This GB&W caboose marker lantern dates to the 1920s.
Caboose marker lights were used to denote the status of the end of a train. Usually the red lens would face the rear of the caboose, but when the train was clear in a siding the green
lens would face back to indicate to approaching trains that is was safe to pass.
This Adlake #250 Kero lantern is marked GB&W RR on the top of the smoke dome.
The number '39' on the rim of the lamp is a serial number for the
lantern, used to keep track of the lantern when it was issued to
trainmen.
The Adams & Westlake Adlake #250 Kero lantern was introduced around 1926 and produced until about 1930 when the design was replaced with the #300 and #400 models. Adlake is the last of the
original railroad lantern producers still in business: although the actual railroad market is gone, the company still makes lanterns for railroad historical societies, tourist lines and the like.
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