ehbowen
Engineer
True that; I was once aboard a Sunset Limited which was ten minutes early into Sanderson. The flag stop became a "smoke stop".Technically even a flag stop isn't simply passed at speed as if it wasn't there. If a train is early to a flag stop it will cease moving and wait. If a train is on time or late it will slow to a crawl while passing before resuming track speed. The idea being that even without a reservation someone outside could wave the train down as it passed and board.