Forums

[JoeKrause]

I was asked in a general audience the other day about when Class I railroads stopped using cabooses at the end of freight trains. I guesses somewhere the in l970's and speculated that there were two reasons why:
(a). cutting down of train crews
(b). new technological devices placed on the last car of a freight train to indicate the end of the train.

I would appreciate any more knowledgable person letting me know the answers to my question.[:)]

[wctransfer]

The late 1980s (1985-1989) were when most, to my knowledge, gave up the caboose.

Alec

[JoeKrause]

thank you. Do you know any reasons why cabooses disappeared from the ends of the trains?

[wctransfer]

Nope, dont know the real reason. Im sure someone around here could pipe in. It may be (like you said) cutting of the crews,so you wouldnt really need a caboose.

Alec

[wjstix]

It's pretty much like you said, cutting the crew from 4 to 2 saved a lot of money. FRED's did a lot (but not all) of the job the crew had done.

Cabooses really started to fade out in the mid-eighties. I think the Soo Line ran cabooses on the line I live by until about 1990 but part of that might have been involved with the agreement they signed when they took over the MN&S in 1982. (They allowed MNS men to stay working the jobs they had and not have to bid for them.)

Still, BN used cabooses on some ore trains in MN in the 90's, CP still uses a caboose on some local switching (and old Soo Line hack) in the St.Paul MN area.

[wjstix]

BTW I think the federal requirement to run with a caboose was removed about 1982.

[PBenham]

For one thing a caboose weighs around 30 tons. A "FRED" only 100-120 for the most sophisticated device. Most of 'em are 60-70 lbs. So, there is quite a savings in dead weight to haul around. Then there is not having to switch it out of the way when one needs to perform most switching moves. But the clincher and best reason to dump cabooses (Vans to you Canadians, Cabins, to those of you that are PRR oriented)is the safety angle. Riding on the end of a 200 car freight with all of that slack action would really throw the poor souls in the caboose around if they weren't paying attention, and occasionally when they WERE paying attention, injuring them some times seriously. There were also lots of falls from the cupolas, which led to some roads adopting bay window cabooses. The other factor was that a conductor or brakie could stay in the caboose and not lean out on the steps to hoop up orders. Conrail phased out cabooses in around 1980-85 and did not look back. Consider, too the advent of the talking defect detector. Their adoption helped seal the fate of cabooses, too.

[Anonymous]

To add to PBenham's insightful post:

That cute little red (or green, or blue, or yellow, or black, etc.) caboose is also $75,000-100,000 worth of dead weight, plus interest and fees, and maintenance expenses, which are not cheap. Add in the FELA claims and legal fees for crew injuries for being tossed around by slack runin and runout (no worker's comp--everybody pays the lawyers), plus depreciation, fuel, switching, handling and deadhead costs (a caboose, like a locomotive, gets shifted around the system to balance resources).

And it doesn't generate a dime in revenues.

It's the only significant piece of operating dept. equipment the RRs owned that doesn't contribute to the bottom line.

You do the math.

[chad thomas]

The way I remember it many states had caboose laws that required them on trains. In the mid 80s those laws started being repealed untill they were all gone. I think Montana was the last state to eliminate the caboose law.

[rrandb]

The BNSF swithing local that goes by the Kansas City, MO.Union station still has a caboose but the windows have all been plated over with steel. [2c] As always ENJOY

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

As mentioned elsewhere, cabooses are still used where long back-up moves are involved on a regular basis. Iowa Interstate uses cabooses for the long back-up involved to interchange with IHB in Blue Island. BRC similarly uses cabooses, although not regularly, on its transfers from Clearing to Glenn (IC, ex-GM&O).

[jxtrrx]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CSSHEGEWISCH

As mentioned elsewhere, cabooses are still used where long back-up moves are involved on a regular basis. Iowa Interstate uses cabooses for the long back-up involved to interchange with IHB in Blue Island. BRC similarly uses cabooses, although not regularly, on its transfers from Clearing to Glenn (IC, ex-GM&O).

What is the function of the caboose on a long back up move?

[chad thomas]

It gives the crewmembers a place to stand vs. hanging on the ladder.

Cabooses are still used on a few lines with manual switches too so there will be someone at the rear to line switches back after meets. The Oregon Trunk between Wishram and Bend is an example. Not all trains run with them but some do. I suspect it's the lower priority trains.

[route_rock]

Yeah you hang on the side of a car over a mile your arms turn to jello, go for a long transfer move and your going to be crying. Unless you ride like old heads do, not on the ladder but in a position of comfort that will get you canned or alternative handeling.
Plus a caboose gets rid of a crew getting to claim a HO ( hold on) as long as you go over a mile you can claim it.
If we had a caboose on the 101 local out of Galesburg it wouldnt be a bad job seeings you back into GM yard in CHicago then Back out next day.But oh well they still pay the claim so who cares right now.

[Tim Burton]

Hold On?