The Caboose

[tyler_phillips]

I have never really understood the concept of the Caboose.   What was this used for?

[carknocker1]

It was a rolling office for the train crews .

[CShaveRR]

We had a thread about cabooses a week or so ago--check it out!

[Expresslane]

 

   The caboove was more than a rolling office. It was also a place to watch the rear half of the train as it went around curves. The crew would look for smoke from hot boxes or sticking brakes. They would also be on the lookout for shifted loads or other things that could be a problem. At one time the caboosr was assigned to the conductor and would be changed at the end of a run. The train crew would sleep and eat in the caboose while away from home.

[JonathanS]

In the days before radio the crew in the caboose were used to protect the rear of the train when it was stopped.  And when there were no air brakes the caboose held most of the brakemen that were used to stop the train.

[wjstix]

Today trains run with two man crews, a conductor and an engineer. Years ago trains ran with 4 or 5 man crews, an engineer and fireman in the cab, and a conductor and brakeman in the caboose. A long train might require a 'head' brakemen who would ride in the engine cab, or in a 'doghouse' built on the tender deck. The conductor was the guy running the train, as I understand it now, the engineer is no.1 and the conductor is more like a fireman/brakeman.

Remember there was no radio for most of railroading's history, no electronic devices to detect hotboxes or air pressure problems etc. Things were much more 'hands on'. Even a simple act of taking a siding was done by hand - the fireman would have to get down on the ground to throw the switch so the train can head into the side track, then hop back on the engine as the train headed in. Once the caboose was in the clear, the brakeman in the caboose would throw the switch back for the mainline. Same situation when the train left the other end of the siding to go back on the mainline.

The caboose as noted became a home-away-from-home for the rear-end crew, they ate and slept there. If a conductor was assigned a caboose he liked he might keep it for many years, taking it on himself to repaint the interior, add shades or curtains to the windows etc. BTW the engineer and fireman didn't eat or sleep in the caboose, they went to a local beanery to eat and slept in a hotel or Y or boarding house of some type.

[henry6]

Before air brakes trains had to be stopped by trainmen mechanically applying the brakes on each car. I believe the rule of thumb was one man per five cars.  To allow for a more "uniform" application of the brakes there was a head brakeman who would go back from the engine and a rear brakeman who would work forward.  They knew to appy brakes at certain locations and when the engineer whistled the call to apply brakes.  Sometimes there were more than one brakeman, especially at the rear of train.  AT first a box car was commandeered to carry the crew and that evolved into what we knew as a caboose.  The conductor set up his headquarters there with a desk; rear brakemen, and flagman populated the caboose, too.  Like engineers who were assigned an engine, conductors were often assigned a caboose.  Thus the cars were "furnished" by the conductor and it became his home away from home with bunks and kitchen facilities.   Air brakes negated the need for brakemen to have to walk the top of a train to apply brakes plus trains became longer and longer, and the cars higher and higher and wider and wider.  Rear trainmen were responsible for watching the train for hot boxes, sticking brakes, and illegal passengers; they let the engineer know when air was up and the train was ready to go. But slack action in a train made the rear riding dangerous, the new cars made it virtually impossible to "watch" much of the train.  Technology brought about automatic trackside detectors as well as rear of train devices which sent information via radio signal to the head end.  The cost of upkeep, the cost of pulling, along with the rate of injuries from slack action jerks were no longer needed by the rail industry.  A big cab and two and three man crews added to the ability of the railroads to phase out cabooses on main line trains and many locals, too.  There are some special security moves, specialized equipment, and frequent back up moves of transfer and switching jobs that require a caboose for safety.  But for the most part, the railroad industry is better off without cabooses.  That doesn't mean I don't miss the period at the end of a sentance.  Or was it an exclamation mark?

[ValleyX]

The conductor is still in charge of the train, even if the conductor is on his first paid trip as such and the engineer is a thirty year man, the conductor is the boss.  Per the rulebook and operating practices.

[tomikawaTT]

I've heard an unverifiable story that the caboose cupola came about because the crew was assigned a 'crew car' with a hole in the roof.  The rear brakeman stacked up a couple of boxes, set a chair on them and surveyed the rear of the train from his new elevated vantage point.  Somehow, somebody with some clout heard about it and ordered a lookout to be built with a proper roof and windows - and the rest is history.

What folks who were born after FRED took over as the rear-end brakeman don't realize is the amount of 'non-radio communications' gear that was carried in the caboose that isn't needed now.  Fusees were used in any situation where the train might be overtaken during poor visibility.  Rear end flagmen had flag, lantern and torpedoes.  A portable telegraph set was carried, and could be tapped into the trackside wires in case of need.

These days everybody communicates by radio, and non-radio communicating devices have vanished from the scene.

Chuck

[AgentKid]

Amazingly as well cabooses carried spare coupler and drawbar components as well as the nessecary jacking equipment to lift and replace the springs on a frieght car. I will try to find the list I saw of all the equipment required on a CPR caboose the total of which actually weighted several tons.

AgentKid