Cabooses

[Train Guy 3]

Whos can't love a caboose? Anyone here own a caboose or know some one who does? I'm in the process of helping a freind clean up and restore an old N&W caboose. Any suggestion to where i can find some good information on cabooses?

[Anonymous]

I love cabeeses, The local high School owns one, and if you want info, just go online. there are also many books on cabooses, like the B&O Book available from the B&O Historical Society called Cabooses.

[CBQ_Guy]

TG,

Just noticed you post.

Try going to the RR_Caboose List at Yahoo Groups at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RRcaboose/?yguid=154581698

Also, try contacting, joining, whatever it takes to get info from a N&W Historical Society. Also look around at yahoo groups as they may have a list there, too.

Good luck with your caboose project!

[Anonymous]

I love cabooses. I am planning on building one this summer or fall, for my little daughter, in my backyard. I have been looking for a blue print that I could work with and scale down. Any help would be great.

[Anonymous]

Mounted and stuffed they are OK I guess. IN service they were the biggest source of injuries on the RR. They can be decent shoving platforms though. Beats riding the side of the cars...

LC

[edblysard]

Neat to look at,
pain in the keister to have in your train.
Just another car you have to stash somewhere while your switching a industry.
Ed

[tree68]

I don't recall that FRED was in the best/worst list, but maybe it should have been. Aside from those who miss the punctuation mark at the end of a train, and a few applications where they really were (and sometimes are) still necessary, just about anything I've read and seen leads me to believe that the caboose is not missed by much of anyone in the railroad industry.

[ironhorseman]

Try this link to this article: Own A Part Of History - Part 1 http://www.trains.com/content/dynamic/articles/000/000/000/470gcujt.asp

[Anonymous]

Just checked out the High School Caboose close up. It is being torn apart by students it seems. wood on the ground by a spot you can se the insilation (Black paper, is that a form of asbestos?), and I found a piece of glass from the freshly smashed-in marker lantern in the grass, I placed it back in what was left of the lantern. its sad, the B&O built the town, and they don't care enough to take care of the only approachable piece of rolling stock in town!

[JoeKoh]

Bartlow twp Historical society(Deshler) is planning on moving the B&O caboose to crossroads park.hopefully it happens soon.
stay safe
joe

[Train Guy 3]

Thanks for the info. I've got 2 of my friends to help me on this project..... i think they may turn out to be future railfans.

[Anonymous]

I've actually seen some cabooses in use on trains. I thought they were all retired.

[Anonymous]

Southern Railway of British Columbia, a shortline that runs from Chilliwack to West Minster Jct, still uses cabooses.... now to me they look out of place...

What the heck is that thing doing on the end!?

I still remember seeing my first train without the Caboose. I was quite young at the time, and my family and I were stopped at a RR crossing and the train was going by. There I was counting cars, and when it came to the end there was no caboose! My dad told me that trains weren't running with cabooses anymore, and I remember thinking, why didn't anyone tell me?

[Kozzie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy

Southern Railway of British Columbia, a shortline that runs from Chilliwack to West Minster Jct, still uses cabooses.... now to me they look out of place...

What the heck is that thing doing on the end!?

I still remember seeing my first train without the Caboose. I was quite young at the time, and my family and I were stopped at a RR crossing and the train was going by. There I was counting cars, and when it came to the end there was no caboose! My dad told me that trains weren't running with cabooses anymore, and I remember thinking, why didn't anyone tell me?

When did cabooses disappear in US/Canada?

Kozzie

[Anonymous]

Basically between 1988 and 1998 cabooses were phased out, some railroads sooner than others.

You can still sometimes catch cabooses on MOW trains, and like I said above, some shortlines still use them.

[Anonymous]

And don't forget safety ads with OLI. Ive seen at least one CSX/OLI caboose within the past 4 years here in Brunswick, as well as a few run throughs of old chessies (Been about 5 since the last one of those)

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Iowa Interstate still uses cabooses on its trains into Chicago, primarily because a long backup move is required to deliver to IHB Blue Island yard.

[Anonymous]

3 weeks ago when I went to the Calary model train show on the dirve there I saw a caboose in use. It was on a short CP frieght at some kind of chemical plant in a town someplace close to Medicine Hat, Alberta. The train was just sitting and on the drive back home at the same town I saw I caboose that I assume was the same one sitting on a siding.

[Anonymous]

I once actually rode in a caboose on the Hood River Railroad in Oregon in the summer of '93. Got to sit in the cupola too! Of course it was just for tourists, but hey, as of then the Hood River line still delivered some freight. It also had some great views of Mount Hood.
On that same trip, I remember seeing one on a BN freight on the old SP&S line on the north shore of the Columbia River.

I've read that the name "caboose" actually comes from a Dutch word meaning "cabin house" which originally applied to the galley of a ship. In the Dutch language I think the word for house ("huis") is pronounced "hoose", like in Scotland or Canada.