They also used similar lights above the trucks, but with red lense covers. These were partially for safety concerns, but when the locos were manned, probably also to help show at night if the loco were moving - with a heavy drag of ingot buggies, even on a slight grade, it would have been easy to slip the wheels and stall the train. I don’t know what the ingot buggies weighed, but a typical drag might be three open hearth heats and perhaps 3 BOF heats - that’s about 3,000 tons, not including the weight of the 45-or-so ingot buggies or 6 BOF cars.
Here’s a newly-painted unit in pre-remote control days, with the ground lights lit:
…and a night shot, obviously with a slow shutter speed:
Still, it’s difficult to instinctively link those glass covers to to a railway locomotive, as they were used in a lot of industrial applications - I can think of dozens in our mill alone: crane status indicators, pit-cover crane status indicators, overhead door indicators, elevator useage, protected general lighting, and li
They are actually lenses for Vaporproof Lighting:
Frank