Class Light Operation

[The Parker Family]

Fellow Trains Forum Users:

What do the different class light colors on locomotives indicate? Do the front class lights ever show a different color than the rear?

The Parker Family

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Red always shows to the rear.

Green indicates a section following.

White indicates extra train (not in the timetable).

[edblysard]

Back in the days trains could and would be run in "sections"...a front, middle and rear, or any combination of the three, even more...

Back then, trains were grouped by class...depending on the railroad, passenger trains were the highest priority or class, followed by scheduled freights, extras, and locals, work trains and so forth.

An example of a train needing class lights, would be say, a scheduled passenger train that had more riders than the train set or passenger cars available could hold, or more passenger cars than the locomotives could safely pull...they would build a second (or third)  train, locomotives and cars, and run it closely behind the fist train as a second "section" of that first train...

Same concept with freight trains...say you had more cars going from LA to Chicago that your consist could pull...or the train was too long to run as a single train due to siding constraints...then you build a second or third seperate train, run it behind the first one under the same train ID, but as a second or third section of that train.

Trains running as a single section would display either green or no front marker, and have red markers on the rear to indicate there was no following section.

Class lights were

Green, first section, and any subsequent sections till the last section, which would display red markers or class light to notify any other train that this was the last "section" of the preceeding train.

Class lights and markers would be the same both on the locomotive and the rear car or caboose of each section, in other words, the first section would display green front and rear, the last section would show red front and rear.

The idea was to visualy notify any trains they were going to meet that,,

A: If they were displaying green markers, then another section of the same train was following close behind, or

B: Red, to notify the train they are meeting that this was the last section or part of that train.

 

Keep in mind this was during the timetable and track warrant time, when trains ran on set schedules, authority to occupy a main track up to a given point was granted in writing, and most trains had no radio.

There had to be a visual way for meeting trains to know a complete train has passed them, with nothing following on that warrant or in that time slot...and station agents has to be able to see the rear of a sectioned train was past their station, so they could notify the dispatcher that "train so and so has cleared station A at ....."

White markers indicated an extra not working according to a schedule or as a part of the normal timetable, and denoted a lesser class of train.

With the expansion of CTC and radio, scheduled train pretty much went away...most trains you see today would be classified as an "extra", with no published or set schedule....in other words, train are no longer run according to thier "class" but according to what the traffic pattern can handle and when they are ready to go.

 

[timz]

edblysard

Class lights and markers would be the same both on the locomotive and the rear car or caboose of each section, in other words, the first section would display green front and rear, the last section would show red front and rear.

Can anyone find a rulebook showing that, for any railroad?

[Deggesty]

Ed, I had always understood, from the rule books that I have, that when a train is occupying the main, it has markers showing red to the rear (no matter what section it is). Does (did) your road have a rule specifying that the first and other section(s), except the last, show green?

Back in the days of marker lamps with yellow, red, and green lenses, a train in the siding was to have the lamps turned so that the visible lenses would show that it was in the siding. The exact position may have depended upon the road's rules.

I have seen red markers on the front of a locomotive that was moving backwards--showing that what looked like the front was actually the rear. It was a diesel, and the otherwise class lights were used as the markers.

I have also seen a brown paper towel stuffed into a coupler used to mark the rear of a train. It took some imagination to realize that this was intended to represent a red flag.

Johnny

[dehusman]

edblysard

Trains running as a single section would display either green or no front marker, and have red markers on the rear to indicate there was no following section.

Classification lights (or flags) were on the front, leading end of an engine.

Markers are on the rear of the train.

Two different animals, two different sets of rules.

A single section isn't a section, its "the" train. A section is when you run two or more trains on the same schedule. While the sections have to be reasonably close together or it delays other trains, unless prohibited by the rules, sections do not have to immediately follow each other.

A regular train, one with a timetable schedule displays NO class lights.

If there are sections of the schedule, all sections except the last one display green class lights on the leading engine.

If the train is running or works extra, it displays white class lights.

Green, first section, and any subsequent sections till the last section, which would display red markers or class light to notify any other train that this was the last "section" of the preceeding train.

This is getting markers and class lights mixed up. ALL trains, every section, first section, last section, every regular train, every extra train displays a marker on the rear car.

There is no such thing as a red class light. A marker is a red light or flag by day and red light by night.

What tells a train the last section has gone by is that a train goes by with no class lights.

Class lights and markers would be the same both on the locomotive and the rear car or caboose of each section, in other words, the first section would display green front and rear, the last section would show red front and rear.

Class lights are ONLY displayed on the engine. Marker lights are ONLY displayed on the rear of the train. Marker lights often had other color patterns than red, but they indicated things like whether the train was in the clear or which track the train was running on, they had NOTHING to do with sections, extras or the class of a train.

Keep in mind this was during the timetable and track warrant time, when trains ran on set schedules, authority to occupy a main track up to a given point was granted in writing, and most trains had no radio.

Timetables and TRAIN ORDERS go together. Schedules (sections, extras, etc) and track warrants are mutually exclusive. Track warrants (west of the Mississippi) ended scheduled trains, sections and extras.

White markers indicated an extra not working according to a schedule or as a part of the normal timetable, and denoted a lesser class of train.

Normally white lights were not used as markers. You can't be an extra OR a lower class of train. Extras do NOT have the attribute of "class", they are not a lesser class. Only regular trains have class.

...most trains you see today would be classified as an "extra", with no published or set schedule....in other words, train are no longer run according to thier "class" but according to what the traffic pattern can handle and when they are ready to go.

Virtually no trains west of the Mississippi are identified for track authority as "extras", definitely not on any of the class 1 railroads. When the GCOR was adopted in 1985, the idea of an extra train and the class of trains went away. West of the Mississippi, virtually all of the manifest, intermodal and auto trains operate on a service schedule, but the schedule does not grant main track authority. Only the bulk trains (coal , grain, ore, rock, etc.) operate on an unscheduled basis. Railroads operate "regular trains", "extras" and "sections" but all that means is whether they have a service schedule or were an ad hoc train to carry excess business or the plan was to run more trains of one schedule in a day.

[CShaveRR]

I hate to tell my buddy Ed that he's got it wrong, but...

Classification lights, back in the days when they were used, came in two varieties: green to indicate that another section of the same train was following (the last section would not carry class lights or flags) and white to denote an extra train.

The marker lights on a caboose were not classification lights, but basically defined a train--"Displaying markers" was, and still is, an essential part of the definition of a "train". The markers on a caboose were red to the rear and green in all other directions while the train was on the main track; when the train took siding the markers were adjusted to show green to the rear, indicating that the train was in the clear.

The red lights that could be shown on a locomotive in the places where classification lights are normally displayed are also markers--displayed to the rear in a light-engine movement (or, in the case of Metra, when the locomotive is pushing a scoot),

The use of classification lights basically went out with timetable/train-order operation methods, so to find rules pertaining t them you'd have to go back to the days of the Consolidated Code of Operating Rules (for western railroads) or individual railroads' rulebooks (for eastern railroads). In the Consolidated Code, classification lights were covered under Rules 20, 21, and 23.

[henry6]

timz

edblysard

Class lights and markers would be the same both on the locomotive and the rear car or caboose of each section, in other words, the first section would display green front and rear, the last section would show red front and rear.

Can anyone find a rulebook showing that, for any railroad?

Find any rule book prior to NORAC.  The AAR Standard Code or the Book Of Rules for any railroad.  There were some minor differences from road to road but the basics remained the same: Red, rear of train; green, section following, white, extra train.  But some roads, like the PRR I think, also had a yellow in the rear marker instead of white and always shown out to the side.  There was also a code of light use  in a siding whereby caboose markers were displayed differently when being over taken.  But any railroad rule book, and they are very common at rail shows, flea markets, and even some antique shops and unless a very rare off beat railroad, fairly inexpensive...say $20 or less for common but up  and over $100 for a really rare one.

[clarkfork]

Going back to the Pennsylvania Railroad in steam days -- the steam locomotives at the end of the steam era had two extremely small "classification" lights.  It looked like they only displayed to the front and not to the side, as was the practice everywhere else. 

Anyone know what I am talking about and what those lights were constucted that way?

By the way the Pennsylvania's rule book eliminated sections of a schedule quite early, in the 30s or 40s.

Operating Rulebooks in the 20s and earlier often had several illustrated pages of how markers and classification lights were to be displayed.   

Some things I remember -- classification lights were displayed on the front of the engine -- even if the engine was going backwards.  Markers were on the rear of the train.  Thus a locomotive pushing a train backwards (or backing by itself) could be displaying both markers and classification signals on the front of the engine.  Typically on a steamer the classification lights were mounted on each side of the front of the smokebox.  Markers (used only it the engine was considered a "train" and was operated in reverse,) were displayed on the pilot beam. 

Classification signals (wihite and green) were originaly both flags all the time plus lights at night.  Some railroads, (NP, GN, C&O, NKP}, used metal flags.  The others used cloth flags.  In the 50s and 60s some railroads stopped using classification flags and used classification lights alone.  Other railroads used cloth classification flags well into the 70s, maybe even the early 80s (Southern, L&N, SCL, CN and CP, ATSF for sections of a schedule.)  Some railroads eliminated the use of white classification signals on extra trains in CTC or Rule 251 ABS double/multiple track (CB&Q, NYC and a lot of others.) 

The choice of green classification signals to denote a following section is an unusual use of the color green.  We think of green meaning "go."  But for a train crew sitting in a siding waiting to meet a superior regular train, the green signals displayed on the lead engine of that superior regular train had the opposite meaning  -- stay in the siding and wait for the second section.  This usage of green is probably the last vestige of the use of green as the "caution" color.  It was replaced in block signal usage by yellow in the early 20th century.  Also, the classification signals were not fail-safe.  If the lights burned out or the flags dropped off, there was no indication that there was a following section.  To deal with this the train with the green signals was to blow one long and two shorts when it met/passed another train.  The other train was to blow two shorts to acknowledge that he saw the green signals.  If the green signals were not acknowledged, the train with the green signals was supposed to stop and make sure the other train understand that there were green classification signals (or at.least were supposed to be) and that another section would be following. 

Markers were/are the red (usually) tail lights on the last unit of the train.  Traditionally marker lamps had four lenses aimed 90 degrees from each other.  One lens was red and this was usually aimed to the rear.  The other three lenses were either green (NP, GN, UP, CB&Q, Soo, Milwaukee, CN, CP) or yellow (D&RGW, ATSF, maybe Pennsy, maybe B&O)  The green or yellow lenses were turned to the rear only when that train was in the clear on the siding.  A following train coming down the main and seeing green (or yellow) markers on a train in the siding was able to highball at maximum speed; why? because the green (or yellow) markers told them that the siding train was completely clear of the main track.  If the markers of the train in the siding were red, the following train on the main track would have to slow down so as to be able to stop short of the opposite end of the siding because the head end of the train might not be in the clear. 

Daylight markers were sometimes green flags.  NP used green metal flags as daylight markers until the 1970 merger (39 years ago today.)  So a train on the road had to change markers from green flags to red lights or vice versa at dusk and dawn.

[timz]

henry6

timz

edblysard

Class lights and markers would be the same both on the locomotive and the rear car or caboose of each section, in other words, the first section would display green front and rear, the last section would show red front and rear.

Can anyone find a rulebook showing that, for any railroad?

Find any rule book prior to NORAC.  The AAR Standard Code or the Book Of Rules for any railroad. 

If you take a look at what he wrote, you'll probably agree we're unlikely to ever find such a rulebook.