Caboose marker light orientation

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m putting together a Roundhouse caboose and I’ve come to installing the marker lights (jewels) on top. One ‘light’ is red and the other a yellowish amber color. Digging around on the internet, information on the rules indicate that the red ‘light’ is facing rearward, which makes sense to me. I’m I correct on this?

Jarrell

2

Yep.

I’ve always seen/heard/been told that the rule was red to the rear, amber (or green sometimes) to the sides.

3

In most situations, yes, the red is to the rear, and the yellow or green to the sides and front.

In some situations, a train would turn one of the markers so that yellow or green would show to the rear. This would be when a train is in a siding, the crew would turn the marker that’s closest to the mainline track to yellow or green to let another train that’s coming up behind them know that their train is in the siding and in the clear. But this would rarely be done on a train that’s moving.

BTW, the New Haven used red / yellow markers, while other roads like the PRR used red / green markers.

Paul A. Cutler III

Weather Or No Go New Haven

4

Thanks Dan and Paul. Paul, I guess that explains why the marker lights on this particular model of an Atlanta & West Point is yellow’ish and red, not green and red. They weren’t always green and red.

Thanks,

Jarrell

5

Red is almost universally to the rear. The colors showing in the other directions are often dependent on the specific railroads rules. I’ve seen real caboose lamps with:
green forward, amber to the side and red to the rear,
amber to the front and side,
amber to the front with red to the side and rear,
AND
red showing in all directions - which is how I run my cabboses.

6

If you are operating TTTO in the transition era, here is the ungarbled word (from Rights of Trains, by Peter Josserand, Simmons - Boardman, 1957.)

“Rule 19. The following signals will be displayed to the rear of every train, as markers, to indicate the rear of the train.”

This is followed by illustrations which boil down to:

  • Running on single track or with the current of traffic on multiple tracks - RED, both sides. This includes stopped not clear of the main track.
  • Stopped clear of main track - YELLOW (or GREEN,) both sides.
  • Running with or against the current of traffic on three or more tracks - YELLOW (or GREEN) on the side where an overtaking train may pass, RED on the opposite side.

Whether the non-red marker would be yellow or green depended on the rules of the specific railroad.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with red-only markers per JNR practice)

7

Now that is really interesting. I would have never guessed that the lamps were non-symetrical.