I own a vintage train lantern and I am looking to learn more about it. Do you have a recommendation of which forum I might post to about it? Thank you!
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Marker lantern. When in use, there would be one at each upper rear corner of a caboose or passenger car. In motion, red would be displayed front and rear. If the train was stopped clear of the main track, the lantern would be rotated to show green or yellow to the rear (which was a matter of the specific railroad's rules.)
To show just how important these lanterns were, the definition of a train in Peter Josserand's Rights of Trains, a breakdown and explanation of steam-era rules, is:
A locomotive or locomotives, with or without cars, showing markers. (Emphasis added.)
Modern passenger cars have built-in electric markers. The light on the device fastened to the rear coupler of the last car serves the same function for freights.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with markers)