JeffPo's Pennsylvania Railroad Handlan Lantern Page
Last update: 5/12/11
This Handlan lantern was used by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It has an amber globe (officially yellow). I love the pear shaped globes that were used with the Handlan lanterns.
The top of the lid is stamped in the center with the familiar Pennsylvania keystone with PRR inside. The fuel fount also has the PRR emblem stamped on the bottom of it.
The amber/orange globe means it was used to mark camp cars, or for Form 19 orders, or maybe by people tending the switches.
Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad M1a locomotive on display at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was chartered in 1846 and had completed a track to Chicago by 1856. By the end of the 19th century, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had expanded to St. Louis, Missouri, and Cincinnati, Ohio, in the west and to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Norfolk, Virginia, in the south and east, ultimately becoming a 10,000-mile system. Although it had prospered in the early part of the 20th century, by the 1950's it was losing considerable money annually. In 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad and created Penn Central Transportation Company, which later absorbed the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. The company's holdings have since been split among Conrail and Amtrak.