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That guy wiping the lenses and filling the "fonts" was know as "THE LAMP MAN"...We had a Mexican guy with only one eye who did this job at Joliet when I was ATM there in 61-62...He was, of course, known as "Mexican Pete...or One Eyed Pete" in those pre PC days. He always appeared as though he took a bath fully clothed in his Lamp Oil..He was the main switch sweeper in the winter...I always feared for him when he got too close the the fire the switchmen always had going...He could have instantaneously combusted.
Pete
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From: qutlx1@aol.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thu, Apr 23, 2015 1:27 pm Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Q Switch Marker Lamp with Amber lenses ?
Sounds logical Pete.
Maybe as time went by red/green became standard to reduce costs. I say this because my first visit to the Aurora coach yard and Eola would have been around 1962/64 and I recall only red and green. When I was doing my "volunteer hostling" at Eola from '68-72 and sometimes riding with the switch crews all switch lamps were red/green.
When I started getting paid for being on the property in '73 all switch markers at Eola,Savanna and the couple at Aurora depot were red and green. At one point probably around the time the Aurora storehouse was being prepared for demolition all the switches in the Aurora Hill yard received brand new marker lights with the tags still on the lenses. Needless to say they didn't complete a full weeks service. It was amazing how fast they left the property.
I have clear memory of sitting on an Earlville turn engine in the west yard at Eola waiting to leave and watching a senior member of the section going about his route. He wiped the lenses,fueled the pot on each switch and moved over to the next one.
Leo Phillipp
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