I’ve noticed for some time now that the trains I see moving through the Mid-Atlantic region never have a caboose. Wasn’t that the engineers’ one bedroom apt? Where do they stop to eat, poop, etc?
Also, even if some engineers just run short trips, how do they get back home each night? (Or, do they park the train on a siding, and hitchhike to the closest hotel and/or diner?)
Inquiring minds, ya know…
After many years, it became evident that new technology would slowly diminish the need for cabooses. Automatic block signals eliminated the need for a flagman. Switchmen were replaced by dispatcher operated power switches. And the primary function of the caboose as an observation platform was no longer needed as new trackside equipment could easily spot safety defects. And so, the watchful brakeman was gone, too. The era of the caboose had expired.
The caboose is now a thing of the past - a victim of modern technology. The “little red caboose” has been replaced by an EOT (end of train device), an electronic box which monitors the train from the last car. The railroads say that technology is safer - and cheaper - than cabooses and their crews. Old timers say that nothing can safely replace the eyes and ears of the dedicated men who rode the caboose.
http://www.warrentoncaboose.org/history/caboose_history.html
Cecil’s column on the question: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_282.html
It was the conductor’s home on wheels. The conductor was the top guy, not the engineer. The engineer’s terlet is right in the nose of the locomotive.
Just last week I saw a short freight train, maybe 5 or 6 cars, that actually had a caboose on it. It had a modern diesel freight-style engine.
Perhaps its was some museum piece or for a special event.
FWIW - this was in the metro Boston, MA area. The train was on a line that almost exclusively handles commuter rail traffic.
There is restaurant in a nearby town from here that made a caboose part of the restaurant. I belive a bar is in the caboose part.
Cabooses are still used in a few situations, particular where there is long periods of reverse direction travel (backing up), which occurs in some long local moves - here the caboose serves mostly as a platform for someone to watch the ROW. Even then, sometimes the railroads will have locomotives on either end of the train for quick direction changes, and so the caboose is not needed.
Going even further, as you may have heard, there is some interest by the Railroad in remote control of locomotives for local and yard switching - here the engineer (or equvialent) stands on the ground and controls the (unmanned) locomotive with a wireless control belt-pak. The theory is that this is safer and more efficent as no miscommunication can occur between an engineer in the locomotive and a switchman on the ground, and of course only one person is needed to do local switching. This looks rather good on paper, but so far the results of remote control in the US (Canadian Railroad have had remote control for years) seem to be mixed.
Hmmm, sorry, that should be Railroads, such as CSX, BNSF, etc. which have interest in remote control of locomotives.
I was just about to post about this topic, and did a search only to find an active thread on it!
My comment: Cecil has a column on this, and in the column he says “Unlike car brakes, trains brakes are released by increasing (not decreasing) the pressure in the brake line.” Shouldn’t that be the other way round?
I know very little about trains but have worked with pneumatic instruments/control valves for many years… By releasing the brakes with air pressure you have a “fail proof system”… a loss of air pressure will brake the train.
In pneumatic instruments/control valves are set to fail either open or close on loss of air pressure… that is determine for what is safe or will do the less damage.