Pete
Was the red to the rear and green to the front true for the
observation cars Silver Chateau and Silver Veranda? These, as you
know, were flat end.
If so, it would explain why I saw green lights on the Veranda. I was
looking at it from the Chuckwagon dome, which meant I was looking back
at it, so I would have seen the front marker lights.
sjl
--- In BRHSlist@y..., PSHedgpeth@a... wrote:
> Bob Campell et al
>
> As I read through the various posts which had accumulated overnight
re
> "follow on sections" I was jumping up and down re the incorrect
terminology
> regarding "markers"...I thought well if I continue through this
thing maybe
> someone will jump on and straighten it out...Bob you got it right.
>
> Just a couple of other comments. Some roads continued to use the
green
> classification lights for sections of first class (generally
passenger)
> trains in CTC territory where train numbers and sections have no
meaning at
> all since all movements are by signal indication and train orders
(other than
> "slow" orders) are not used. This was done on the Q in the 1950's
and I
> don't know how long after that. Also even the requirement that
markers be
> turned to show green to the rear when a train is in the clear to be
met or
> passed was also carried on into CTC days.
> I recall one late evening when I was braking on the Hastings-Huntley
local
> which also made trips on the off days east to Sutton and up the
Lushton
> branch and south the Clay Center (all in Nebraska for you Lines east
guys).
> We had come back from Lushton and were on the siding at Sutton
headed west as
> dusk was falling. We headed uptown to eat before returning to
Hastings. It
> was dark enough that we had the markers lit. We started away from
the waycar
> and the conductor happened to look back and noticed that the markers
were
> still showing red to the rear. He said..."Hey kid you didn't turn
your
> markers...get back there and do that".
> We were in CTC territory, but the rule about marker position had not
changed.
>
> Regarding markers on the rear end of Zephyr type trains. On the
round end
> observation cars the markers were built in with a red lens to the
rear and
> green to the front and sides. These, of course, could not be
turned. As I
> recall there was a specific provision in the rules exempting this
type of
> marker from being turned.
>
> If you get back into the old rule books you can see that the marker
position
> rules were far more complex than just turning both lamps from red to
green to
> the rear.
> There were provisions for one red marker and one green marker when
running on
> double track against the current of traffic and another provision
for showing
> a different display when moving or standing on a long lead next to a
main
> track. Some of these rules were still in effect in the 1950's.
>
> I remember being told to turn one marker green to the rear one night
coming
> into Hastings from the Red Cloud line which turned an ran parallel
to the
> mainline west of Hastings Yard (CTC territory).
>
> Railroading was far more complicated and required far greater
"paying
> attention" in the days before CTC and related new technology.
>
> You can tell that I've got too much time on my hands also.....I love
to talk
> about this stuff and hopefully some of the younger guys will gain a
greater
> appreciation of how it used to be.
>
> Pete
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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