Caboose grab irons

[bsurf]

I have just received a very nice SP wood caboose. A Walthers platinum series HO model. After examining it and it's wire grab irons, the thought struck me. Just why do cabooses have those curved hand rails at each corner by the steps. There are straight hand rails at the step which I would imagine were useful for helping yourself up the steps, but the curved ones at the sides seem to be in the wrong place to be of any assistance getting up the steps.
My knowledge of American railroads is a little lacking, although after modeling the SP for last 3 or 4 years, it is improving slowly.

[tjsmrinfo]

its a safety issue for climbing onto cars


tom

[Anonymous]

To go one step farther it's for safety in climbing onto moving cars. This type of grab iron was deem to be a mandatory safety appliance by the Interstate Commerce Commission years ago. This side iron is for ease of swinging onto the steps of the caboose. The radius of the iron makes it easy for the hand that you are using, to slide up the curve portion of the iron. Unfortunately all the fun is gone now as the new rules by most major RRs is no getting on or off moving equipment.

Rip

[bsurf]

OK then. Yes I can see how they would help when the train was moving. Thanks Rip and Tom.

[Anonymous]

The caboose was the only car designed to get on/off while it was moving. Once cabooses were replaced by EOT's(end of train device) the operating rules were changed to stop employees from getting on or off moving equipment.
When catching a caboose you grasp the grab iron on the horizontal part and let your hand slide along it and the curve till it gets to the vertical part. Trust me on this one it is a lot eaiser to grab a moving horizontal grab iron than vertical one. You grip the grab iron tight at that spot while putting your foot on the bottom step. As you push up with your leg and hand then you let your hand slide up the grap iron. So you can pull yourself up onto the caboose and get your other foot on the step.

[dknelson]

It looks easy enough when you see the pros do it (which they rarely do anymore; modern safety rules call for full stops before crewmen get on or off -- and of course now there are few cabooses). Years ago I was railfanning in Yates City Illinois with a friend and the BN engineer doing local switching invited us to join him in the cab of his GP38 -- but he did NOT stop so we had to hop on a moving locomotive and hop off again after half an hour. I kind of had the hang of it but nonetheless it was somewhat scary and challening and potentially quite dangerous. the fact that it was 108 degrees and our hands were sweaty did not help
I think the reason he didn't stop is that he did not want the conductor on the other end of the train to know we were on board.
Dave Nelson

[nbrodar]

Fun? Maybe to watch, but the manuver is very hard on your knees and ankles.

I've mounted and dismounted moving equipment. It's scary the first couple times you do it, but after a while it becomes routine. Having said that, there was more then one time when I misjudged the ground and ended up on my tooshie.

Getting on and off moving equipement is a drying art, like using hand signals, and knowing how to REALLY switch cars.

Nick

[wjstix]

BTW of course you'd always be getting on the rear step. As noted above, if you messed up, you'd fall down behind the train - not nice, but better than falling under the wheels. If there were two crewman getting onboard, they would spread out about a carlength from each other along the trackside, so the first one could hop on the rear step and climb up in time for the next one to do the same.