just seeing a picture of a Gilbert AF box art, with the loco flying several small, plain flags - what are these? Running codes? Route designations?
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- Flags predate lamps for class. Some used flags by day later on.
- Colors are the same, extra-white, Lead green, last red.
- many models have flag stand "vases", poles, or holes on the pilot for this.
- Common to use toothpicks and paper, etc and make your own. I have a few myself.
- I hate when numbering turns on at random.
White flags on the smokebox, running forward by day, means the train is an "extra," and not on the timetable, like a freight train. White class lamps at night, along with the flags, meant the same thing.
Green flags on the smokebox, engine running forward by day, means that there is a following "section" of the same train. Green class lamps at night, along with the flags, meant the same thing.
This is a simplification. There were other combinations of white and green flags, either smokebox or pilot beam mounted, that meant different things, depending if the engine was running forward or backward.
Ok, understood. British trains ran a similar system of white discs by day, lamps by night. White discs denote type and in some cases, route.
