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This should be easy - but I can't work it out. I have seen lots of photos of flag stops along the L&PS. It appears the passenger raises the arm on the signal to tell the train to stop and pick them up. But how does the driver know whether the passenger wants a northbound or southbound train. If the passenger is going northbound and raises the flag, but the next train is southbound, then it may stop unnecessarily. What was the usual practice for using these?Thanks for your help.Wayne
Wayne I'm just posing a theory but I would think that the passenger would set the flag as he saw his train approaching as I've seen this done in a CA&E vid where a passenger sets the flag as his train is getting near.
It used to be the rule that the train would stop on signal, and public timetables would state would state clearly which trains would or wouldn't stop. In practice, it sometimes worked out a bit differently. On the New Haven, for example, it was the practice to slow to 15-20 mph approaching a flagstop, in case a passenger popped up at the last minute. The ex-New Haven crews continued to do this on the Springfield Line up to the end of RDC operation under Amtrak. I suspect other railroads, as well as interurban lines, did something similar.Of course, it would also happen, from time to time, that they would stop for somebody wanting to go the other way ... with would result in a passionate and philosophical (if brief) discussion of rules, procedures and ancestry -Phil
Gary and Phil,Thanks for the helpful explanations. I can imagine there would be some colorful discussion if a passenger stopped a train going the other way. Interesting comment about slowing before the stops. I find on my L&PS route that I can't see my flag stop signal far enough in advance to stop from 50mph. I have to slow to about 30mph when approaching a flag stop so I can be sure I can stop in time. It might be the physics of my motor cars, or possibly the resolution limits of my display - but I suspect that the prototype engineers must have faced a similar problem. Thanks again.Wayne
I wouldn't fiddle with the physics just yet. I rode the cabs of RDCs on the Springfield Line while doing field work for ConnDOT in the late-'70s and early-'80s. This is exactly the sort of problem they had at the former Thompsonville Station, on the inside of a curve, and at the old Windsor Locks Station for other reasons (it's a long story). That's really the main reason they'd pinch it down as they did. RDC's could stop quickly if they had to, but not enough to make a flag stop from track speed.A bit later, I ran an ex-North Shore car at the East Haven museum, and the situation was quite similar. What I learned from the old New Haven guys made it a lot easier to handle that little beast. -Phil
