Steam era signals

[Brakie]

...With CTC and block signals...

Brakie, sorry I was not more specific when I wrote "much earlier time". I mean the time when the timetable and the watch have been enough to run the RR operation. No CTC and no blocks. Just the crew and an order.

Yeah,flags and whistles was very important during that time.In fact there was a sixth man on most crews called a flagman.It was his job to protect the rear of the train while the crew went about their work.