"These lamps are believed to be the forerunner of what became the GWR 'Paddington' lamp.  Prior to 1923 there were a few railway companies that bought these examples, those being the GWR, Rhymney Railway Co (RRCo), Brecon & Merthyr Railway (B&MR), and also the Liskeard & Looe Railway (L&LR).  There may well be others but I am unaware of them at this time.  After 1923 the GWR took over most of the Welsh companies and the pattern of these lamps went on, albeit they were manufactured by other companies by this time. The pattern and style even went into the BR days after the 1948 nationalization."

"The fact that they were classed as 'Petroleum' lamps caused some confusion among a lot of railway workers, bearing in mind that when the majority of hand lamps across the board went over to paraffin the lamps were plated 'Petroleum' to distinguish between paraffin from colza, or rape oil as it is better known.  A Dr James Young obtained the patents for extracting Petroleum oil, or paraffin as it is better known from bituminous coal in the early 1800s, therefore petroleum was plated on most lamps. After several railway employees mistook it for petroleum spirit it was decided to change the plates to Kerosene."

"The operation of the lamp was done by turning the top which rotated an inner drum with coloured glass, to bring the required colour aspect in line with the front lens.  This construction can be seen in the picture of the lamp in a stripped state."

This one section should perhaps be included within 'Collectors' but, although a genuine Sugg product, it is not a gas product so has been given its own section.  I am convinced that William Sugg was approached by GWR, with whom he had worked for many years with gas lamps, complaining about the shortcomings of their then hand lamps. His knowledge of ventilation and air movements within gas lamps was soon applied to the oil lamp resulting in a lamp which became the 'standard'. GWR doubtless retained the design rights - so had presumably paid William Sugg for the development - and in due course the lamp was manufactured by many others. As you can see from the advert at the top GWR alone took 15,000 lamps. 

In 2011 I had the opportunity of seeing the amazing collection of hand lamps amassed by Kevin George. This one picture will give you some idea of what the title 'Collector' really means!

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This Article from Railway Engineer of August 1906 explains the advantages of the Wright's Patent lamp and we learn the reason behind the change to 'Petroleum Oil' against the earlier colza or rape oil.  Clearly this is before the problems associated with the misuse of 'Petroleum Spirit'.