"J. Gamble" wrote:
From: "J. Gamble" <trvln_man@...>
Hello all,
I'm looking for some information regarding cabooses and marker lights
here
in Canada, specifically, what do the red and green lights that can be
displayed to the rear of the train signify, and what colour flags
could be
flown from the van (and why?).
Here's the scoop... I'll be working for a few weeks living in a
caboose, and
I'd like to know what signals would properly be displayed in the days
before
electronic tail-end devices. Our caboose is LNAL 076 (nee CP 434547),
and
today I replaced the ditch lights, marker lights, etc and made sure we
had
clean windows before heading off to the USA.
Anyways, any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
J.
----------------------------
James Gamble, the travellin' man
ICQ# 36957838
Riding the rails with Siemens-Westinghouse, February-July 2000
Trackside at: Paris Jct, CN Dundas Sub (mile 30.9)
"An accident's sometimes the only way to worm our way back to bad
decisions." -- Gord Downie
______________________________________________________
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C-P-R "Canadian Pacific Railway"
James,
The caboose markers had one red lens, and all the others were green.
When a train or any part of the train was occupying the mainline, the
markers displayed red to the rear. When a train was clear of the
mainline to be passed by another train, the markers could be swiveled to
display green to the rear.
If a following train observed green markers on a train ahead, they could
breath easy. If they were approaching a train displaying red markers,
that was another story.
Markers also indicated the rear of a train. If you were meeting a train
on single track, and the tail end went by without markers, you couldn't
proceed because the train wasn't complete. This was very important,
especially in areas with heavy grades. Sometimes the train passing only
had half his train and was doubling the hill. If you proceeded without
seeing his markers, you could run into the second half of his train.
The only time flags were used was if you couldn't display markers for
some reason. A red flag or red light also indicated the rear of a train.
This was quite common when, for whatever reason, you were handling cars
behind the caboose. Freight cars had no brackets for hanging markers. In
that case the markers had to be taken down from the caboose and a red
flag by day, or a red light by night had to be displayed on the last
car.
Gary
