class lights/flags today

[nkalanaga]

My newest rulebook (Consolidated Code - western roads) is from the mid 1970s, and I know some things have changed a lot since then.

Do railroads still use any type of class indicator for extras?  Or has modern communication and dispatching methods made the distinction between "scheduled" and "extra" trains irrelevant?

[mu26aeh]

On the subdivision I follow (CSX Hanover sub), the trains are L135/136/137.  If they are running an extra, it is usually called out as L935/936/937 etc.

[nkalanaga]

Thank you!  I guess "extras", as once known, are a thing of the past.

[Missaberoad]

Extras with flags and lights are a timetable and train order thing. In CTC and Track Warrant territory all trains are "extras" therefore there is no need to identify them.

This would have been true in CTC even in your era.

[nkalanaga]

In the 1970s there were enough gaps in the CTC that the BN still ran most freights as extras, even in CTC territory. 

I can see how track warrants would eliminate that.  No need to distinguish classes when the trains receive their orders directly from the dispatcher.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So keep in mind that there are MANY types of railroads out there.

I think the Strasburg still uses TT&TO professionally.

[nkalanaga]

As far as I know the Cumbres & Toltec does as well.  They tried track warrants, and I heard that poor radio reception made them unreliable.

But my question was mostly for the large roads.  I suspect that there are a lot of smaller ones running with everything from traditional TT&TO, to informal radio dispatching, to nothing at all.  Does one really need a schedule, or a dispatcher, if there's only one locomotive?