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I was just curious, thinking last night about the role of the caboose and its watchful cupola. In the days before radio, how did an observant caboose crew communicate to the engineer, in the even tthat they saw some smoke from a hotbox or detected a derailment, etc.? Did the train length become a factor as caboose needed to be in visual range of the engine? If so, then mountainous terrain would call for shorter trains than the flat plains would, and yet as a Norfolk & Western modeler I see pictures of mallets heading up tremendously long trains all the time. How was it done? Telegraph signal carried through the rails? Pressure variation in the brake line? Telepathy?
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