Re: second sections, Trains note on flag usage

White flag extras instead of second sections.

One interesting item I have been researching are the train register books for the Carson & Colorado trains at Mound House, Nevada, for 1903-05. This is during the traffic surge (or boom) to the new mining camp of Tonopah. As the traffic boomed extra trains were operated and a second regular schedule was added.

I have seen only two times that trains are listed as showing green flags instead of white flags. One time was the day when two Denver & Rio Grande class 56 locomotives that were leased to the Tonopah R.R. were sent south to Sodaville (Mina was yet to come in the future). At first it seems the two locomotives were to be run coupled together as an extra. That entry was crossed out and a new entry was made with the two coupled locomotives operated as one of the regular timetable scheduled trains and showing green flags. The regular train's equipment was then operated as the second section.

The locomotives were numbers D&RG 64 and 66.

Somehow these train register books survived. A train register book is a book noting all the train arrivals and departures at a location. In the normal order of business / train operation the value of a train register is only for the a couple of days and after that there would be no need to keep the book. These books list the date, train number, locomotive, number of cars, names of the engineer and the conductor, time arrived or departed. During this time the C&C was leasing locomotives from other SP owned lines. All very interesting information.

Brian Norden