Hi Don,
I was actually thinking about you during your years in Africa as i wrote this. Id love to see your collection once you get around to photographing them some day. Do you recall what brands you used and which ones were your favorites?
I opted for a powerful kerosene lantern (the 237) after my furnace broke down a few weeks ago. I had to resort to borrowing several plug-in electric heaters for a week to warm the house till I could get a replacement furnace. If the power had also gone out, Id have been off to buy or rent a kerosene heater. Coleman fuels (aka: naptha, white gas, white spirits) and unleaded gas are things you dont want to burn indoors because of the toxic fumes. These fuels also generally dont do well during long term storage and sour. It dawned on me that kerosene can last for ages in plastic fuel containers, its far safer (less flammable) than the other fuels I just mentioned and it actually has a higher btu. I can also burn kerosene indoors as long as I have a properly tuned, clean burning lantern. The 237 puts out around 10,000 btu heat when on full blast, so it'll double nicely as a mega camping light and backup heater in well ventilated areas.
Many non-kerosene burning lanterns can be converted to burn kerosene. Google finds many such success stories, and of which related parts work the best for converting various models.
I used gasoline in my dual fuel and the burn wasn't as bright or as consistent as the coleman fuel .
which I've had since such things were new.
Looks just like this 
I had an old red Coleman 200 for years that grew legs one day. I replaced it with the 290 Powerhouse (non dual fuel) I have had it for probably 20+ years and it gets used 4 or 5 times a year. Never failed me and bright as heck. I also have a coleman campstove my parents bought in 1955. Only part replaced has been the pump. I cast my own bullets for handloading and I use the stove to melt wheel weights down. The stove has probably a couple hundred hours of use on it. Works like the day it was made. Something to be said for the old stuff.
This is a little more than half of mine...ugggh...at least with 50 flashlights you can store them in a shoebox! The oldest I have is from about 1923, and works like new (after restoration!) Love the 237, that's as good as it gets. I also have a handful of Coleman stoves, including an extremely rare model 373 from about 1930.
The 237 unrestored...note the tank slides into the body instead of hanging off the side or front:
The one we used were fairly low quality copies of these ones but were very faithful copies, they happily took genuine Tilley spares. The kerosene in Zambia was much heavier stuff than what Tilley vaporisers were designed for and they sooted up in a few weeks. The solution to this was to run them on gasoline which could get exciting as it ate the seals and every so often you got gouts of gasoline vapour near an incandescent object.
soytnly, what a fabulous collection! Thanks for sharing. Is that a 236/237 sitting on your top shelf, 4th one over?
soytnly -
That is awesome. I've got a couple of propane Colemans I've had for years. They can hang in the garage for a decade and then just screw on a tank and it lights right up. If you turn them down a bit, they run forever on a tank.
Foy
Tilliey's have quite a following and I think they are very classy looking lamps. Did you mix kerosene with gas or use just straight gasoline? Ive heard horror stories with Petromax lanterns when people try running them on pure gasoline. They are currently made in China, and of course, they are also built to a very low miserable standard. It would probably be safer to just dowse yourself in gasoline and light yourself on fire. lol Ive read that they do very well on kerosen, that is if you can find a good one that was built properly.
That's a great collection.
I'm having 5 Petromax lanterns, the old ones are the best, the newer, made in China, aren't the same quality as the old ones.
Also having a Tilley for restauration and a Coleman 295 dual fuel for light.
For cooking i have 3 " Petroleumstellen". Don't know how you call them? They're working with wicks like the old oil lamps
No power outs here, but i just like to switch the power of and see what happens.
Also 2 Aladdin lamps with the nr 23 burner and a lot of oillamps
Thanks! Nope, I don't have a 237, what you see is a 220B from the mid-30's..that's one of the few I haven't restored yet, but it works.
Tracer, not sure what those stoves are, cool looking though. Love Alladins, definitely not budget!
If anyone is interested, this is an excellent forum for pressure lanterns...very similar attitude as BLF http://colemancollectorsforum.websitetoolbox.com/
We've got a 2 brown 275 ?? I'm asking soytenly now since it's clear he's the expert here ..and a grey newer one But i don't thinkit's dual fuel and the oldest is a blue one ..maybe my favorite .i like doing the 3 pump instead of the 30 and it gives you just a quiet low slow burn .... coleman fuel only .
kerosene goes bad when you store it too long ..it will burn ok but it stinks more than normal so use the fresh stuff and kep storing the junk for when no one cares about smell :)
This year in canada i refused to fire up the lamps and ran led flashlights instead ..(one reason I rant about the lantern adaptors )(they suck) i tried running mostly AA lights and a few 18650's ..nicely difused they were wonderful .Clean quiet and absolutely perfect. need heat ? Start a fire in the stove .Heat is one nice by product of these lanterns . the brilliance and the noise do get wearisome.
Thanks for the thread Flash and pics soytenly ... It doesn't take much to switch my mind to fond memories of a cabin in the woods.
Hello tracer .. we have a bunch of kerosene lamps and some pretty aladdin lamps as well as this beauty ,
Lomax 
Wow, I thought that BLF flashlight users were just updating their light emitters of old. I too have a collection of pressure lanterns and stoves and I will try to post some pictures in the future. Thanks for this thread.
I have a CLX/290, identical to the one second from the bottom right in soytnly's collection. I bought it a couple of years ago from a guy I work with for $15. I put new mantles in it and immediately noticed the reduced brightness as compared to the thorium mantles that were available when I was a kid. You can't beat a lantern for nighttime fishing. It makes a good all-around light and runs for hours.
I also have an Alladdin lamp that I have never used. It has a good wick and a NIB mantle. I have a gallon of oil and will be ready to use it if we have a power outage this winter.
That's a beautiful fixture Boaz. Coleman (and others) actually made similar chandeliers that were pressure operated as well, not to mention about a zillion tablelamps for indoor use...also ran just like a standard lantern. As far as your brown lanterns, if they're angular, like the brown one in my picture, that is a 275...they are known as The Turd, and not just because of the color...the early models had a new pressure valve...that didn't work...and they would ummm, vent (think huge fireball aka quasi-explosion). The blue model...is it like a 275? There was a Canadian model like that, but if it's a much older model, Coleman made some in blue way back when (model 243), very nice lanterns. Also if anyone is interested, here is a link to the online bible of pressure lanterns, stoves etc from most manufacturers...lotsa nice pictures and some history: http://tgmarsh.faculty.noctrl.edu/lantern/
I got a coleman propane lantern I got about 12 yrs ago. I have only used it on camping trips.
You can't beat them for the about of area light that they produce.
Thanks for the tip about the mantles Flash.
Boaz -
Those are awesome.
Foy
Canadian Model 321 Deluxe Easi-Lite lantern with a blue painted fount and blue enameled ventilator ..... this is the one I like best....
Great thread! We do a bit of camping with the Scouts and the older lanterns and stoves just seem to perform better than the newer stuff. Have a couple of propane Northstars that perform well, except on low when it's really cold...they scream in protest...so much for "perfect flow" technology. Was thinking of buying some dual fuel Northstars, glad I read this first. Thanks again for the pics and links, good stuff.