I have a set of train order blades from Conway, AR, obtained under similar circumstances. The signal maintainer was dismantling the signal in 1973 after the Conway train order office had moved from the depot downtown to a prefab building on the south edge of town. An official with the maintainer had already retrieved the lamp, and they were getting ready to drop the two blade assemblies onto the brick platform. I asked for and was given the blades, but they could not find a rope to lower the blades down, so they were dropped – breaking the lenses and cracking some of the porcelain on the blade itself. The maintainer later brought two new blades that had been in storage in Morrilton so I did get replacement blades, but had to purchase new lenses. The entire blade was coated porcelain finish… red with white stripe on the front, and all white on the back.

Steve, on the question of the width of the white stripe, I don’t have my blades in front of me, but believe the dimension to be more like 3 or 4 inches wide, not 3/4 inch, if I am reading your post correctly.

There was another, earlier style of blade which was somewhat ribbed at the mounting base, but still porcelain baked on metal – Conway had one of each.

Bill Pollard