Re: WP&Y Marker Lamp Colors

White Pass used yellow and red when I was dispatching there in the 70's. Unfortunately I do not have my rule book any longer.

We were using flashing battery-powered lamps .... yellow to front, red to rear.

Class lights on engines have been a standard white or green since the late 1800's.

Note that an engine running backwards and light (no cars,) wore regular markers on the pilot beam, as well as class lights (if needed.)

Interestingly, Nickel Plate years ago used red, yellow, and green for their markers, depending upon the situation .... but by the 60's that was gone and only yellow and red markers were used. Only railroad in US that did that, as far as my research has uncovered.

Not sure what the situation was between Salt Lake and Ogden, but wonder if the trackage was shared with UP (green and red markers) which would explain settling on one or the other color scheme on the CZ. I need to dig out my old timetables.

Skip Luke
Switchman (ret): Grand Canyon Railway;
Engineer (ret): Georgetown Loop RR Inc., Sumpter Valley Ry., Monticello & Sangamon Valley;
Dispatcher(ret): Illinois Central, White Pass & Yukon, Burlington Northern Ry.
Mariner, Musician, Miner