Loco rear marker lights

[Anonymous]

Here's a good question for some of you classic trains experts.

I am modeling the late steam era in HO and am installing classification, head and backup lights on my locos. However, some have housings for other rear lighting and the top rear corners of the tenders.

Seems to me when I was young, back in the '50s some of these lights were red on both sides and some were red on fireman's side and green on engineer side.

Does anyone remember these lights? If so were some red and some green or is my memory playing tricks on me?[?]

[jimrice4449]

first "rear markers" is redundant. All markers are to the rear. On a steam eng the lights at the top of the smokebox front are class lights. The are either all white all green or out. If out it indicates the train is either a single regularrly scheduled train or the final section of a regularly scheduled trat. Green indicates a section of a regularly scheduled train with another section following it. White indicates an extra (unscheduled) train. An engine running backwards would display markers on the pilot beam (Pennsy engines pre-WWII had permanently mounted markers in this position) Markers for most RRs showed red to the rear and green to the sides. The exceptions were Pennsy, N&W, and Santa Fe and (I think) Rio Grande. If a train pulled into a siding to meet or be passed by another train it would turn the makers in their bracket so that the red was towards the tender (or caboose) and so invisible and would show green (or yellow) to the front, side and rear indicating it was in the clear/

[jimrice4449]

Two more items. The PRR< N&W<and Santa Fe showed yellow to the sides (as did the Rio Grande, I think) Also the Santa Fe had some engines with tnders having permanent red lights mounted along the top rear edge of the tender tank along with the larger white back-up lights