JeffPo's Erie Railroad Lantern Page
Last update: 10/29/09
This lantern is by the Armspear Manufacturing Company. It belonged to the Erie Railroad. By it's clear globe, you can tell it was used for general rail yard hand signaling.
The globe is also etched
with the Erie logo.
These type of lanterns
used a drop in fuel fount. You had to open the top of the lantern and
remove the globe in order to remove the fuel fount for re-fueling.
Erie Railroad
Erie engine #2730. Taken on August 5, 1939, at Waldwick, NJ.
The Erie Railroad officially began as the New York and Erie Railroad chartered in 1832. In 1848, the railroad built the Starrucca Viaduct, a beautiful stone railroad bridge over the Starrucca Creek in Pennsylvania. It is 1040 feet long and 100 feet high and still in use today. After bankruptcy in 1861, the name was changed to Erie Railway. It went through bankruptcy again in 1875 to become the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway. After another bankruptcy in 1893 (see a pattern here?), it emerged as the Erie Railroad Company. In 1960, the railroad merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and became known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. The railroad connects New York City with Lake Erie, and several cities in upstate New York.
The Starrucca Viaduct as seen in a 1920 photo.