Re: Flagging

The action banning torpedos was done by the board of directors at least fifteen years ago (maybe 20 years ago). This was long before FRA released its letter defining the railroads under its pervue.
The problem I mentioned is not operating crews, but the foamers. And the board did not want to have injuries on the property.
I have also heard that the torpedos can become unstable in time just like any explosive.
We have had a change in our operating management and the rule book is to be revised to either use or reflect the common western operations rule book (I forget the correct name). Current one is based upon SP some years ago; before that (and the arrival of diesels, steam engines, etc) the earlier rule book was based upon traction & interurban practices. We will see what now happens.
Brian Norden