JeffPo's Long Island Railroad Lantern Page
Created: 11/0619
Last update: 11/06/19
This Dressel lantern was used by the Long Island Railroad. The brim of the lid on the lantern is stamped LIRR. The handle has a rubber tube over the metal. This might be for use in colder climates, or it could be for protection from electrical shock given much of the LIRR is electrified.
The amber globe (officially yellow) is etched with LIRR.. The amber/orange globe means it could have been used to mark camp cars (for workers staying overnight), or for notifying the train engineer that there were Form 19 orders to pick up. Form 19 orders are "hooped" (affixed to a stick with a hoop on it that the engineer could put his arm through to grab it) up to the engineer and conductor once the train is underway. People tending the railroad track switches also used amber globed lanterns for signaling.
Long Island Railroad
The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) was charted in 1834. It provided a daily service between New York and Boston. After what would later become the New Haven Railroad provided this service in 1849 by a land route through Connecticut, the LIRR turned its attention to providing service in Long Island. While there were competing railroads on the island, the LIRR acquired all the other railroads and consolidated them into the LIRR. However, despite its control of the area, the LIRR was not profitable for much of its history. In 1900, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) bought a controlling interest of the LIRR. The PRR subsidized the LIRR during the first half of the 1900s. The process of electrifying the railroad began in 1905.
The PRR stopped subsidizing the LIRR after WWII due to the downturn of the railroad industry. The state of New York began subsidizing the LIRR in the 1950s and 1960s. The state bought the LIRR in 1965, and it was placed under control of the Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority (MCTA), later to become the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).
The Long Island Railroad is the busiest commuter railroad in the United States, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. It is one of the oldest railroads in the United States, still operating under its original name and charter.