Stephen,
I have two photos of Q gas electrics that my dad took in 1942. One is of #9845 at Aurora and it has two steam locomotive type class lamps, only one of which appears to be plugged in! While the lamps are off, the class lamp appears to be the type in which there was a internal rotating assembly with two green lenses. When the train was running extra, the green lenses were rotated out of position so that the outed fresnal lens would show white. If a second section was following, the green lenses would be rotated into position with an external thumb lever. If the train was running as a scheduled train, the lamps would be out as they are in Dad's photo. The second photo is of G-E #9844 at, I believe, Ottawa. It is carrying no class lamps and probably usually ran as a scheduled train. BTW, I have a pair of the class lamps described above, but they came from a Santa Fe switcher out in California.
Most class lamps could be set for scheduled (off), extra (white) or second section (green). This carried over to diesels, too, except they were built in and most of them also had a red position for back up movements. Some steam locomotives also had built in class lamps. These were usually on streamlined locomotives.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO Wed May 9, 2012 6:27 pm (PDT)
Hi All:
I am am modeling a Doodlebug following CB&Q practice for my railroad HO (Mississippi River and Western) in the Ia & Ill area and was questioning what color was the front markers of the doodlebug when lighted. I assume they didn't have 2nd sections so was no need for the green markers but then who knows. Were all lens White or were they a mix of Green and white with the color depending on how they were turned such as was the case in way car markers or did they have internal optics to make them show green if needed.
Thanks,
Stephen Miller
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