Nostalgia & History > Help needed to ID items & their use.

The group at the Abilene & Smoky Valley RR in Abilene, KS have these items, and would like to know more info on them, such as:

What was the green/white flag used for?
What was the flat mounting bracket attached onto?

Thanks
Mike
 

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Unscheduled  "flag stop" back in passenger days??
Brian Stevens

I was very young but I seem to recall that the big flag my Dad used to stop Santa Fe passenger trains at Storey Station east of Madera CA,in the early '40s was red...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I've only seen B&W photos but looks like the kind of flag used by a station agent to flag down trains. As for the black mounting bracket it may not be RR, but I suppose it could be used to mount on the side of a depot to hold the flag so the agent wouldn't have to.  If it is RR, what is the purpose of the two hooks?

But then again, the flag could be used for signaling on board a NAVY ship rather than RR.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/15 21:09 by wabash2800.

SCKP187 Wrote:
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> Unscheduled  "flag stop" back in passenger
> days??

Yes. Some railroad rules specified green/white flag for flag stops.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
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> SCKP187 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Unscheduled  "flag stop" back in passenger
> > days??
>
> Yes. Some railroad rules specified green/white
> flag for flag stops.
>
> TAW

And a green and clear lantern at night.

Think the photo is turned 90 degrees and the hooks would be for a lantern used at night for stopping a train. Looks RR to me anyway.
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> I've only seen B&W photos but looks like the kind
> of flag used by a station agent to flag down
> trains. As for the black mounting bracket it may
> not be RR, but I suppose it could be used to mount
> on the side of a depot to hold the flag so the
> agent wouldn't have to.  If it is RR, what is the
> purpose of the two hooks?
>
> But then again, the flag could be used for
> signaling on board a NAVY ship rather than RR.

The flag and bracket you have questions about were used at flag stop stations. Grab an old rule book and timetable for the territory and date in question and you will likely find that a green and white flag by day and a green and white light by night was the signal for flag stopping a passenger train at designated flag stop locations. If you look at the casting of the bracket you will often find the railroad initials it was cast for. See the bracket, flag and lanterns in my personal collection all marked for the UP.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 16:48 by 19eastcopy5.

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Thanks for the information. The hooks make sense now, though I've never seen anything like it in the thousand of depot photographs I've seen.The only time I've seen the flag is with an agent holding it. Was the bracket more of a western thing?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/15 17:14 by wabash2800.

I think it was more of a western thing as well. I have three of these in my collection. One from the Union Pacific, Denver and Rio Grande and the Colorado and Southern. I have never seen brackets with any other roads marks in the casting.

19eastcopy5