Don't remember if anyone pointed out this photo of Delano's in the
Shorpy site after the discussion about blue flags being used in the
freight houses. Great photo. If the link does not work the photo is
called "Pabst Over Chicago: 1943".


http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34786u.jpg


Eric Mumper

--- In STMFC@..., "Eric Mumper" <eric.mumper@...> wrote:

Don't remember if anyone pointed out this photo of Delano's in the
Shorpy site after the discussion about blue flags being used in the
freight houses. Great photo. If the link does not work the photo is
called "Pabst Over Chicago: 1943".


http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34786u.jpg


Eric Mumper

Each car had two blue flags. Why was this? Were there maybe two
different crews/groups working and one wouldn't want to be in danger
relying on the other's blue flags in case one group left earlier than
the first and took their own flags with them?
Bill Williams

You Hit the nail on the head.
Thank you
Larry Jackman
Boca Raton FL
ljack70117@...
I was born with nothing and
I have most of it left

On Jun 29, 2007, at 2:23 PM, bill_d_goat wrote:

http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34786u.jpg

Each car had two blue flags. Why was this? Were there maybe two
different crews/groups working and one wouldn't want to be in danger
relying on the other's blue flags in case one group left earlier than
the first and took their own flags with them?

In addition, I noted that the airhose on the last car on the rightmost string (with no blue flags?) appears to be connected to the last car on the next string. Why would the air hoses be connected like that?

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
__
/ &#92;
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
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--- In STMFC@..., Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

On Jun 29, 2007, at 2:23 PM, bill_d_goat wrote:

http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34786u.jpg

Each car had two blue flags. Why was this? Were there maybe two
different crews/groups working and one wouldn't want to be in danger
relying on the other's blue flags in case one group left earlier than
the first and took their own flags with them?

Yes.

In addition, I noted that the airhose on the last car on the
rightmost string (with no blue flags?) appears to be connected to the
last car on the next string. Why would the air hoses be connected
like that?

Could they all be on "yard air" so when the time comes to move them
the switch crew doesn't need to take the time pumping up the air?

Unlike the previous Delano picture, these cars appear very close
together as though they remained coupled. The freight dock appears to
be open platforms with a "head house" so maybe without building doors
to match there is no reason to uncouple the cars (and with yard air,
every reason to leave them connected).

Pieter Roos

The most plausible explanation for the two blue Flags is one belong to the
loading crews and the other belong to the car department. Each group could
finish at different times so that each was protected by their own blue flag.
This prevented the operating crews from pulling the track before everybody
was in the clear. As for the air hose connect I would suspect that that
the track on the extreme right side was released and they were charging up
the air before pulling, track two was also being charged up but had not been
released yet. The air supply was probably being supplied from the other
end.



Paul C. Koehler



_____

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
Bruce Smith
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 1:04 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Re: blue flags




On Jun 29, 2007, at 2:23 PM, bill_d_goat wrote:

http://www.shorpy. <http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34786u.jpg>

com/files/images/1a34786u.jpg

Each car had two blue flags. Why was this? Were there maybe two
different crews/groups working and one wouldn't want to be in danger
relying on the other's blue flags in case one group left earlier than
the first and took their own flags with them?

In addition, I noted that the airhose on the last car on the
rightmost string (with no blue flags?) appears to be connected to the
last car on the next string. Why would the air hoses be connected
like that?

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed. <http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2>
auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
__
/ &#92;
__<+--+>________________&#92;__/___ ________________________________
|- ______/ O O &#92;_______ -| | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / 4999 PENNSYLVANIA 4999 &#92; | ||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||
|/_____________________________&#92;|_|________________________________|
| O--O &#92;0 0 0 0/ O--O | 0-0-0 0-0-0

In a message dated 6/29/2007 4:37:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
pieter_roos@... writes:

Could they all be on "yard air" so when the time comes to move them
the switch crew doesn't need to take the time pumping up the air?


--------------------

Yes the above is true, but in this context the cars are hosed together so
that the carknockers can test and inspect the brakes. They'll charge and dump
the air as often as necessary, and make repairs. And, as Pieter said, the
carknockers may "save the air" for the yard engine to save time charging the
trainline. It looks like the two tracks to the right are the next ones planned to
be pulled.

The two sets of blue flags do represent two crafts, and two were used mostly
so each craft was aware of the other. In this photo, one flag would belong
to the carknockers, and the other the platform agent.

I did stroll through the Delano photos on the LOC site, and there are quite
a few gems in there. It's great that they're available for downloading and
printing. I remember gazing for quite a while into the cover of Mainline
Modeler that used one off the Delano photos in the early 1990s. Isn't it great
that today we can model so many of the cars in these photos?

Mike Del Vecchio



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