Red marker on rear of coaches

Good grief ... in the freight world (and tourist rail world), we just stick a red flag in the knuckle.

The wood handle of the flag goes right in the end of the knuckle (there's about a 1" hole there), and the flag material keeps it from falling through.

Problem solved.

The "Big" railroads have the nice FRED, but those cost money ...

MACTRAXX wrote:VIAHogger: Is there a picture available of one of those paddle "targets"?

MACTRAXX

I just took a photo of the rear end of VIA 85 in Kitchener the other day, which shows the paddle target quite well. I'll post it on here some time later when I'm back home and can do so.

(written in a HEP-1 coach on board VIA Train 60, somewhere between Cobourg and Belleville)

Ok, here you go: I took this photo of the back end of VIA #85 as it departed Kitchener en route to Sarnia this past Friday (August 12th). It was an interesting consist, with a non-rebuilt F40, and just a single HEP-1 and single HEP-2. You can see the red paddle marker in the rear coupler. They certainly are very recent, because my last trips on VIA 57/60 and 14/15 two weekends ago did not yet have these markers.

Timberley: Thanks for the marker picture-I was wondering what they looked like...Back when VIA ran Corridor RDCs - as I remember they did back in the 80s - this 2-car train would have been a good use for them...

As others have mentioned a FRED would have been perhaps more appropriate for this application and noticing the HEP car's marker lights they should be enough if VIA were to maintain them as I feel they should...

MACTRAXX

Really that's all this thing is. It's a metal version of your basic flag. But instead of it getting all tattered and worn flapping
around on the tail end, it will just need the occasional wipe down to make sure it's clean and visible.

litz wrote:Good grief ... in the freight world (and tourist rail world), we just stick a red flag in the knuckle.

The wood handle of the flag goes right in the end of the knuckle (there's about a 1" hole there), and the flag material keeps it from falling through.

Problem solved.

The "Big" railroads have the nice FRED, but those cost money ...

Here's the Ocean at Truro, August 21/11

Photo 1: Assiniboine Park on w/b #15 has red marker lights only.

Photo 2: Tramblant Park on e/b #14 has the markers lit plus a red paddle.

And I have seen Parks with the red dot.

Photo 3: Waterton Park last October.