Drumhead (sign)
The term drumhead refers to a type of removable lighted sign that was prevalent on American railroads of the first half of the 20th century. The sign was posted on the rear of passenger trains and consisted of a fully-enclosed box with lights inside it that would illuminate a tinted panel showing the logo of the railroad or specific train. Since the box and the sign were usually circular in shape, they resembled small drums; thus these signs came to be known as drumheads.
Railroad drumheads were removable so they could be mounted on different passenger cars (usually on the rear of observations) as needed for specific trains. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway also mounted the logos on bumper posts in its stub-end passenger terminals, a practice that continued long after the company removed observations from its roster.
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This photograph from a circa-1940 brochure for Santa Fe's Chief and Super Chief shows the drumhead mounted to the California-bound Chief at Dearborn Station in Chicago.
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The observation car on the Nebraska Zephyr at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, showing a rectangular drumhead. -
A closeup of a drumhead used on the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad. -
A display of several railroad drumheads at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
