Re: Marker/Class Lamps...a diatribe

The following may be simply saying the obvious, but perhaps enough years have passed since dispatching trains by timetable and trainorder went out of style that it is worth reviewing class lights and markers, especially the difference. I guess it troubles me because they look different and were used very differently. Also I am fascinated by the old ways of dispatching trains....it was a complex art form that if followed properly ensured a high degree of safety in the days before things like block signals and radio.
Class lights were on the front of locomotives and indicated (surprise) the "class" of the train. On regular trains (including the last section of a regular train running in sections) the class lights were dark (the light turned off), preceeding sections of regular trains were green, and extra trains were white (or perhaps I should say clear). Class lights were important in helping to the minimize the chances of making a mistake when identifying an opposing or overtaking train....because wrongly identifying a train was the kind of mistake that could lead to cornfield meets....especially in dark territory. During daylight hours green or white flags were subsituted for classlights (or no flags on a regular train).
Markers were on the rear of the train. If I remember correctly, a train was defined in the rule book as whatever was between the class lights and the markers. If it was a light engine, the markers could be on the tender (diesels were equipped with a red lens for the "class" light so the rear class light could be used as a marker if running light). The Markers had red and green (or amber) lenses. The red lenses were shown forward and backward when the train was on the mainline. When a train when into a siding, once the train was in the clear and the switches aligned for the mainline, the marker was turned so that the green or amber lens showed forward and back, as a signal to the passing or overtaking train that the way was clear. In addition to telling other trains when you were in the clear, markers helped ensure that you knew you had passed the entire train, and that it wasn't a local who had left some cars standing on the track in the dark ahead of you. In some cases red flags were used rather than lights, although most of the time the lights were used day and night.
Class lights and markers had no meaning while a train was within yard limits.
Class lights and markers were quite different in appearance, at least in my experience.
Rules varied a bit from road to road, and the above was what I recall from the SP. If I remember correctly the DRGW was one of the roads that used amber rather than green lenses in marker lights.
Sorry for boring everybody with this, but I guess it's a hot button with me. I might have gotten some details wrong, and if anyone cares to correct me, I deserve it.
John West