Grand Union Flag

The "Grand Union Flag" (also known as the "Continental Colours", the "Congress Flag", the "Cambridge Flag", and the "First Navy Ensign") is considered to be the first national flag of the United States of America – and previously, that of the United Colonies of North America – until 1777.

This flag consisted of alternating thirteen red and white stripes with the British Union Flag (Union Jack) – the variant prior to the inclusion of St. Patrick's cross for the 1801 unification of Ireland into the United Kingdom – in the canton.

History

By the end of 1775, during the first year of the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress operated as a de facto war government authorizing the creation of an Army, a Navy and even a Marine Corps. A new flag was required to represent the Congress and fledgling nation, initially the "United Colonies", with a banner distinct from the British Red Ensign flown from civilian and merchant vessels, the White Ensign of the King's Royal Navy, and the British Union flags carried by the King's army troops on land.

Grand union

A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in more rare installations, trains) coming from any direction to take any of the three other directions. The same effect may be achieved with two consequent wyes if the location allows for space.

Complexity

These types of complex junction are expensive to build and expensive to maintain. Special parts, sometimes made of manganese steel, are needed for each location where one rail crossed another (a "frog"); these parts often need to be custom-made and fitted for each single location, depending on the specific angle of crossing of the intersecting streets.

A full grand union junction consists of 88 frogs (where one rail crosses another rail), and 32 switchpoints (point blades) if single-point switches are not used. A tram or train crossing the junction will encounter four or twenty frogs within the space of crossing the junction.

Grand Union

Grand Union may refer to:

Transport

Entertainment

Other uses

See also

Grand Union (supermarket)

Grand Union Supermarkets, later known as Grand Union Family Markets and often referred to simply as Grand Union, was the name of a chain of grocery stores that did business primarily in the northeastern United States but also operated stores in other areas of the country including the midwestern and southeastern states, as well as internationally in the Caribbean and Canada. The company was originally founded and headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania, eventually moving to Brooklyn, New York in the early 20th century. Grand Union moved again to Elmwood Park, New Jersey and finally to Wayne, New Jersey before the original company was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001 and sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers.

After C&S bought Grand Union it downscaled most of its operations and exited its primary marketplace, choosing to keep only a number of stores in upstate New York and New England open. The chain was sold to Tops Friendly Markets in 2012, and in 2013 Tops rebranded the remaining stores with their logo and the Grand Union name ceased to exist.

Union Jack

The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. The flag also has an official or semi-official status in some other Commonwealth realms; for example, it is, by law, an official flag in Canada and known there as the Royal Union Flag. Further, it is used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Jack also appears in the canton (upper left-hand quarter) of the flags of several nations and territories that are former British possessions or dominions.

The claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013.

The origins of the earlier flag of Great Britain date back to 1606. James VI of Scotland had inherited the English and Irish thrones in 1603 as James I, thereby uniting the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland in a personal union, although the three kingdoms remained separate states. On 12 April 1606, a new flag to represent this regal union between England and Scotland was specified in a royal decree, according to which the flag of England (a red cross on a white background, known as St George's Cross), and the flag of Scotland (a white saltire on a blue background, known as the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross), would be joined together, forming the flag of England and Scotland for maritime purposes. King James also began to refer to a "Kingdom of Great Britaine", although the union remained a personal one.

Union flag (disambiguation)

The Union Flag is the name of the flag of the United Kingdom, commonly called the Union Jack.

Union flag may also refer to:

Flag of the United Kingdom

The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the Union Jack or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom.

The current design of the Union Jack dates from the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. It consists of the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England), edged in white, superimposed on the Cross of St Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which are superimposed on the Saltire of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland). Wales, however, is not represented in the Union Flag by Wales's patron saint, Saint David, as at the time the flag was designed Wales was part of the Kingdom of England.

The flag's correct height-to-length proportions are 1:2. However, the version used by the British Army modifies the proportions to 3:5 and also crops two of the red diagonals.

The earlier flag of Great Britain was established in 1606 by a proclamation of King James VI and I of Scotland and England. The new flag of the United Kingdom was officially created by an Order in Council of 1801, reading as follows: