What Happened to Cabooses?
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- The Caboose could be used for many things: an office, a break room, a sleeping cabin, a tool shed, a lookout station, and with easy access to its own brake system, it could even assist with emergency braking. So why don't we see them on freight trains today?
#trains #railway #caboose
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PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING: woops, I seemed to have missed a few things. Yes folks my channel offers different styles of videos, everything from opinion-pieces, to mini-documentaries, and small topic videos such as this one. Videos like this one are intended to hold over the audience until I can complete the mini-documentaries people like. In order to prevent me from devoting all my free time to videos like this, I do these unscripted. I sit in front of a camera and say everything I have off the top of my head, mistakes and all. I know more about trains and ocean liners than I let on, no, I am by no means an expert, but have you ever been telling someone a story and suddenly realized you recounted someone's name wrong? Or you mis-labeled the place you are speaking of, or even forgot to include an important detail of the story? Well...that unfortunately happens with videos like this. The conundrum is trying to improve these videos without taking away precious time from the production of the mini-documentaries which receive the more detail-oriented oversight. I promise, from now on I will try to make these videos more accurate.
Well said. I am a Treestorian here in Chicago. And someone who would never call themselves an expert since I found so-called experts think they know everything yet continue to ask what else is there that I don't know and can still learn. That can be rediscovered after lost overtime, or had never been known and only just discovered.
They still use it in India in some Goods Trains till now!
Also a cabooses held the switchman to switch manual track switches before or after a train crossed. Obsolete on modern trains as they use computer switching stations
@@0011peace ok then look at this link of indian railways
@@adykakroo no link provided
plus as the speaker said this is about US railroads not Indian. There some old historical and small railroads that use cabooses in the US. But larger freight and Amtrak the only cross country passenger service in the US.
I had a friend whose Dad had a caboose in the back yard mounted on a small section of tracks. It was his man cave. Freaking AWESOME!
A caboose man cave sounds awesome to me.
A caboose man cave sounds awesome to me.
There was a place near Cleveland Ohio that put a bunch of cabooses and other train cars together and made a popular restaurant out of it.
It was called Victoria Station. I don't know if it still exist.
My 10 year old self is officially jealous.
Hell, my current 54 year old self is as well.
A caboose Man cave sounds AMAZING. !!
My dad was an engineer on the M-K-T (Katy) railroad in the 1950's. He let me ride in the caboose from Smithville Texas to Galveston with the Brakeman. I am now 75 years old but still remember it. There was a "round house" that turned the engines around. The good ole days.
I was a engineer on the UP and I ran to Smithville from Fort Worth pulling coal trains
The roundhouse was where maintenance was done. A turntable is where engines were turned around inside a switching yard.
My dad was a brakeman for Canadian National (CN) from the 60's to the early 90's. As a kid my dad brought me along once. We flattened a penny under the wheels and it was an all around fun time.
"She took the Katy........ left me a Mule to ride." Love it
The good ol'days... I don't know. I am very nostalgic of old railroads... but let's face it those old days were far from being all good.
My uncle bought an old caboose and had it moved onto his property on a lake . He turned it into a summer cabin . It was so cool to stay in it
I bet it was
That sounds so awesome 🥰
I had an idea of building a replica wood caboose or section of a sleeper car inside a steel building. Mount the car on a swivel pedestal with hydraulic or electric actuators to rock the car gently side to side and turn it back and forth a little to make it a motion simulator. And have solenoid clackers underneath to make the clickity-klack sound and vibration. Then have big screens about 8 feet from the windows onto which would be projected recorded video of passing scenery. So, without going anywhere, it would look, feel and sound as if you were riding the rails.
They’ve got something like that at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento, but with a real sleeper car from maybe the 1930’s. That was the coolest thing. I could have sat in there all day. 😀
As of 2013 when I did the Army Unit Movement Officer Course there were still a handful of Army Corps of Engineer cabooses that could be used for a guard force for trains transporting sensitive items
that’s not surprising since there’s still Army trains and railway units…
Now that's a video I'd like to watch; a little tour and talk about military trains.
@@deshawnjackson9077
Sometimes military trains would get run in the barracks…..
Hey! Im trying to get into the UMO-DPC right now!
@@lelandgaunt9985 no huh😂
The caboose was always my favorite part of the train. Seeing it meant the end of a long wait.
I always fantasized about jumping up and grabbing hold of the railing, and going on a journey.
@@atlantic_love Goodluck on your journey and peace be with you.
@@thelmatucker7598 Thanks lol. If I tried that now my fingertips might touch the railing, but I would for sure eat gravel.
@@atlantic_love OK then. Board safely and with dignity. Goodluck to you.
@@thelmatucker7598 LOL. Lighten up, Francis :)
When I hired out on the Railroad in 1968 we still used Cabooses. We lived out of them while at work. Ours had 4 bunks, a desk, a stove, 2 sinks, a refrigerator, overhead water storage tank, a hot water tank located near the heater used LP gas and a bathroom with a toilet. There were lots of lockers and storage space. Some of the Cabooses we're assigned to regular Conductors. They took really good care of them. They were clean and the floors were waxed.
My uncle worked on the Caboose out of Elkhart, Indiana not sure the year he start but i was born in 65. Later my dad worked in the egine maintance part of the yard from about 73 or 74. First as labiourer then a mecahnic then a forman. He retired on disability.
I still see cabooses to this day just not nearly as many as I would see back in the 70s, and 80s. Now I mostly see more engines where the caboose used to be.
@@0011peace Your sPale Checur is broak in
Thank you!
If u put an engine in place of caboose, there will be two engines in the train.
The caboose became obsolete in the 1980s, as regulation changes about sleeping of the crew when the train was in motion came into effect, as well as trains growing so long that it would take 15 minutes or more for the replacement crew to move from the caboose to the engine made them impractical (then after the change over moving the train slowly until the old crew could climb into the caboose). The railroads on longer lines today simply made sure that every 8 hours or so there was a replacement crew available, like an airline. So they would stop the train at a station, change crews, and get back to moving. The crew that just got off duty would go to a hotel for the night, and the next day hop on a train going the other direction to replace that crew and return home. No more single crew with enough personnel for 2-3 shifts going all the way across the country. They just work their 8 hours or so, then swap out and do the same on the return on another train.
So ultimately, it was the superior logistics as well as the length of the train that killed them. But as some have said, the military still runs them when they are moving sensitive cargo for security forces. As late as 1987 when I was at the Seal Beach Naval Weapon Station, Navy trains with ordinance would pull in with a caboose. No extra train crew on board, but a handful of Marines in the event somebody tried to attack it or steal the ordinance.
cost of a hotel vs. costs of ensuring at least one caboose was always available for a train? cheaper for the hotel rooms
Another point people often miss is safety. American trains get moving by bunching slack, and with longer trains each jolt collected enough energy to thrown the crew in the caboose off their feet. And a caboose put the crew right where they'd be killed in a rear end collision. The final nail in the coffin was electronic manifests. Once the conductor no longer needed an office to do paperwork the last reason for a caboose was gone. There's still a solid safety argument for a two man engine crew but no need for a fireman so let's have the conductor ride in the cab where he's safer and can work directly with the engineer.
Trains crews frequently have 12+ hour days, 8 hours is either a shift in the yard or an exceptionally fast train on most territories, and even then crews will often 'die' before reaching their terminal. As for taking longer for a crew swap with a caboose, nah, they did rolling swaps.
This is the best history and explanation I have ever seen on cabooses, I will surely share this with my Grandkids and also I have subscribed!I worked as a Agent/Dispatcher on the Chesapeake Western Rwy.
It was a sad day for all of us when they took our cabooses away. It was like cutting the left arm off the body of our railway.
The conductor and rear brakemen had a brass air gauge that they could verify That they had air to the rear of the train. They took our cabs from us and gave us one of them cursive ET as we called them ( end train )
I think back when I worked on the section gang and they took the spiking hammer out of my hands and put an air hammer to replace it, that was the beginning of the end of the glamour a railroads....
Someone may have mentioned this, but one reason for modern trains to use a caboose is in urban switching operations. These moves often require long reversing movements. So a caboose will be attached for the conductor or brakeman can be the eyes of the engineer, communicating with radios. They will also have keys to unlock switches and gates along the way where various rail-served industries have sidings.
That is what they do on the Mykawa sub on the BNSF tracks in south Houston. It is always fun seeing that caboose but I really wish they would paint it.
@@michaelinhouston9086 Yes, modern railroads seem to be very frugal re their own equipment. Those transfer cabooses don't get any love, even a fresh coat of paint, as best I can tell.
Thank you I've learned a lot in this short amount of time. I'm 69 and never knew most of this. Thanks again.
The caboose is still in widespread "service" today, but not in its original intended function. A great number have been turned into restaurant dining rooms.
There was a place near Cleveland Ohio that put a bunch of cabooses and other train cars together and made a popular restaurant out of it.
It was called Victoria Station. I don't know if it still exist.
@@im1who84u Sadly the last restaurant closed in December 2017, after the chain declared bankruptcy in 1986
You mentioned the caboose carrying spare parts and tools which made me recall some of the itens found in the caboose. Air hoses (aka hosebags) which you mentioned. Knuckles and knuckle pins. Brake beam keys and brake shoes and shoe keys. Brake rod pins and cotter keys. Hammer, pry bar and pipe wrenches And up until the 80's at least a pulling hook for opening journal boxes and a supply of grease bars in case of a hot box.
I went in the '80s to buy one up in New Hampshire was in gorgeous condition and then my wife was screaming at me the kids were like a caboose?
2 many people with
Noooo
Pizzazz!!!
Great video. There are some cabooses still in use today even on the class 1 railroads. They are sometimes used in yard service but mostly as “shoving platforms” for a rear crewman to stand on during long backing moves where it would be unsafe for crew to hang from the side ladders for the duration of the move. CSX and NS still used this practice at least into the early 2000s since many long backup moves are required to access certain coal mines in the Appalachians.
BNSF also uses cabooses for this. Long backing moves being a few miles. I've seen BNSF use a caboose for long backing moves in the Denver area.
The UP uses cabooses to protect long reverse moves especially on locals. They also use them as blizzard busses on double tracked subdivisions to rescue crews who have run out of time and the roads are unpassable because of heavy snow.
At a plant job I used to do contract cleaning for, I was on a lunch break and the plant had a very active railroad line operated by NS and Amtrak. A neighboring steel stamping plant had a siding where it would receive steel coil rolls from trains. On my lunch break, I was heading back to work when I was stop at the railroad crossing by a small NS train that was bringing in a shipment for the stamping plant. I think the train had at most, 8 cars, but surprisingly it had a small caboose with the NS logo at the end of the train. I'm more than sure it was attached to that train to serve as a lookout for that stamping plant since the siding going into the plant was rather long and would have trucks bringing in stuff near the tracks as well.
We run a caboose on the end of our train on the New Hope Valley Railway in NC. Its coal burning stove keeps us toasty warm in winter! The caboose also had a lever to “dump the air” (operate the emergency brakes) if there was a serious problem.
I'll have to check that out. I live in Holly Springs north of you.
@@sst6555 I was wondering if they had a "shitter" in there and how it may have worked.
You run, or you ran?
@@atlantic_love We currently run, or operate, a caboose.
In the late 90's and early 2000's when I served the U.P. There were a few jobs that required us to back up more than 2 miles to them. At that time, the FRA requirement was, if a train has to back up more than a mile, a way had to be made for the crew to stand instead of riding the ladder on a car's side. So they had couple of old cabooses on a siding for us to use for those long reverses.
You can use them to whistle through road crossings while shoving backwards they used to be where you stored your liquor
“Shoving Platforms”
Hey Brother... 04 Conductor here out of Roseville. 6'5" and 300lb of "Why Am I Holding This Ladder and Not Riding on a Shoving Platform?" I like hearing that they "kinda" recognized that riding a Shove is hazardous. Empty Lumber cars and Grain cars were my go to ;)
The Caboose was also used by the train Conductor as an office to do his paperwork, the stove was used to heat the air in the Caboose, and to heat food. The Whistle valve on the caboose could be use to signal the trains approach to a road crossings during shoving moves, and to put the train into emergency after the implantation of the Westinghouse air brake system.
Mostly yard crews use cabooses now when working industries that have long shoving moves, the Conductor is the Engineer's eyes and communicates instructions as to hazards, crossings, stopping etc.
Very few people don't know this but they were Irish men in most of them died
@@lelandthomosoniii4743 Where did you come up with that crock o' shit?
@@lelandthomosoniii4743 And during the 1800s when the rail lines were being extended to the West Coast, Chinese emigrants did the construction jobs.
@@williamfulgham2010 On the US transcontinental railroad, the Irish immigrants built the rail line from the east, the Chinese immigrants built it from the west, until they met at the Golden Spike in Utah. Note that the Chinese built less mileage, but it was much harder terrain to have to build through mountains - shoring up the track, blasting tunnels, blasting away rock faces to allow for the width.
@@rudra62 Thank you for the updated information.
Many long distance freight trains in Australia - ones that take several days - still have crew cars attached but directly behind the engine. Often converted passenger sleeping cars, they have bedrooms, a lounge, TV, cooking and shower facilities for a group of drivers taking the train thousands of Kms sooo they can rest and relax between their shifts. These trains often have 3 or 4 drivers and it saves having to change drivers and station then at remote locations.
Thank you so much for uploading this video. It is helping me get through the pandemic!
When I worked for Canadian National we called them "VANS" short for "brake van" as used on British railways. Initially a van was assigned to a conductor as his home and office away from his terminal.
In the 1960's we started using "runthru" vans which stayed on the train and the crews changed at division points.
The term caboose is an anglisization of the Dutch "kambooze" which was a deckhouse with bunks and the galley (kitchen) on windjammers.
Brake van ? You mean the guard's van ! Actually "brake" is more accurate earlier on.
Thank you for a very thorough explanation of how a caboose was used, what the crew inside were responsible for, and thanks for explaining what the rear-end devices do, l honestly had no idea they could perform so many functions!
A caboose is sometimes used on modern trains that are required to carry security personnel. Trains carrying top secret cargoes for the military and those carrying nuclear materials are equipped with a caboose to provide a place for the security forces to ride in.
Cabooses are also found on trains moving Oversize loads and some railroads keep a few at hand for those local jobs that require lengthy backing moves or Shoves as they are known to protect the back of the train and signal at Grade Crossings etc...
to my knowledge, Montana Rail Link still uses them in general Revenue service.
I’m actually in possession of one of the cabooses used for this purpose. It has been transformed into a bunk house complete with shower and bathroom.
Exactly. In 1992 I was training troops on rail operations in Fort Hood Texas. All trains there had a caboose.
it also helps give a buffer just in case of ramming…
@@lordsherifftakari4127 Yeah, I spotted a bunch of them while up in Montana recently. I should have taken photos since they'll probably be gone as soon as BNSF takes control of the line back.
Alex, thanks for the video! I grew up in a home where our backyard was along railroad tracks. I remember when I was very young my mother telling me that all trains were terminated by a caboose. Very rarely, we'd see a train with two cabooses on its end. And once in a great while, no caboose. Then, sometime when I was in college, the cabooses disappeared.
Learn something new every day. Until today I have never heard of a "EOT or a ETD." As always Alex your narration in nothing but top notch. Thanks to Alex the Historian for his time and hard work.....
You're welcome!
@@AlextheHistorian I actually built and repaired EOT's (FRED's as you call them) for Siemens Rail Automation for about 6 years before I got promoted. The amount of tech in them these days, and what they can do, is pretty neat. Plus they are a huge safety upgrade by being able to dump the air out of the system thus applying the brakes if it detects a problem. GPS tracking, speed and data monitoring, phone call check ins, downloadable and customizable wifi compatible with instant software upgrades. Truly sad to see the Caboose go the way of the dodo (in most cases), and taking personnel jobs with it, but increased safety is a good thing.
Thank you I learned something new today I try to strive to learn something new everyday
You and me both!
When I was a boy in Russellville Arkansas we had a train come off the rails downtown. It was carrying several reefers of Morton's frozen goods (TV dinners, pies, frozen fried chicken, etc) since there was a Morton's plant outside town. While they were attempting to put the cars back on the track, the word was put out that the company had decided to sacrifice all the goods as no power was available to keep the food frozen. So word went out and the towns housekeepers, including my mother, descended. There was a caboose. I remember because the railroad was using that to keep track of the distribution and recovery efforts. The only time I got to go into a caboose. They were using it for an office.
Hey now that's quite a story! Thanks for sharing
cheaper to write the load off than pay to have another locomotive supply power or just remove everything by truck…at least the townsfolk got some nice meals 🤣
They likely wouldn't do that much. As well as sacrificing the goods the town folk wouldn't be buying goods since they got some for free. So not only did the company lose the goods, and the sales on them but they also lost sales for goods on the shelf. Maybe even taking more loss as the goods on the shelf expired from fewer sales. Nice of the company to let the people have the goods but it increased the loss up to 3 times.
You make a valid point, but Russellville is a Southern town. Wasting food is not tolerable in this part of the world. The execs at this company would have offered the goods up to prevent the waste only. It would been a decision based on their upbringing, not their business degrees. Both are required for effective management.
that happened where I life in Ms. I found out when i went to school on Monday train had detailed lost a boxcar of candy bars. kids had a lot of them to sell.
I live in LYH VA. Love the railroad, grew up around it and have sat and watched trains all my life. When N&W, now Norfolk Southern ran 611 and 1218, I spent days chasing them. Norfolk Southern has a local freight train that services a Frito Lay plant and a local concrete plant. When it goes to these places it has a caboose. I see it every time I pass the freight yard. I always wave to the man riding in it!!!
Nice cutaway of the R.M.S. Queen Mary.
Thanks to the B & O Railroad Museum keeping some of its trains in operating condition, I have had the enjoyabke experience of riding in the caboose.
Thanks for making the video.
Happy Independence Day to you.
Thanks! And to you as well
I remember seeing cabooses on very long freight trains in person. That was so cool! I miss seeing cabooses at the end of long freight trains.
Very interesting and informative video another good use for a caboose turn it into home and living in one
Excellent presentation 👏
It’s great that caboose’s can be seen and ridden at heritage railroad museums.
At the illinois railroad museum they will occasionally run whole trains of just caboose
even better if you get to ride in the locomotive!!
@@michaellawson1518 Isn't the plural of "caboose" "cabeese"? :D GDR
Appreciate you and your content, Alex!
Thanks!
It's the same in many other countries. Here in the UK we called them brake vans, because of their early use for braking. During the 50s and 60s there was a drive to speed up freight services with new wagons that were fully braked. As well as no longer being needed, the old brake vans were often not suitable or at least comfortable for these higher speeds, and the switch to diesels meant that there was more space on the locomotive for the guard to travel (usually in the rear cab since most British locos have two cabs). Only two types of trains kept guards vans for longer. The first was infrastructure trains. These tended to use older wagons which were sometimes unbraked. Being more limited in use, covering shorter distances between yards and worksites, and mostly running at night, lower speeds were not a problem. It wasn't until the 80s or possibly early 90s when all these became unbraked. The others were nuclear waste trains. The idea was that in the event of an emergency, having crew at the front and back of the train meant they could walk in opposite ways along the track to get help. With mobile phones this became less of an issue and in the 2000s guards vans were removed from all trains.
There was also one other reason for cabooses or guards vans at the rear of trains. In the early days of railways trains were separated by holding the next train until the first one had been gone a certain time. In the event of an issue where the train stopped unexpectedly, the guard would be expected to walk back along the track to signal to the following train to stop. Even after modern signalling systems were developed, this requirement was often still kept in place. Radio communication and mobile phones have made this obsolete (although trains still carry flags, hand lamps and detonators for signalling to other trains in an emergency). At least in the UK, most freight trains have for a few decades been either one person operated (just a driver) or carried just a shunter.
One other thing. Even though passenger trains have been fully braked in the UK since the late 1800s, the part where the guard/conductor travels on passenger trains is still referred to as the brake compartment. This though is because these compartments still often have a wheel that can be used to manually apply the brakes for the purpose of holding the train without a locomotive supplying air pressure for the brakes.
Remember them as a child!We would always wave to the guy in it!
“It was the most beautiful, most expensive train ever built, the Spruce Caboose. Some people said it was too big to stay on the tracks. They were right.”.
Did not exist!!!
@@MsFred58 He’s making a joke about the Spruce Goose, a model of which is on the table below the Titanic to Alex’s right.
Hilarious 😂😂😂
@@MsFred58 it's a Simpsons reference.
"Follow the Headless Brakeman"
I miss cabooses on trains. They were cool. (I'm 64).
Thank you for explaining the purpose of the Caboose ; MOST interesting !!! I remember growing up in South Africa and not far from a railway junction . The freight trains always had one on at the end , which in South Africa was called the Guard's Van. South African Railways / Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweg, ( SAR/SAS) , colloquially referred to as ' the Spoories' , operated steam engines right up until the early '90's ! ; mainly for shunting around large rail yards and junctions. I now realise how privileged I was to have witnessed working steam engines. The sights , sounds and smell of steam , grease and coal smoke were unique ...now a bygone age.
Very educational. I'm pushing the subscribe button.
Oh I love cubooses!! I really miss seeing them. When I was young, we lived in CA central vally, and our car often got stopped by a long freight train. We would always wait for the cuboose to pass by, and we would wave- and they always waved back!! Then I noticed later they stopped having the caboose, but always wondered why. I thing they would still appreciate a place to use as a break room, but don't remember seeing any other than on the antique railroads, as you mentioned. Thanks for the cool train video- keep them coming! :)
I’m sold…I wanna Caboose right now. …And…that black hat, I like that hat.
I stayed in the "Red Caboose Motel" near Strasburg PA... I think they have over 30 cars set up as "rooms"... not a 5 star hotel, but pretty cool experience for train fans.
Many years ago there was a place in Sinton, TX, called "The Loose Caboose Motel." On the way to the coast one very stormy night we decided to to stop there rather than continue to brave the freak high winds and rain. My mother's little VW could not top 45 mph against that wind.
It was a regular little motel but they had a caboose and three slightly ragged old passenger coaches there for special use. Being the curious kids we were, we went out in the wind and tried every door to the old train cars until we found one unlocked. The cars were coupled together so we roamed all through them. We got into the caboose, too. The wind outside kept swaying them as if they were rolling down the track again. It was great fun! The lights were on in the cars. Either nobody saw us or they didn't mind us playing in there because noone came out to run us off.
That place is long gone now.
They used to have a caboose motel in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, it's no longer there but they used old cabooses turned into motel rooms too. We stayed there once when I was a kid, and I was extremely disappointed. The interiors were gutted and refurbished and were no different than any other motel room, except with a skylight from the cupola. 10 year old me was expecting the sponge mattresses and bunk beds, and seats in the cupola, and a potbelly stove. Now looking back on it as a 38 year old, I'm still disappointed and I still wish the cabooses were authentic.
@@modelrailpreservation
Yah, that would suck. I'd want to stay in a real caboose, too. What's the point of offering cabooses to stay in when they're not cabooses anymore.
I really miss seeing Cabooses! I can even remember counting three or even four Cabooses at the end of some trains!
As elucidated below, the caboose, grummy, way-car, was the office for the conductor. In the days of steam, there wasn't any room on the footplate of the locomotive for a third person - only for the engineer and the fireman to shovel the coal. The caboose was a necessary part of the train as you stated. But in the days of diesel, the cab of the locomotive no longer required a fireman, and there was no longer a need for multiple brakemen, so the conductor, and one brakeman now sit in the cab of the diesel, along with the engineer. Some cabooses had a simple toilet that dropped down onto the tracks. Later cabooses had wheel-driven generators and batteries to provide power for radios and lights. No more kerosene lanterns that could cause a fire. Now the diesel locomotives have not only a flush toilet and holding tank, but a sink with a water supply, and an ice box for bottled water and lunches. Everything you said was true, but you forgot the conductor's office. The FRED is powered by a small air-driven generator and has a radio to communicate with the locomotive. Thanks for the video. Jon, on the U.P., Pacific Coast Line, Santa Barbara Sub, M.P. 404.5
You would love to take a gander at my heirlooms from my grandfather. Robert Ralph Ray, Southern Rail, Inman Yards foreman.
That was some very I threshing information about Caboose 👍♐️
On the back of car 7 at Dollywood you can see a small whistle
I've ridden in cabooses. They're definitely a piece of American history. .
My dad was a railroader, first with Pennsylvania Railroad, then Penn Central. He retired from Amtrak in 1989. They were a fixture on the old wire trains they used for working on cattenaries and wires for the trains. Now, they're mostly used for historical railroads, like the East Broadtop or in Straudsburg, Pennsylvania. You did a great job, explaining a crucial and often overlooked item. Thank you.
Back in the old days of steam powered locomotives, the caboose was the place where the railroad conductors would fix up a big pot of slumguillion stew. On a somewhat tangentially related note - One of my best recipes was handed down by my grandfather from Ohio who was part of a stew loving band of clowns which toured the country on the railroad in the 1930s and 40s. Not only did he fully participate as a performer (juggling and spraying seltzer mostly) but he was also in charge of the Clown Chuckwagon, and over the years, came up with a nice selection of mostly campfire stews (or "or stewge" as Gramps used to call them),, soups and casseroles. One of my favorites, casseroles, which I still prepare frequently, consists of baked beans and wieners (for the KETO portion of the meal), macaroni and cheese. and a couple handfuls of those big orange circus peanuts - a sweet yet savory bake-up that's a hit with everyone who tries it. Gramps had one clown name for performing with his fellow troupers at carnivals, civic events, etc., throughout the central Midwest ""Antsy Pants" - but around the campfire at breakfast or suppertime, when most of these talented vagabond buffoons had removed their make-up and hung their giant shoes in their campers, (but oddly enough not all of them) Gramps was affectionately known among the boys as "Yummo." He told me how it wasn't unusual for farmers to donate a hen or two and maybe a couple of dozen eggs, in return for a brief barnyard slapstick performance by a couple of the boys for the farmer, his family and his hired hands.. He also told me as soon as he got back to camp with the chickens, the alcoholic Geek who traveled with them would inevitably beg permission to bite the heads of the pullets when Gramps was ready to get those birds cooking. Seemed that this particular Geek actually not only savored the taste of the live chickens he was required to eat (which were usually provided by the promoter of the event at which the troupe was performing) - but craved more when "off=the-clock" Talk about a Carnivore diet!! Wow!!! Reportedly, he was known to comment that "live chicken pairs well with a pint of Carstairs White Seal Blended." By the way, Grandma also traveled with Gramps. She was the seamstress - making a good number of the clown suits from her own design and repairing all them when required. So of course Gram and Gran rolled along from town- to -town with a big foot pump operated sewing machine in their trailer, - in addition to all the pots, pants, cutlery, stirrers, etc. My Dad was born in a campground in Posey County, Indiana, delivered by a local midwife and plopped into a casserole baking dish as soon as Gramps cut the umbilical cord with his second best onion chopping knife. As for me, I married young and did well for myself in doing so. My wife is the daughter of an outdoor parking lot magnate in a major city in Ohio. I was dowried with three downtown lots. I've had a comfortable life pretty much doing whatever I want all day while other people collect money on my behalf while sitting down in booths, watching TV, reading (or even snoozing between customers arriving and honking the horns to wake 'em up). Consequently, for awhile, I was able to open a couple of storefront business which specialized in selling "clown suits for the whole family," including custom made if somebody wanted them - and even clown suits for the family pets. The seamstresses I hired used Gram's patterns, of course. . The stores were called "Hem and Ha!" - and with every sale, I usually threw in a copy of one of Gramps' recipes for a clown casseroles, "silly stew," "buffoon bread, "Punchinello Porridge,," or what have you. Of course, they all pair well with seltzer water
Back in the late 1970's, I graduated from High School. Before I was going to attend to college, I wanted to see the Great Pyramids of Teotihuacan. I traveled by myself using buses and trains. When Pullman cars no longer met US safety standards, Mexico bought the cars for public transport. I road on one of these trains down through Mexico, through the mountains. The last cars were the "cheap seats" and they were filled with goats, farmers and families who occupied the cabooses, cooking on the pot bellied stove. I sat on the steps of the caboose, drinking cheap Mexican beer, eating homemade meals I bought for pennies watching the desert disappear into the night. It was a magical experience.
I grew up along the Pennsylvania RR line in Chicago in the 50s and 60s when a caboose on the back of every train was the norm and you’d still occasionally see a steam driven locomotive go by. We would yell “Flare” to the brakemen in the caboose as they passed and occasionally they would toss us one.
Refreshing to see a young guy talkin' trains :D
Great presentation well thought out. I used to live in a R.R. town & I sort of knew what a caboose did & I've been in a couple of them. The cupola was towards the front of the train so smoke wouldn't blow in the brakeman's face. (Or so I've been told.) I found this video to quite fascinating. Thank you for sharing this.
If you're talking about the cupola that was on top of the locomotives tender, that was called a "dog house" and you're correct it was for the brake man who monitored the front half of the train.
This was super informative. I had no idea. Thank you
Texas State Railroad sometimes puts a caboose on the end of a passenger train and charges a different fee to ride in the caboose. They also give a group rate for groups of people who want to ride together.
The Combres and Toltec, in Colorado and New Mexico, frequently has a caboose on the end of their historic scenic steam railway rides. I was fortunate enough to know some people who'd chartered such a caboose, and got tickets for it. I wasn't close enough to be part of their "in" group, so my friend and I got to take most of the trip from the top of the caboose. WooHoo!
I never knew that. Never even occurred to me, what a caboose would be for other than being the last car in the train. Thank You. Very informative.
As long as I've had [ and loved] model trains since I was a kid I didn't know all the uses! The historic footage was very cool as well....and yes I've seen two cabooses on a loooong modern freight train. One was in the middle and the end. Nice video👍👍
Great piece. Thanks
I hired out on the railroad in the late 60's on the CB&Q (Chicago Burlington and Quincy) and no one called a caboose a caboose. They were always referred to as a 'Way Car'. A Way Car is where the conductor and rear brakeman rode with the 'Bills of Lading", or more commonly known as 'Way Bills'. The only time that you see a Way Car here in the midwest on the BNSF are on work trains. That allows a conductor or brakeman to monitor and protect a back up movement of the train.
I was a conductor for CSX in Florida for a few years before the economy collapsed in 08. We would use a caboose as a "shoving platform". This was required anytime you were backing longer distances and or going over crossings someone has to be there to blow the horn.
One of, if not my most cherished railroad collectibles is an "N" scale replica of a 1980s era Cattle Car. What makes the car so special (for me) is that I got it when I was a kid, living in southern IL around 1990. When my family visited St. Louis Union Station, I found the cattle car at a model railroad hobby-shop that was located within the station. The car, which I did utilize occasionally on temporary railroads that I built, now remains in its original plastic displaying container with the original store price tag still on it.
Fyi: because of higher container (and other) cars, some cabooses were developed with protrusions extending from the sides of the caboose (similar to what an extension on the side of an RV or camping trailer looks like, only permanent/non-retractable.) These side mounts made it easier for the caboose crew to at least have a better view up the sides of the trains in front of them.
One more thing: Caboose crews, depending upon the railroad company and the routes to be traveled, would often travel with their own designated caboose/office and would be switched at certain connection/transfer junctions onto the next train the crew was to monitor. Of course, not all crew had this considered luxury, many had to contend with packing up and unpacking their belongings as well as all official documentation, etc. that needed to go along with the crew, each and every time the crew was to transfer to the next train/leg of their trip.
Since I was asked to do so with other of my collectibles, I've posted a UA-cam short to my channel which displays the RR replica of mention within my comment.
I live on a CSX line; on rare occasions, I do see a caboose on the end of a freight train.
The other piece of equipment which has rendered the caboose unnecessary is the trackside defect detector, which detects hot box, dragging equipment, etc...
I thought the EOTD/FRED/ETD did all that via telemetry and communicated to the locomotive, brakes etc and acted accordingly when needed
Back around the mid 1800s when the railroads first started, a spare boxcar with windows cut out on the side walls was used as the very first caboose. Also I think boxcars were the first & only freight railcars they had back in those days including cattle & reefer railcars too which were also boxcars. Around the year 1900, cabooses with cupolas came out.
There are examples of cupola cabooses that date back to the 1880's
@@AlextheHistorian I've seen these 1800s cabooses that looked a little like passenger railcars. Wow I didn't know cabooses had cupolas back in the 1880s like you said.
Yeah the first cupola caboose appeared in 1875
@@AlextheHistorian & the first diesel engines came out in the 1940s. Later in either the 1960s or 1970s, steam engines phased out & diesel ones took over.
@@kevinrichards3288 Actually, diesel switchers appeared in the 1930s, as well as diesel power for the first experimental streamliners. Cab units for freight and passenger service followed in the early 40s, followed by road switchers in the later 40s. In my part of the country (northeast) steam was gone from mainline service by 1955, with a few branchline holdouts not cut up til 1959. A few steam industrial switchers persisted into the early 60s. Now it's just tourist railroads, and damn few of those.
Another use of cabooses on the end of a long train was to change a track switch after the train passed the switch. This was, of course, before automatic/remote switches came into play. Even today, people sometimes have to manually "help" automatic switches that get frozen in cold weather. I commuted to downtown Chicago for years, and I would often see oil burning on switches to prevent freezing.
I did not know about this until now. Interesting video
I miss freight cars with road names and no graffiti as well as cabooses.
I was born and raised in Railroad towns before WW2 and have ridden in Cabooses and Coal driven Engines over many years. These locations were many days between major Railroad Yards. These enroute locations required train cars to be disconnected and remain for unloading for the community. And / or connecting empty boxcars that have been loaded with goods and transported to market.
Eg: I lived in a Coal Mining town. Empty Coal Cars were separated from a long train to be left and loaded. Days later the next passing train would stop, separate the their cars or caboose and back onto the spur line to pick up the loaded Coal Cars.
I also lived in a town on the same rail line, that was a Fruit Growing Orchard community. Empty Boxcars backed into the RR Spur Line, were separated and days later loaded with fruit and attached to be transited to market.
All trains had Cabooses. When the train was to disconnect for an empty or attach a loaded RR Car, the Engineer would stop the train at the point of disconnecting, or connecting the cars to be removed just before reaching the spur-line. The Conductor or Conductor’s left the Caboose and climbed the RR Car ladder to be disconnected from the rear of the train. The conductor would turn the brake-wheel, located on the top of each RR car which set the Park-Break mechanically to all the cars behind the car to be detached.
The Conductor would descend the RR car and detach the air-brake hose and detach the RR car coupling.
The Engine and remaining cars attached would then release the air-brakes and pull ahead of the Spur-Line siding, leaving the empty cars on the spur-line with their mechanical brakes on.
The Caboose Conductor would walk ahead to the Spur-line and Switch the Track from the main-line to the spur-line track. The Engine and cars would then reverse onto the spur-line, stop and the conductor would detach the RR cars to be left and unloaded or loaded.
The train would pull ahead until all of the train was on the main-line track. The conductor would then Switch the track back to the mainline.
The train would reverse and reconnect the Caboose. The conductor would reattach the Coupler and Air-Brake hose and get back onboard the Caboose.
The train would then continue to the next location to repeat the same procedure until reaching their major Rail-Yard, their final destination.
This might be a little confusing, but most of this work was done a half mile or mile from the engine so a Caboose was required to house these conductors and save them walking miles from the engine to the RR cars to be disconnected or connected.
JH
Locally here in Charlotte/North Mecklenburg County, the NS still uses an old NW caboose when shoving on the old single track AT&O line. There are a lot of crossings without signals or gates, so I would think the conductor is the engineer’s eyes. It has been heavily vandalized but still rolling.
Hello! First time viewer. I appreciate your easy going storytelling manner and your genuine interest in the topic presented. Keep up the good work. Greetings from west coast of Canada!
Australia has the modern day equivalent although only used as a crew station these days. The first two wagons are tankers carrying fuel for the locomotives. The third is a converted passenger wagon. It will have individual crew berths along with a common seating, living and kitchen area. This is followed by 3kms of goods wagons.
Cabooses on modern freight railroads have the doors and windows welded shut and are called "shoving platforms". They're used in yards and short-haul local freight trains. They're put on those trains so conductors have a nice place to stand while the train is moving backward instead of having to hold on to the side of a freight car.
Great video! Sometimes when I do switching with my ho scale trains I'll put a caboose on the back of the locomotive.
There is a smaller rail company here in the Vancouver BC area that still uses a caboose on occasion. I’m a rail loader who uses this company. So one day I asked an employee what they still use it for and he pretty much echoed what you said. He said it’s our lunch room and when they have a mile long train they will put it on the back, especially if they know they will have to back that train up
Awesome!
Great mini documentary! I think ‘Caboose’ is a a USA term, here in the uk we had similar rail units on freight trains which was called either a “brake van” or “Guards Van” as this is where the trains Guard (or conductor) was during between stops and operated the brake from. Basically doing the same function....though as am sure you are aware our rail routes are a little shorter! Again you will really only see these on heritage lines in the uk.
Caboose are still used on short lines or for pick up peddle frieghts where there is switching, cutting off or adding cars along a short distance.
This was interesting learning all about their purpose and see reading comments the much increased length of the freight train now makes it impractical for crew changes that now occur at stations for a freah crew as opposed to swapping a crew within the train itself. In the early 2000s I rode all the AMTRAK routes west of St. Louis to see the West, and somewhere west on the AMTRAK Empire Bulder I believe in Washington state remember seeing a very long row of green and gold painted Burlington Northern cabooses sitting on a siding.
Railroadmen out here on The West Coast in particular the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific Men called them the "Crumby".....Lovingly of course !
That was very interesting....thank you
You missed a core function of the Caboose. It was the Train Conductors office. The place where the paperwork and manifests were managed. Much of the function of the caboose has shifted forward into the Engines. For the more modern full cab freight engines, that area in the nose forward of and below the drivers positions is a space for additional crew. As for why a modern train might use a caboose? There are a number of tasks you might want people and eyeballs at the back of the train. Certain types of Maintenance of Way trains for example. Such as the linked car sets that carry lengths of welded rail that span across multiple cars, and flex as the train goes around a turn. Some might like to keep eyes on the back end of that. Or any other specialty load such as wide or awkward loads such as large generators. I think NASA may still have one caboose for when they are maneuvering large components within Kennedy Space Center property using the web of rail lines.
Yes, my Dad was a Train Conductor and the caboose was his office. Can't believe this guy missed that information.
I did this video on multiple takes. I accidentally forgot to select the take where I mentioned the office work done in a caboose. People make mistakes
@@AlextheHistorian It's OK. I enjoyed the video just the same.
The area in the nose of a modern locomotive houses a toolkit, electrical cabinet, and toilet. All crew members ride in the cab itself. There are typically three seats in a locomotive, and often a toadstool jumper seat behind the engineer. Most of the time when there is a job that calls for a brakeman, that crew member will ride in a trailing locomotive.
Weren't they also used for mail sorting and carrying?
thanks. did not know some of this. And I have been around for many, many years. When they were still ALL in use!
In some amusement parks, cabooses are used as restaurants over rail.
basically it is the office for the trains conductor, a place for the rear end brake man and the switch man.
Cabooses are still used in limited numbers on some railroads for backup operations.
The emergency brake system relied on the air pressure to hold the brakes off, with the release of the air applying the brakes. This system was still active in trains in the 70's, my youth, travelling coast to coast, and commonly seen in action in both passenger and freight trains. I learned this as a boy, operating a substantial model train setup that occupied half our basement, growing up. Trains were the primary means for "the average person" crossing America.
man I miss playing with my grandpa's model train set I'm gonna have to move it all into my house so I can play with it again whenever I want
A train without a Caboose is like a sentence without a punctuation mark. Great video by the way. 😀
Really
I say the same thing. Hmm, notice the younger generation seems to be abandoning punctuation? The same younger generation that has gone their whole lived seeing freight trains without a caboose?
Agreed!
When I was 8 we lived in an apartment complex that overlooked a railroad track across a small valley from us. When a train came by my little sister and I would run outside to count the number of rail cars and then wave to the brake man in the caboose.
I was passing through Tehachapi after a trip to Arizona and just happen to catch a long freight train coming down hill. I remember waiting for the engine to come through the tunnel before the end of the train finished passing over. My camera malfunctioned so I never got the proof.
Oh no! Lol well at least you got to see it for yourself!
I was in Elementary school maybe Kindergarten when they stopped putting them on trains in Canada. It was one of my earliest disappointments.
Great Video . The manner in which you relate your content is very enjoyable , much like sitting in a pub and having a interesting conversation with a friend over a beer . you are a natural teacher / storyteller , informative and entertaining without becoming pedantic . I'm looking forward to more of your videos.
Peace. Be Free.
Thank you!
great explanation. thanks
One thing you didn't mention was that cabooses were used as an office. There is a lot of paperwork to run a train, and someone needs to have a place to store it and update it.
I appreciate your video because I see them from time to time at my job working with the railroad and I always wondered what they were for aside from being "the back of the train".
In Railroad Tycoon cabooses give 75% less breakdowns and 50% less chance of the train being robbed
The Hobo anounced to his family esconsed in an abondonned caboose car in Wisconsin, "Brothers rejoice! I do declare a Palace we have found here, for her among these lakes so great, we have never had such a feast on our plates accompanied with a comfortable place to lay".
The main thing you seem to have overlooked is the caboose was the office for the conductor.
Yes somehow I managed to forget that detail.
Ed Ball, a Florida Rail Road owner, got rid of his Cabooses as he said that the caboose is a place for the workmen to lolly gag around in.
In the 1960s I was a brakeman on the Northern Pacific's Rocky Mountain Division. I remember cabooses fondly from personal experience, winter and summer.
I suspect you have some lovely stories to tell us!
My uncle worked for Penn/new York Central/Conrail/NorfolkSouthern as the swicthman out of Elkhart Indiana.
My dad Worked for the same company at the Engine yards cleaning/repairing then later as a foreman before he went on disability. He started the last year of vesting for railroad retirement board. All people in years after him instead got Social Security.
The word cabus is not popular around here but it's an euphemism for the rear of something. I've heard the expression 'getting kicked in the cabus'. Now I've learned this is a reference to trains!
Many farmhouses here in Wisconsin and elsewhere had cupolas. These were typically used for someone to monitor their herds and watch for predators. Sometimes they would/could shoot the predators and other times sound an alert.
I'm not 83Y/O and very fondly remember cabooses and steam engines.
And, one of the greatest things about those old trains was the whistle. Today's trains have the horn which has no personality as did that "lonesome whistle".
Thanks, Alex. This was a nice read.
That may have been one niche use, but generally, I think they were most often used in buildings to help circulate air by creating a chimney effect. Pre-air conditioning, architecture had a lot of different ways of getting the hot air away from poeple.
Thanks for this video. Here is MY question: Ever see a CUPOLA BAY WINDOW CABOOSE? I remember seeing 3 in the CNR CALDER EDMONTON RAILYARD years ago.
I'd never seem one before