The 'All Right' Flag.

The passengers are safely aboard, the carriage doors have been slammed shut, everything has been checked and so the green flag can be held aloft by the station master to signify 'go'. The green flag is the standard ‘All Right’ signal and indicates that the Station Master, or other station staff person, has made various checks, even including keeping a watch for problems such as hot axles, derailed bogies or dragging equipment, or parted couplers. When he is satisfied all is well, the green flag is held in the left hand and waved on high. A red flag is kept ready to be displayed in case of a problem. Should this happen the red flag will be raised and waved using the right hand, a custom which arose from the idea that the right hand is usually the more vigorous of the two for most people, and the red danger signal could be shown more promptly in case of a problem. There are no problems today however, and the green flag can be confidently shown. The persistent rain which lasted on and off all afternoon didn’t count as a problem as Big Jim and his passengers passed through a rain-soaked Ingrow Station! Having checked the protocol as outlined above though, I’m not entirely convinced that the Station Master has quite got the hang of the ‘left hand – right hand’ idea!