1962 Uniform Code of Operating Rules – Train Signals

TRAIN SIGNALS

17. The headlight must be displayed to the front of every train by day and by night. It must be extinguished when a train turns out to meet another and has stopped clear of the main track, or is standing to meet trains at the end of two or more tracks, or at junctions with switches properly lined for the approaching train. It should be left extinguished until the rear of the expected train has passed.

17A. On engines so equipped, the headlight will be dimmed:

When standing on yard tracks
When standing on the main track at meeting points after the switch has been lined for the siding
Approaching stations where trains are receiving or discharging passengers
Approaching stations where train orders or clearances are to be picked up
Approaching meeting and passing points, junctions, end of two or more tracks where trains or engines are clear, to assist in train identification by train and engine crews
On two or more tracks when approaching trains and when trains are approaching in the opposite direction

Except that the full power of the headlight must used approaching all public crossings at grade and until such crossings are reached regardless of their location.

17B. Engine used in road service which are regularly required to run backward for any portion of the trip, except to pick up a detached portion of a train or in making terminal movements, shall have a headlight on the rear.

Under under conditions requiring an engine to run backward at night, a white light must be displayed on the leading end.

17C. Should the headlight fail while the train is en route at night, repairs must be made as quickly as possible. If repairs cannot be made, such lights as are available will be displayed and train may then proceed to the first point where repairs can be made, passing over all public crossings at grade not specially protected by watchman, gates or automatic crossing signal with care and at a speed not exceeding twenty miles per hour.

Train dispatcher must be advised from first open train order office when a train is running with defective headlight, and he will, when possible, notify other trains concerned.

17D. On engines so equipped, oscillating white headlight must be displayed to the front by day and by night. It must be extinguished when the headlight is dimmed or extinguished.

Oscillating white headlight should be used in a stationary position as a subsitute headlight in case of failure of the headlight.

17E. Yard engines will display a headlight to the front and rear by night.

Under conditions not requiring display of markers, other engines without cars will display a white light to the front and rear by night.

Note: headlight on end coupled to cars may be extinguished subject to requirements of last paragraph of Rule 17A.

19. MARKERS – the following signals will be displayed to the rear of every train to indicate the rear of the train.

By day – markers not lighted.
By Night:On single track and when running with the current of traffic on two tracks, markers lighted displaying red to the rear.On two tracks, when standing or running against current of traffic, markers lighted displaying red to the rear on the outside, and green to the rear on the inside.
On more than two tracks, when running with the current of traffic, or when standing or running against the current of traffic, markers lighted displaying red to the rear unless otherwise directed by special instructions.

When a train is clear of the main track to be passed by another train, lighted markers will display green to the rear.

When the rear of a train is equipped with built-in markers, they must be lighted by day and by night.

When a train is equipped to display a single flashing type marker it will be unlighted by day; by night it will display flashing red to the rear, except when clear of the main track to be passed by another train it will display flashing green to the rear.

EXCEPTION: The requirement that markers display green to the rear when clear of main track does not apply in CTC.

19A. A train not equipped to display markers as prescribed by Rule 19 will display a red flag by day and a red light by night to indicate the rear. The red light will be replaced by a white light when the train is clear of main track.

EXCEPTION: The red light will not be replaced by a white light in CTC.

20. All sections except the last will display two green flags and two green lights by day and by night in the places provided for that purpose on the leading end of the engine.

21. Extra trains will display two white flags and two white lights in the places provided for that purpose on the leading end of the engine, except that white flags and white lights need not by displayed in CTC.

22. When two or more engines are coupled, for all or part of a subdivision, each engine shall display signals as prescribed by Rules 20 and 21.

23. One marker, flag or light display where in Rule 19, 20 and 21 two are required will indicate the same as two; but the proper display of all train signals is required.

24. When two or more engines are coupled the leading engine shall sound the signals as prescribed by Rule 14.

26. A blue signal displayed at one or both ends of an engine, car or train, indicates that workmen are under or about it; when thus protected it must not be coupled to or moved. Each class of workmen will display the blue signals and the same workmen are alone authorized to remove them. Other equipment must not be placed on the same track so as to intercept the view of the blue signals without first notifying the workmen.

When emergency repair work is to be done under or about engines or cars in a train and a blue signal is not available, the engine crew must be notified and protection given to those engaged in making the repairs.

27. A signal imperfectly displayed, or the absence of a signal at a place where one is usually shown must be regarded as the most restrictive indication that can be given by that signal, except that when the day indication is unmistakable it will govern. Such conditions must be reported to the proper officer.

Employees using a switch where the switch light is imperfectly displayed or absent must, if practicable, correct or replace the light.

28. A combined green flag and white flag or combined or flashing green and white light will be used to stop a train at the flag stations indicated on the schedule or in special instructions.

29. When a signal(except a fixed signal) is given to stop a train it must, unless otherwise provided, by acknowledged as prescribed by Rule 14 (g), (h), or (n).

30. The engine bell must be rung when an engine is about to move; while moving about stations; while passing a train standing on adjacent track; and 1/4 of a mile from every public crossing at grade (except within the limits of such towns and cities as may be prescribed in special instructions) until the crossing is occupied by engine or cars.

32. The unnecessary use of the whistle or the bell is prohibited. They will be used only as prescribed by rule or law, or to prevent accident.

33. Watchmen stationed at public crossings at grade must use stop signals when necessary to stop trains or engines. They will use prescribed signals to stop highway traffic.

34. Crews on engines and snow plow foremen must know the indication of fixed signals (including switches where practicable) and members of train crews must know the indication of train order signals affecting their train before passing them. All members of engine and train crews must, when practicable, communicate to each other by its name the indication of each signal affecting the movement of their train or engine.

35. In emergency cases when track is suddenly found defective or is obstructed any employee must, by the use of flags, lights, torpedoes, fusees or other signals make every possible effor to stop trains in both directions.

Evolution of an Image – CP Freight Car Paint Schemes

Posted on January 21, 2026 by admin

Like any company or institution that’s been around for a long time, Canadian Pacific has gone through a number of image and branding changes over the years. This article will look at the various rolling stock paint schemes used by Canadian Pacific over the last century.

Early Block (<1951)

CP’s lettering standard from the early half of the 20th century featured the Canadian Pacific name in simple gothic block lettering. There were variations in how this lettering was positioned depending on the car type or era, but they all used the same stencils and this was more or less standard from at least the WWI through WWII periods.

CP Spans the World (1947-1951)

Starting in 1947, this “CPR Spans the World” herald and slogan were introduced by CPR’s marketing highlighting CP’s steam ship connections that connected the railway to Europe and Asia. A number of boxcars repainted during 1947-1950 received this herald prominently applied to the right of the car side. Otherwise, the lettering was identical to the previous standard “block” lettering scheme, just with the addition of the “Spans the World” herald.

Due to the size and prominence of the herald, this was only applied to boxcars, with no change to the paint scheme on any other type of car.

Stepped Gothic (1951-1962)

CP’s standard boxcar scheme throughout the 1950s featured the railway’s name in “stepped” offset rows on the right hand side of the car, with the “CPR” initials prominently emphasized. Even though unaffiliated with the CPR at the time, the Pacfic Great Eastern and Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo railways would also copy this idea, introducing their own similar lettering schemes with stepped lettering.

Like the late 1940s “Spans the World” graphic, this was only applied to “house” cars like box cars and refrigerators, with other car types like hoppers, gondolas, and cabooses continuing to carry the simple block lettering above.

A minor change to this scheme would come in 1957 when the horizontal white lines above and below the car number, previously an AAR standard, were discontinued.

The Script Era (1963-1969)

CP had used a version of script lettering in marketing logos going back to the early 20th century, but in the early 1960s the script lettering was revised and the railway’s image updated to make wide use of it as their primary branding, applying the new lettering to locomotives, freight cars, cabooses, ships and trucking divisions, and all company paper work.

Freight car colours remained the same: brown for box and other “house” cars, and black for open cars like flatcars, gondolas, and hoppers. Cabooses remained brown with red ends. Only the logos applied to the cars changed.

This lettering change was applied to most car types on the CPR except for flatcars, which continued to use the simple block lettering as the script lettering would not fit on this type of car. Also while some groups of new gondolas delivered later in the 1960s were delivered in the new script lettering, CP shops were loath to actually do any painting of the script lettering over car ribs, and there is little or no evidence of actual CP shop repaints of any cars with external bracing with script lettering.

A Colourful Introduction (1967-1968)

Starting in 1966 CP started to modify their script scheme for several large purchases of new freight cars in the late 1960s. The size of the reporting marks and car numbers were increased and the font modified slightly. They also introduced bold colour coding to several types of cars (mainly box type cars).

New mechanical refrigerator cars were painted silver with red lettering. Insulated heated boxcars were painted a striking yellow-orange with red script. And a large group of boxcars dedicated to paper service were delivered in a jade green scheme with a large pine tree graphic.

Cabooses also got a colourful upgrade, with several cabooses repainted during this period into a bright red with yellow ends. However due to the short-lived period these paint schemes were applied, no existing freight cars are ever known to have been repainted in similar schemes to any of the above cars. These schemes only appeared on newly built cars.

Flatcars, gondolas, and hoppers (other than a group of pressure-differential unloading hoppers which were painted in a silver and black scheme) remained black, but deliveries from around 1967 can be noted for the subtle change in the reporting mark/number font and size.

The CP Rail Era (1969-1987)

In October 1968, Canadian Pacific introduced their most radical rebranding in company history. All of the company’s divisions dropped the classic script lettering, and adopted a unified branding with a new name consisting of the parent company’s “CP” initials followed by the division name, and new logo called the “MultiMark”, with each division using the same logo but with their own colour. Canadian Pacific Railway became “CP Rail”, and adopted red as their primary colour. (The specific shade of red to become known as “Action” red.)

On the railway, this lead to a radical change in the colour landscape, with maroon and grey locomotives giving way to red (although note the black locomotive model in lead graphic in this section – this was the original proposal which CP management rejected) and brown and black freight cars shifting to brighter colours.

Locomotives and most freight equipment (boxcars, gondolas, and flatcars) was painted in the CP Rail “Action Red” colour which was adopted as the railway’s primary colour, matching the locomotives. The company’s bold new black and white “MultiMark” logo was applied at one end of the car covering the full height of the car side. (The paint standard had the MultiMark at the “B” (handbrake) end of the car, although many boxcar repaints just put it to the left of the car side as it was easier to mask over a pair of grabs than a full ladder.) Early box car repaints featured a contrasting black lower sill, which was dropped on later repaints which just kept the lower sill the same colour as the rest of the body.

Several other colours were used however. Following the colour coding introduced with the 1967 schemes above, paper service assigned boxcars received a green paint scheme, insulated heated cars as well as cabooses were yellow, and refrigerator cars were painted silver. Hopper cars were still painted black. The last two car types received a modified version of the MultiMark, with Action Red used instead of black for the triangle in the logo.

Interestingly, the “CP Rail” brand also started a trend among other unrelated Canadian Railways, with British Columbia Railway renaming itself “BC Rail” in the early 1980s, Canadian National briefly experimented with “CN Rail” branding in the late 1980s, and Ontario Northland introduced a bold new “ON Rail” image for their locomotive paint scheme in the early 2000s.

The Loss of the MultiMark (1987-1996)

The MultiMark logo lasted for almost 20 years before CP decided to remove it from their branding in late 1987. (The first locomotive to be outshopped in a new paint job without the MultiMark was in November 1987.)

While the “CP Rail” name and branding would still last another decade before reverting back to a version of “Canadian Pacific” branding, the MultiMark symbol was now a thing of the past. In the early 1990s, CP would modify their CP Rail logo to “CP Rail System” featuring a split Canadian and US Flag (known to railfans as the “Dual Flags” scheme), although this logo is not known to have ever been applied to freight equipment, only locomotives and maintenance vehicles.

The Return to Canadian Pacific (1997-2023)

In 1997 CP finally retired the “CP Rail” brand for good, moving to a modern interpretation of the Canadian Pacific Railway name and classic beaver herald. There would be some experimentation, with the beaver logo occasionally being dropped and restored and going through some minor styling updates, but this would more or less be CP’s branding until the 2023 merger with Kansas City Southern to form CPKC Railroad, which currently uses a modified version of the CP beaver logo with the CPKC initials instead of CP.

Waterloo Region Model Railway Club

Modeling CP Rail's Sudbury Division in the 1970s