SOUP BEANS FOR ME

[louisnash]

There is probably some of you that may have been on the cabooses in their Hey Day. Some maybe at their demise. You may have had a grandparent that was on the caboose.

Knowing that you cooked your own meals what was a good delicacy? I have always heard the conductor would not cook, but what if the meals were bad? Did it change his tune?

Brian (KY)

[Jackflash]

Brian, I dont know anyone who cooked on a caboose
I'm sure it was done some place, but I dont think
it was common, probably a lot of cans of pork-n-beans and sweet sue cans were opened and warmed
over the heater if it was winter time and the heater was on, when ever I was on one I had
sandwichs from home, or maybe some of the colonels
chicken, jackflash

[dknelson]

If you see some of the really old cabooses that are preserved at museums -- North Freedom in Wisconsin has some dandies -- it is evident that the "home away from home" aspect to cabooses probably died out about 50 years ago if not sooner. Since crews were expected to sleep there, evidently for days at a time (such as on a drover's caboose) it stands to reason they ate there too. Human creativity being what it is, I suspect at least some old heads went beyond the canned beans routine. Cabooses had ice chests and meat and milk and eggs could have been kept cool enough. But we would probably need to talk to an earlier generation of conductors and brakies than ever visit this Forum to get first hand stories.
Dave Nelson

[Mookie]

Aw - clueless in Lincoln will have to tell you an old railroad story. Back in the 60's, 70's, the conductor would cook - and one of them was a great cook. He brought his own pot to make soup, stew, etc. He would bring his own veggies and the guys would pitch in for some meat and extras. On a work train, the guys would then go to the caboose and get a hot meal, which beat those old sandwiches anyday.

Evidently he was in the caboose when the cars in front of it derailed - the engineer could only imagine that the conductor was dead. They ripped the parts of the caboose away and found him, alive and all he could say was "Where is my stew pot - I lost my stew pot!". He was injured, but lived to cook another day - and also yell at the head-end for jerking so much and spilling his pot of food!

Jen

[JoeKoh]

i've had hobo stew before.the guys sometimes stop at an ice cream place or Kfc which just happens to be right near the main line.
stay safe
joe

[zardoz]

I used to bring food from home (either cans or aluminum-wrapped items) to heat on the exhaust manifold of the locomotives. Sometimes it was a bit of a reach to place the food in a spot that was warm enough, but not too hot, and be able to retrieve it later.

On the old F7 & E8 locomotives we used in CNW suburban service, the units had auxillary (Cummins)engines that were used for the train electricity. These were smaller engines and one could easily reach up to the manifold. The only drawback was that they were bad oil-leakers, so sometimes the food was covered in oil; not so bad if it was a can, but a real mess if it was a wrapped sandwich (and by the way, the oil would actually soak thru the aluminum foil!!). Yuck!

[louisnash]

I had heard a story about the L&N that when on the KC line from Cincy to Corbin KY that the engineer when he pulled into a siding that if either he or the conductor(on the caboose at that time)was hungry would go to a local diner and get their meal, sometimes even being a few minutes late leaving when they got their signal. Of course they got it to go. Can't remember the name of the town but I thought that was kinda neat.

Brian (KY)

[Jackflash]

did the same thing today with hotdogs my wife fixed, once I put a can of soup on the engine
but it got to hot and exploded, now I punch a
hole in the top with my pocket knife to let off
the pressure, jackflash

[Anonymous]

Coffee, I know you workers on the railroad have figured out how to make a hot cup of coffee. How is it done? (Show me a train crew with no coffee, and I will show you one onerous train crew.)
TIM A

[Jackflash]

You can make a pot of coffee using the 74 volts
available in the cab but it takes longer because
of the lower voltage, I,ve had CN locos that have a microwave, you can use these if you have one,
for me one cup a day, I bring soft drinks (just
as bad for you) jackflash

[Mookie]

The railroad years ago, would pay small town diners to be open all nite for the train crews. That was if you could afford to eat in the diner -mostly it was just your own thermos of coffee and lots of homemade sandwiches. And not every conductor could cook - only a select few had the ability or desire.

Jen