JeffPo's Pyle Caboose Marker Lamps Page
Last update: 10/26/15
Here you see a couple of caboose marker lamps. While I label them as from the Pyle National company, given they look exactly like what that company produced, these aren't actually labeled with the Pyle label. These markers are about 6 or so inches tall and vary quite a bit from the large, kerosene powered marker lamps of years gone by. These are small, compact electric lamps made out of aluminum. They would go on each side of the caboose at the back. Each has a single red lens, and 3 amber lenses. You can rotate the head by loosening the thumbscrew at the top so that the red faces inward (i.e. indicating to following trains that this train is clear of the main line track).
There is also a case where the two marker lamps would actually display different colors from each other at the same time. If there are multiple tracks, and the train is going against the normal current of traffic flow, it would display a red (or amber for some railroads) signal to the rear on the outside of the tracks, and it would display a green signal to the rear on the inside next to the track that is the normal current. Consider the above image with two mainline tracks. Let’s assume the track on the right side is the normal current flow of traffic for a train going away from us. The train is on the left track. But the normal traffic flow for the direction the train is traveling is actually on the track on the right. So the marker lamps show red on the left side, which is on the outside of the tracks, and green on the inside, next to the normal current of traffic flow track. If the train had been traveling on the track on the right, which would be the normal flow of traffic, then it would display the typical red signal on both sides of the railcar.
I also have the mounting brackets. I'm thinking about mounting them to a board and then mounting that board to a wall. I'd love to find an old caboose somewhere that I could attach these to and snap a picture. While I still prefer the older, kerosene version of marker lamps, I also like the style of these little electric versions. They represent the ending days of separate, individual marker lamps. Soon after these, cabooses and passenger cars started integrating the rear of train marker lights into the actual design of the rail car. Freight trains don't even have cabooses anymore. The last car will have a single flashing light mechanism, which also serves as an electronic measure of various train components. Passenger cars have red markers molded into the car, just like your automobile has.