<<Are you speaking of MARKERS (rear end) or CLASSIFICATION
LIGHTS...on the engine..Big difference but often confused >>
Pete raises an important distinction here.
Class lights/flags
Class lights/flags are displayed by the
engine to which orders for the train have been issued. The class lights/flags,
as previously discussed, define the train’s class as scheduled, extra
section of scheduled, or extra.
A scheduled train with no additional
sections will have no class lights/flags.
When multiple trains run as sections of
the same schedule, all sections except the last will display green class
lights/flags. The last section will have no class lights.
An extra will display white class lights/flags.
Note that the lights flags should be displayed on the engine which has been
used to identify the extra, for example, X 1234 West. Normally, the
orders creating and identifying the extra refer to the lead engine in the
consist. However, the engine referred to when creating the extra can be
anywhere in the consist at the front of the train, _it’s class
lights/flags will be displayed, while the engine on the point will carry no
flags/lights. This could occur from time to time under various
circumstances, including the engine intended to be the lead engine getting “buried”
in the consist instead of at the head of the consist. Since the orders
creating the extra had been created and distributed hours ago, and subsequent
orders already written might refer to the extra as created under the original
orders, it was easier to use the class lights/flags on the original engine than
it was to take the time at the originating terminal to reshuffle the engines so
that the identifying engine was the lead engine.
Markers
Markers denote the end of the train.
On a freight they were hung on the caboose. On a passenger train they are
displayed on the last car on a train. If you met a train, and looked back
at the rear of the tain after you passed it and did not see markers, you should
have been very, very careful, because somewhere out in the dark ahead of you is
a caboose with one of more freight cars just waiting for you to run into them.
On a moving train, typically, red markers
were displayed to the rear, with various colors displayed to the sides.
When a train moved off the main, into a siding to allow a train to pass, the colors
displayed to the rear and side were changed to indicate that the train was
clear of the main.
Best regards,
Steve
Steve Haas
Snoqualmie, WA