# Caboose Info Required.



## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

I've been modelling US HO for some time now but but I've never really understood the nomenclature regarding cabooses. Plus stuff like construction, when they are used and if they are still used today etc. If anybody could help me out with a general rundown I'd appreciate it.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

This will get you started.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caboose


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Here's some more info

http://trainweb.org/shannondell/caboose.html

http://trn.trains.com/railroads/railroad-history/2006/05/the-colorful-caboose


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Cycleops

While the linked articles mention that some railroads are still
using a caboose at the end of a train, it's been years since
I've seen one. If CSX is still using them it must be up
North someplace. Jacksonville is the main headquarters for
CSX and there have been none on any freight trains I've seen
in this area. CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads own the
trackage for most of the United States East of the Mississippi
river.

An interesting sidelight; For most of the time a caboose was
used it had no electric power. The crew worked with
oil lamps and the marker lights had oil flames. However,
there came a time when you saw a small windmill on the
caboose roof. It charged batteries to give the crew a
touch of modern life.

The various pictures in the linked articles pretty well
show the history of the car and it's several variations. The
caboose track in my yard has several of those designs and
a freight never leaves my yard without a Caboose.

The caboose was always a popular car with train fans. When
the railroads ended the practice of using them many were
donated to small towns along their rail lines. As a result,
you very often see one, usually in it's original
railroad colors, gracing small parks all over America.

Don


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Side note...up here in Canada, they are called "Vans", as well as cabooses....

http://www.truelinetrains.ca/freight-cars/cabooses


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

DonR said:


> Cycleops
> 
> While the linked articles mention that some railroads are still
> using a caboose at the end of a train, it's been years since
> I've seen one.


I assume that you are referring to this quote from the Trains Magazine article:

"In the mid 1920s there were approximately 34,000 cabooses operating on U.S. railroads. Today, only a few hundred cabooses remain, used in transfer work, and on yard jobs, work trains, and trains that require backup moves. "

Note the restricted situations that the author claims that cabooses are still used for, and also note that the date on this article is 2006.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Caboose, cabooses, cabeese?*

Cycleops;

The caboose may be better known to you as a "brake van". I've noticed you use British terms in your posts, and I think your profile says, "displaced Brit."
Cabooses served as the home for 3/5ths of a traditional union crew on American railroads for over a century. They were always something of a switching headache for operations. Every time a train had to spot a freight car on a siding, or pick one up; the caboose had to be separated and then re-attached. When labor negotiations reduced train crews from five people to two, the caboose became superfluous. Technology also played a part in the caboose's demise. With the adoption of automatic air brakes, the need for two brakemen to run along the car tops and set manual brake wheels, went away. Diesel locomotives did not need a fireman to shovel coal. With only two crew members, the engineer and conductor now ride in the engine, and the back end of the train sports a "Fred" an automatic device that monitors air pressure in the brake line and has a flashing red light, aimed behind the train for safety. "Fred" stands for "Flashing Rear End Device". With the loss of their jobs, some displaced rail workers substituted a different "F-word" for "flashing"! 

Regards;

Traction Fan


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

And, just to further muddy the waters, the Pennsylvania Railroad referred to them as "Cabin Cars".

On the Valley Railroad (the real one, the Essex Steam Train, not my layout), we just restored our PRR 1926 N5 cabin car to it's original configuration (with the exception of the mandatory king posts and other mods required to carry passengers) and paint scheme. I'll be hosting the caboose on Sat, 5 September. Stop by and say "Hi" (Cycleops, it's a long trip for you, so get cracking!).


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

MtRR75 said:


> I assume that you are referring to this quote from the Trains Magazine article:
> 
> "In the mid 1920s there were approximately 34,000 cabooses operating on U.S. railroads. Today, only a few hundred cabooses remain, used in transfer work, and on yard jobs, work trains, and trains that require backup moves. "
> 
> Note the restricted situations that the author claims that cabooses are still used for, and also note that the date on this article is 2006.


I was referring to the Wikipedia article in your link that mentioned CSX and BNSF as
still using modified cabooses. Didn't notice the last update of that however.

Here's yet another caboose design.

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?p=481505#post481505

Don


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

traction fan said:


> Cycleops;
> Every time a train had to spot a freight car on a siding, or pick one up; the caboose had to be separated and then re-attached.


Having worked for railroads when they used cabooses, this comment puzzles me. None of the crews I worked with in a several state area ever did that. Not saying it wasn't done someplace, its just I never saw it.



> With the adoption of automatic air brakes, the need for two brakemen to run along the car tops and set manual brake wheels, went away.


That happened in about 1906.

What killed the caboose was the 3 man crew (engineer conductor and brakeman) and the technology of the end of train device and defect detectors.

The Caboose was the most dangerous place to ride train, there were more injuries on cabooses than on engines. Plus with the increasing height and width of cars it was difficult to see over or around the train ahead. With longer and longer trains the conductor on the rear couldn't see to the head end most cases and was lucky if he could see the rear half of the train. Hotbox and dragging equipment detectors became more common. The advent of roller bearing meant that journal failures were less common and the ones that happened were less likely to smoke before catastrophic failure so the conductor couldn't see them (but an infrared scanner could). The increase in miles of CTC meant fewer switches to be lined behind the train. All of these things combined to doom the caboose.

One thing I have almost never seen modeled was a train inspection. Back in the 1970's and 1980's before defect detectors were universal, railroads would have their trains inspect every 50 miles or so. this could be done by a maintenance gang or by the crew. The train would, at a designated location do an on the ground inspection. The train would stop and drop off the head brakeman on the west side. The train would pull by at a walking speed until the brakeman was at the middle of the train. The brakeman would crossover the train and start walking up the east side. At the same time the conductor would start walking up the east side of the train. When the brakeman reached the head end and the conductor reached the middle of the train, the conductor would cross over the train to the west side. The train would pull by the conductor at walking speed and the conductor would board the caboose as it came by.

The caboose was pretty much dead by the time the 2 man crew came along.

Modern end of train devices have an air turbine in them so they don't need to rely on batteries. They communicate movement and air pressure to the head end and most have the ability to initiate an emergency brake application from the rear of the train.

Cabooses now are mostly used as "shoving platforms", a place to ride while the train is backed up. Jobs that have to shove over a mile or over a lot of grade crossings generally have a "caboose".


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## Mr. SP (Jan 7, 2015)

*Missing*

A freight train without a caboose looks like they forgot something


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## Undermidnight (Jul 23, 2015)

Thanks for the interesting links. It made for some great reading today at work.

Jason


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Yes, thanks for all the info guys. It was very informative.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Cycleops

You are getting such big doses of Americana before long you'll
start sounding like us. Which accent would you prefer: Down East Yankee,
Brooklyn/New Joisey, Midwest Twang or good ole southern Red Neck.

Don (I'm a mix of Midwest Twang and Southern)


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I am fluent in Pennsylvania red-neck. A linguistics professor at Penn State University once compared that accent to "A native German speaker being taught English by a native Scottish Gaelic speaker." 

It can be downright unintelligible to newcomers. Not only is the pronunciation all messed up (you "warsh yer close inna crik" rather than washing your clothes in the creek, and you dry yourself with a "tahl", not a towel), but so is the syntax and usage: To call someone stupid, you say "yer about half".... which may relate to the English expression "half-wit". Where else in the world does that show up? There is also the somewhat Germanic tendency to put secondary verbs and participles at the end of a sentence: "I'm gonna at Ed's be eatin' dinner"

As a Brit, I know you're no stranger to odd accents, but are you really sure you want to try ours?


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Hey, everyone knows that Canadian English is the proper version, eh?


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Californians were once thought to be the pure US non accent
English speakers. Now, like, you know, doubt it.

Don


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Even with all your different accents you can at least understand each other. The British have a very wide variety of accents and nothing is broader than the Scottish accent from the part of Glasgow known as Govern. Here is a clip from a comedy called Rab C Nesbitt. Can you understand what he's saying? Before it first went out the BBC were thinking of giving it subtitles!

http://youtu.be/AraqivhpJI8


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## Undermidnight (Jul 23, 2015)

I was thinking the midwest had the "news anchor" dialect, specifically here in Ohio. However, Ohio is very much a microcosm of the entire nation. In the south they talk southern, in the north they talk northern. In the middle, it's just right!


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

Cycleops said:


> ...Can you understand what he's saying?..


I'd call that drunk appalachian, but that's redundant.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Drunk appalachian = Central PA dialect.

Remember what I said about a native German speaker being taught English by a native Scottish Gaelic speaker! That vidoe sounds similar.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Cycleops said:


> Even with all your different accents you can at least understand each other. The British have a very wide variety of accents and nothing is broader than the Scottish accent from the part of Glasgow known as Govern. Here is a clip from a comedy called Rab C Nesbitt. Can you understand what he's saying? Before it first went out the BBC were thinking of giving it subtitles!
> 
> http://youtu.be/AraqivhpJI8


It's sure not Keeping up Appearances. What would Hyacinth say?

Don


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Wow....from caboose info to a study of dialects.......ADS anyone?


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## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*End of train device.*

I collected several cabooses even before rolling stock freight cars, If I remember correctly,they lasted around to sometime in the mid 60's.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I beliEve they lasted longer than the mid 1960's....



> Cabooses were used on every freight train until the 1980s, when safety laws requiring the presence of cabooses and full crews were relaxed. Developments in monitoring and safety technology such as lineside defect detectors and End of Train Device resulted in crew reductions and the phasing out of caboose cars. Nowadays, they are generally only used on rail maintenance or hazardous materials trains, or on heritage and tourist railroads.





> A 1982 Presidential Emergency Board convened under the Railway Labor Act directed United States railroads to begin eliminating caboose cars where possible to do so.[2] A legal exception was the state of Virginia, which had a 1911 law mandating cabooses on the ends of trains, until the law's final repeal in 1988. With this exception aside, year by year, cabooses started to fade away.[3] Very few cabooses remain in operation today, though they are still used for some local trains where it is convenient to have a brakeman at the end of the train to operate switches, and are also used on trains carrying hazardous materials.


(Wikipedia)


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