Which was round did cabooses run?

[prbharris]

I have tried to spot which way round cabooses ran. On the SP did the cupola run at the back of the caboose, at the furthest end of the train, as I can see from the few photos I have found of the rear end, or was there no set direction, to ease making up the consist? Was this the case for all railroads?

As always transatlantic help is gratefully received.

Peter Harris.

[egmurphy]

I have tried to spot which way round cabooses ran. On the SP did the cupola run at the back of the caboose, at the furthest end of the train, as I can see from the few photos I have found of the rear end, or was there no set direction, to ease making up the consist? Was this the case for all railroads?

I'm going to post a link to a thread on the same subject that recently ran in another forum.  The most common answer seems to be that they did not make an effort to turn them, and that they ran whichever way they were facing when it came time to attach them to the train.  The cupolas themselves are usually bi-directional, with seats facing both directions.  There may be a slight improvement in vision with the cupola to the rear, but probably not enough to offset the cost/manpower required to orient them.

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=80859

(Note that the thread is two pages long, so click on the next page icon after the 10th post.)

This isn't necessarily the final word on the subject, and the infornmation isn't SP specific, so don't be surprised if you get some posts with different information.

Regards

Ed

[csmith9474]

I don't know if the below website will help in any way, but I thought that I would post it anyhow....

http://espee.railfan.net/caboose_index.html

[PBenham]

If I hadn't seen CN turning a van (CN Parlance for caboose) on the now long gone Fort Erie, ON turntable I'd have said that they never were turned, unless the crew involved could do it (or wanted to). B&LE and sister Union RR had air horns and headlights on some cabooses for back-up moves, but not always on both ends.