Origin of the name "caboose"

[jjlamkin]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,
Where did the name "caboose" come from in naming the now historic car of the railroad?

[edblysard]

I hate it when I cant remember where I read something, but I just finished an story on that exact subject about two or three months ago. I think it was in either Trains or Model Railroader.

[edblysard]

Found something, go to the bottom of this web page, click on thrain, click on the abcs of railroading, and scroll thru, second or third page has a story on cabooses, with a mention of the name.

[jjlamkin]

Ed,
Found it, Thanks for the info!!

Jim

[edblysard]

More than welcome, if you find anything more than that, let me know? Kinda picked my interest.

[alangj]

jj & ed,

The last chapter of Lucius Beebe's 1945 book "Highball - A Pageant of Trains" is entitled "Crummies" and has quite a bit of information about cabooses, including several photos of old and/or odd ones. He traces the word itself to a French origin as "cambose" or "camboose" from the middle of the eighteenth century (!) with a vague reference to some form of deck shelter aboard ships. Mr. Beebe goes on to say that by the late-1850's it was being spelled as it is today and used in railroading context, however still in reference to a shelter placed on a flatcar in which (for example) the crew could cook their meals. By the mid-1880's, the term was in more-common use with reference to the last car in a train, as in "...four cars and a caboose running down the track...." He also makes mention of the 1863 origin of the cupola by Conductor Watson, as is cited in the "ABC's of Railroading" reference.

Alan

[edblysard]

Thanks, Alan,
Is this book still inpublication, and if not, where did you aquire your copy?
Thanks,
Ed

[alangj]

Ed,

I have no idea if this book is still available in publication. I got my copy about 25 years ago, finding it purely by accident on the "cut-rate closeout" table at a local Ace hardware store (!) in Homewood Illinois. (All that's left of the price sticker on the inside of the dust jacket is "Ace Hard" and then "$" below that, with the rest of the right-hand part of the tag having fallen off when the adhesive dried up several years ago.)

On the inside back flap of the dust jacket (below the "bio" of Mr. Beebe) it says:
Bonanza Books
a division of Crown Publishers, Inc.
419 Park Avenue South
New York, N.Y. 10016
ORP00600

On the 3rd page inside the front of the book (I used to remember the "technical" name for this page, but not anymore) is the information:
Copyright, MCMXLV
APPLETON-CENTURY-CROFTS, INC.
0-517-004208
This edition published by Bonanza Books,
a division of Crown Publishers, Inc., by
arrangement with Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.
(N)

In the past, I've had pretty good luck finding old and/or out-of-print copies of books using Borders Books website. They were connected in some way with a used-book searching company by the name of Harvest Books, Inc., who were able to locate copies of some long-out-of-print humor books for me a few years ago. (Just a suggestion, based on my experiences.)

Alan

[edblysard]

Thanks, Alan, I will try them, and also try crown, they are still in business.
Thanks again,
Ed