On a dark rail yard, a swinging lantern was a whole language. A raised light held still meant "stop." A gentle up-and-down motion meant "come ahead." A wide circle swung overhead meant "back up." Every trainman learned to read and send these signals by hand.
Colored lamps did the same work on the equipment itself: red marker lamps on the rear of a train, switch lamps that told an engineer whether a switch was lined for the main line or a siding. Most burned kerosene and had to be trimmed, filled and lit by hand.
The lanterns and lamps in this case are the tools of that older, quieter way of keeping trains apart and moving safely.
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