What are the vertical rails in the central well?
Lacking the graceful design found in every other part of the lighthouse, these rails are a later addition, not shown on the working plans. Usually, in towers of this type the weights of the clockwork mechanism in the lens assembly would drop directly down the center of the tower, suspended from a wire cable. They were guided by “fairleads” that would control the descent. Differences in structural details of the Cape Hatteras tower required a system of T-rails to keep the weights from swinging excessively as they dropped down the tower.
