Hand Lamp Glass

I know this has probably been asked a million times and I know they are hard to find but if you dont ask, you dont get.

I have three hand paraffin lamps and unfortunately all need the colour aspect glass replaced. Does anyone have a clue where I could go looking for them???

Thanks in advance.

 

There were two types of glass used. A single sheet for each aspect carefully curved to fit the diameter of the lamp. The other rather cheaper looking answer was aprox 1/2 wide strips of coloured glass packed edge to edge and just taking up the sapace.

I managed to get a piece of red glass from a normal glass cutters to replace that in a side lamp but that of course was flat but could be cut it in to strips.

Whilst red is very much a common colour getting the correct blue for the green may be more of a problem. Do you have a sample to work from?

An alternative to glass is perspex which may be easier to bend.

 

A couple of our working hand-lamps at St Albans South signal box use a thin flexible plastic filter - possibly similar or identical to stage lighting filters, which are flame retardant! For the green filter, try "Peacock Blue" - in conjunction with the yellow flame this gives you a green light.

 

Interestingly the BR(S) and LMS lamps have the sectioned glass that you describe and I have some sections for each colour as examples. The MOD lamp has the curved glass with the red intact but none of the others. Have you got any links to the perspex?

John, do you have any details of the flexible plastic filters that you mentioned?

Thanks

 

I never pursued the perspex line as I found the red glass. I have two BR handlamps. The first purchased from Co lectors corner has one piece glass. The second I got at a gala stall for a song has the strips. What is anoying is that collectors corner had boxes of the strips which probably ended up in the rubbish.

By the way you can make a new front lens. Start with a sheet of suitable glass. Cut the cornes off progressivly to get a rough round shape. With a carborundum block and plenty of water grind down the rough edges to form a circular disk. When satisfied with the round disk with the stone and water put a 45degree bevel on the front edge of glass. It took me over a week

 

There are several brands of stage lighting filters. The two I've had most dealings with are Lee Filters - Peacock Blue is No. 115 in their range, and "Cinemoid" by Strand Electric - not certain if the latter firm is still trading, but their Peacock Blue is No.15 in their range. Look for a stage lighting supplier, although they are far and few between. If you know anyone at a certain Stratford theatre, they might have some off-cuts they could let you have? Yellow filters - I've found Chrome Orange (despite it's name) is a good match and for Red, Primary Red or Medium Red filters - the latter lets a little more light through. (These filters are the result of experimentation at the preserved St Albans South signal box where we needed filters for some of our signals and indicators.)

 

rosco gel is another suppler
https://www.rosco.com/filters/

for lee try this
http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-list.html

try White light for supply
http://www.whitelight.ltd.uk/

a word of warning although gel is flame retardant it does melt
Having been a stage lighting tech (fancy name for a sweaty roadie ) for nearly 40 years I have a good collection of gel in my cellar. I will see if I can find the colours suggested above if I have it will message you.

Colin

 

Thanks for the additional info - my stage lighting experiences are all on the non-professional side of things! There is some 35mm/1.5inch clearance between the location of the flame and the gel - provided the lamp is not tilted beyond about 50-60 degrees, there is little likelihood of the flame getting too close to the gel, although there may be some sooting-up which needs occasional cleaning off. (A messy job!)

 

It all depends what you will use them for. If mainly as shelf objects then gel no problem. If for actual use, shunting, RA etc 50 to 60 deg might be experienced

 

Twoscoops I have located some gel in the dark reseces of my cellar, so it you could message me a postal address to send it to I will get it off to you by the week end.
have included

106 primary red
115 peacock blue
plus a couple of others you might want to try

116 med blue/green
139 dark green
164 flame red

Cheers
Colin

 

As an aside, it's a little more complicated than that regarding the curved glass type. Firstly the size and radius of the curved glass is different depending on whether it's a guards (red/clear/green) or fogging (red/amber/green/clear) lamp and secondly the designs of lamp were different, depending on the region/railway company manufacturer. Try fitting the glass from an LNER guard's lamp to a GWR one, for example.

It will be interesting to see how the OP gets on with lighting gel, given how thin it is. Don't be too quick to get rid of your gel, Colin - with LED taking over the stage lighting world, give it a couple of decades and you will be the best friend of every band who wants the retro par can look.