WAF Wrote:
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> Correct, 2/6 was running with green flags out of Oakland on the UP958

I hope you mean First 6, sonny!

Anyway, here's the back story on the flags: I don't remember at this late date what 958's issue was, but Oakland considered it to be somewhat of a "Bad Actor" (an SP term), so when it was in the Bay Area it tended to spend a lot of time sitting around the West Oakland Diesel Shop as a spare unit.

It was needed on this particular day for First 6 as shown in Steve's photos (the SD40s were added at Roseville). When the crew came on duty at Oakland, the fireman (Ed Prather) dutifully went down in the nose to insert the green lenses in the holders for the class lights and found . . . no green lenses. Ed contacted the Diesel Shop, but of course they didn't have any lenses. The "problem" was then referred to the Terminal Office at 515 Bay Street. One possible solution discussed was to take two lenses out of one of the trailing ex-SP FP7s, but that was decided against because it was a pretty sure bet the lenses would never be seen again. So it was decided for Ed to display two green flags - just like in the Olden Days. There was a stash of red, yellow and green flags in the office; arrangements were made to drive two green ones over to the Passenger Yard to give to Ed.

A couple of days later, I ran into Ed and asked him how the green flags worked for him. He kinda chuckled and said he got out to look during the station stop at Martinez. The staffs were still in the holders, but all that was left of the flags amounted to green tips on the staffs. The reason was, the flags used were the ones SP used for signaling. They were made out of vinyl plastic, not cloth. By the time the train made it to Martinez, they had disintegrated.

And that, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story. "Good day!"