As I was sitting in the locomotive tonight, waiting for all the happy families to board the “Polar Express” so I could haul them to the “North Pole,” I looked down the track at the switch stands and their reflective targets. And a question arose in my mind…
When I was young, I remember one switch in town specifically. It led off the C&O on what was CSX’s Saginaw Sub (I don’t know what it was called back in the day). Lake States operates that line today.
The siding ran to the station, and another spur off that siding ran to a jelly factory (Owen & Mowry). There was also plenty of room for team track operations. That siding is gone now, the station and the jelly factory replaced recently with condos.
So, back to the question. The switch had a real, live, kerosene switch lantern on it. What I wondered to myself (and now to you) is who maintained it?
Milford (location of said switch) apparently had a station agent until the mid-sixties (which is when I saw the lantern), per a news article recently shared on an FB “I remember…” page. Is it possible that keeping the switch lamp in kero, and performing other maintenance on it was his responsibility?
Or was it possible that an MOW person periodically travelled the line, refueling and otherwise maintaining the lanterns? There had to be others along the line, including at the switch for the lumber yard a short distance north.
From a medium size yard on the B&O in the 1960s: The oldest trackman on the section gang whose territory included the yard had the job of keeping the yard switches cleaned, oiled and adjusted and he also took care of the switch lamps. The lamps would burn for several days on one filling and I’m guessing he got to each lamp twice a week. There’s something about the glow of those oil lamps at night…
Much like the old spherical highway construction warning lamps, still in use into the fifties. At the beginning of Double Indemnity (1944) some are shown as Fred McMurray’s car is racing to the insurance building. As I recall, the lamps were around a Pacific Electric crew working on tracks.
And, there were switchstands that had no lamps. Those in my home town, which had daytime service only, had no lamps. Nor did the stands on the wye in Reform, Alabama. I am not sure if any of the wye track belonged to the AT&N; I know one part of the wye was GM&O track.
“That was the smell of railroading back then!” Love it!
Two weeks ago I was doing a train show with my friend Charlie. Charlie brought along some railroad lanterns to sell, and we had a gent who was very interested in one.
“How do you fill it?” he asked. Well, Charlies hands were bothering him a bit so I demontrated how to open the lantern, remove the globe and the pot, and how to remove the burner assembly. As I took the burner out I saw the wick and batting were still damp with kerosene. “Here,” I said, “Have a smell of old-time railroading!”
“Oh, yeah!” he said with a smile. Bought the lantern too!
When I was much younger, my babysitter’s house was right next to a busy main. It seemed like every other day around 3 pm two guys would come putting down the main in a speeder, stopping to fill the switch lamps as they progressed.
My location was about 5 miles from their yard, and they were always stopping “outbound”. Can 't say as I ever recall seeing them make the return trip, so that must have happened after 5:30 pm