Rick,
Often times a second or even more sections would be added to cover heavy
traffic volume, such as at holidays or possibly during heavy vacation
traffic. Or a second section may run on a passenger train's schedule and
carry mail only. Or the first section may carry only Pullman equipment
(sleepers, lounges and diners, while the following section carried the coach
trade. Some of the premier trains such as the 20th Century Limited ran in
sections almost every day. Yes, the railroad would like the trains to arrive
at the destination at nearly the same time, and the sections ran on a short
headway (maybe 15 minutes or less). I don't know much about the frequency of
CB&Q second sections. I guess it should also be noted that some railroads
typically ran advanced sections of trains on a routine basis, and these were
noted in the timetables. Didn't the Q run some "Advance" trains?
As far as marker light or flags, the typical arrangement was for the first,
and all sections except the last to carry green lights or flags. The last
section carried white markers or flags to denote it as the final section.
Hope this helps.
Jerry Michels
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