Back in the tail end of the caboose era, early-mid 80s... I saw a BN train enter the yard with a caboose on both ends of the train. One tucked behind the locomotives ahead of the freight cars, the other at the tail end of the train.
“You’re a really useful breakvan Toad, you help me break. And you keep my freight cars in order when we go down hills.” - Oliver from Busy Going Backwards
Speaking of red marker lights, here in France we use the term "lanterne rouge" - literally, "red lantern," to refer to the person at the very last place in a bicycle or auto race.
The term End/tail/closing lantern is more used in the rest of Europe as red lantern. The term red lantern has a strong red light districts vibe on it .
When I was on vacation in Seattle, my hotel was near a BNSF yard and I got to talk to one of the BNSF employees. He said the yard specifically used cabooses as break rooms.
The ATSF caboose thing was because they the end facing the head end rode way way better. Company wanted the cupola facing the rear so they could see better. Crews wanted it up front so they could stand the ride. And im pretty sure cupola is pronounced que-poh-la
CPKC uses cabooses in their yards as shelters for workers during the winter (Canada gets COLD, think about it). They generally sit off to the side of yards on the opposite side of the main offices. This lets brakemen and other workers warm up as they do their jobs
In my small hometown, there is a caboose on display at the local museum. I also have a memory of the railroad that ends at my hometown bringing a caboose with Santa Clause on board, but they stopped doing that in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s, not sure when exactly.
The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster could have been prevented if there had been an old-fashioned caboose present. In a better scenario, a brake man positioned at the rear of the train could have manually applied the brakes to more cars located at the opposite end of the train, while the engineer did the front.
@@Talldarkhandsom Uhh.... another man could've applied more handbrakes at the rear to the train preventing the runnaway. They tell you that cabooses are dangerous are only telling a crock of shit.
I recently gave away a HO Grand Trunk & Western wooden caboose (along with the rest of my GT&W rolling stock) to the HO model railroad at the Grand Trunk Museum, at the old Depot, in Durand, Mi. In the kit I built, it was already painted an orange color, would have assumed CN used the same color. Maybe they used red on the later steel cabooses. Spent most of my life, living within earshot of the GT & CN train horns, in various Michigan locations. Lived 3 miles from Durand for 4 years, next door to the CN Dispatcher, Gordon Robertson, from 1962-66. 😊
Just a heads up... Rapido is taking reservations on a Hawker-Sidely CN Van...pricey but likes to be an excellent model... Ordering two for myself and another to gift to another helpful CN fan.
Actually the object was for them to stick out. As long as they were inside the loading gauge. That way they could look out along the side of the train for bearing fires and derailments. And I think that the main reason for them was high cube cars that they couldn’t see over with normal ones.
I always enjoy your videos and commentary. However as a 42 year railroad man (hiring out in 1973) ending my career as an engineer (and being a conductor in the caboose prior to them taking them away), respectfully we pronounce Cupola "Cue-pa-low". I loved working in a caboose. It was a great place to be. I logged many miles in one, both Cupola, and Bay window.
In terms of visibility, does an extended vision cupola really make a difference? With the windows typically inset from the corners it seems like one's line of sight would still be blocked on straight track. On curves, well, seems like a narrow cupola would work virtually as well.
@@alexhajnal107 That is correct, you really can't see much on either caboose on straight track. The big thing that a caboose did was the men on the rear could smell brakes sticking and see hot or other items that could need attention. The EOT can't do that!
My father was a railroad man. Injured in a head on collision in 1973. In 1970 he bought a surplus wooden caboose. Transported on a "lowboy" big rig across 2 mountains. It was our "summer" home for many years. It unfortunately no longer exists. The man we sold it to, sold it again and that person burned it down (yes on purpose and with fire dept standing by and a junk man waiting for the metal frame) broke my heart when I found out. Sat in the cupola all the time. As children we called it "the cubealo". I miss it a great deal at times. Thanks for the video and the memories!
Their extremely recognizable nature also means many heritage and amusement railroads use cabooses in passenger service. The Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, Michigan runs a caboose behind its passenger trains that I believe is either from Rio Grande or a Mexican narrow gauge railroad.
Most FREDs/EOTDs will transmit a periodic tone on 457.9375 MHz. (Norfolk Southern uses or has used 161.115.). The range of this tone runs from roughly 1-3 miles, depending on battery strength and atmospheric conditions. And it can be detected on scanners used to pick up the other railroad frequencies. A major purpose of the tone is to allow trains that follow to detect another train ahead. (Engine cab radios will be set to both the road frequency and the FRED/EOTD frequency.)
Do you think you can possibly do a video of 5 full-size steam locomotives built in the modern-day (2010's and onward), or a video about what might happen if steam returned on railroads?
In the town of Elbe, Washington State where the Mount Rainer Scenic Railroad is located there's the Hobo Inn which largely consists of old cabooses of both types talked about in this video.
I remember seeing some cabooses in the Thomas toys and magazines, despite them not being in the show. I hear Bruno from All Engines Go is a caboose, but I haven’t seen AEG, and I never will
At a crossing, while waiting for a long train to pass by the caboose was a little reward that train was ending. As a kid at the time , a brightly colorful little car compared with dingy coal ,box ,or tanker cars was a sight to see. Plus me and my siblings yelling out caboose as some type of victory for our wait.
I stayed in The Red Caboose Motel during a trip to Pennsylvania back in 2022. it was so cool sitting in the caboose, eating pizza, and watching Star Wars (It was on May The Fourth Be With You lol).
there is a motel caboose about 20 of them upon near Titusville pa I believe, I took pictures and want to stay there, they are still painted in old railroad company colors and letter also
Neat information about cabooses! In Elby, Washington there's a hotel like you described. It's called the Hobo Inn. They have several cabooses, and a couple of box cars (Pullman style cars are restaurants!) My kids and I stayed in the Family Suite, which is a box car. It was sooooo much fun! Not only being in such a beautiful area near Mt Rainer, but also staying in a box car! I recently got to go inside an old Simpson Caboose, in the Simpson Railroad collection, near Shelton, Washington. Also not far from Shelton, Washington a lucky guy has an old Great Northern caboose in his yard!!
whenever i see a standard caboose with the higher part in the middle i just think of the german ww1 A7V tank and the ones with sides extended are literally sponsons like the british ww1 tank
Thank you, thank you for answering my prayers for a segment on the caboose. You're the cat's meow, Dark History. Do a history on the early railroad workers and the perils of early railroad life. That would be very interesting. My great grandfather was a blacksmith for Southern Pacific Railroad smithing new bushings for drive wheels before the intro of Timken bearings.
You know what? Before I saw this, I never thought about them that way. You kinda made me clear how useful and well loved these things REALLY are. Thx. for bringing these important pieces of histry a bit closer to me.^^
At one time a campground in Kentucky used caboose's as cabins and when I saw it on vacation some years back it was in the process of utility hook up, never found out if it opened.
CSX still uses a caboose for transfer runs between their Parsons yard and NS Watkins Yard in Columbus, Ohio. This caboose also has it doors useable for the crew to enter and exit the car.
I've definitely seen them on CSX locals around here, I don't recall seeing one on NS. The Union RR in Pittsburgh uses them on every single train, sometimes two of them.
One thing that cabooses are also use for are on trains are with high and wide moves. Most of the time when I see a car used for high and wide loads, I see a caboose either in front or behind it.
When I was growing up my mom wanted a red caboose in our back yard as a place to do her arts and crafts. I lobbied hard for it but and my dad was a big railfan but our family couldn't afford it. In later years my dad offered to get one but my mom no longer wanted it. RIP mom.
Why though? Other than nostalgia, cabooses have no use or necessity anymore. Computers and lineside monitors check for hotboxes and dragging equipment. Freight cars now have full air brakes and can be applied from the rear automatically with an EOTD. The EOTD also has the red light. It’s not worth the expense to any railroad to run cabooses anymore. One can be nostalgic for cabooses without believing they still have a use and should be on trains today.
@@futuredoc2014 I just worry about what if said technology were to fail and there was no one to spot a danger that the crew from the locomotives could spot.
We have six at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. Two Southern Railway bay window cabs from the 1970’s (X-519 and X-718), one Louisville & Nashville bay window (car 1236, built by the South Louisville Shops), a centered Southern Railway cupola cab (X-252, former Savannah & Atlanta), an offset cupola caboose from the Wabash Railroad (car 2774) and Drover caboose No. 41, built new for the Florida East Coast, and later sold to the NC&StL. One of our volunteers also holds the current patent rights for, and collects royalties on the EOT.
When I was a kid in Southern California in the 1980s and 90s i would see Union Pacific caboose's everyday. Well this youngster who I work with (funny guy actually) has know idea what a caboose even is. Crazy.
We still do require a "Rear End Marker" today like they used to require a caboose. This is normally an EOT or a flag, and it lets others know that the rear has gone by them so they can get on the track behind that train. Much like with the caboose, a train is technically not a train without that marker.
My childhood friend Kimberly's grandfather worked as a brakeman for the ILLINOIS CENTRAL Railroad until the late 70's or early 80's when he retired. And before anyone asks me why I can't remember he died back in 1997 and I haven't spoken to her since 05 but that is a story for another day
Thank you for making my day talking about the coobse I miss the coobse Conrail blue coobse and the Santa Fe red coobse. Yes they are red but Conrail has blue coobse plus they come in different colors as well. Titusville railroad has hotel coobse that stay in. Yellow, green, blue, and red coobse for you to choose to stay as long as you want too. So you get a chance check it okay
A friend of mine wants to buy an old caboose, fix it up, and convert it to a house. He even wants to put it on some replica train tracks on his own land.
I've only seen in Huntington WV, kynova WV and South point Ohio near were I live in Ashland,ky but northern southern has a caboose that is connected to a crane car and a flat bed. In my 35 years of life I've only seen it running 5 times and one time I actually caught it leaving the siding and recorded it going somewhere. But crane cars are becoming almost as rare as cabooses if not more so imo honestly
I miss seeing cabooses at the ends of freight trains. But it's good news for the railroads because the new technology that replaced them makes the job easier, faster, safer, more comfy, & saves the railroads money too. A new caboose would cost $80,000 while a new FRED would cost only $4,500. Not to forget a caboose adds weight to the train.
In the 1980s (maybe eariler, too) and into the 1990s, the McDonalds in my home town (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) had a caboose next to it, and it could be rented out for, say, kids' birthday parties. When I was in grade 1, my parents did so, and made me invite all the kids in my class, even the ones I didn't like... and exactly one showed up, the kid I liked the least. 🤣
Here in Switzerland we had some similar rail cars with the job of a caboose, but built more like the british ones. They were nicknamed Sputnik, as in the russian word for companion or escort (and like the satellites of course. The name came up in the late fities, early sixties obviously). Their two axle design, short wheelbase of 5 meters and light weight (about 10 tons) made them a terrible ride at speed and thus were hated by the crews. I well remember to see them in my childhood days at the tail of freight trains (where they belong, for god's sake) until as longs as the early 1990ies.
And of course, the eternal debate: Is the plural of "Caboose" "Cabooses" or "Cabeese"? I personally go with the Old English "Caboosen" just to mess with people.
FRED may officially stood for Flashing Rear End Device but I heard early on railroaders had a slightly more shall we say saltier replacement for flashing having to walk back from the headend to check something towards the rear out in the middle of nowhere. Also the pronunciation of cupola is coo po la not cup ah la.
You know ive never actually seen a EOT either when I watch any trains around SC (that or I'm not looking hard enough) i do know one small one i see everyday doesn't use a EOT amd normally uses all 4 of their Units as well on hauls (since they only have those 4)
@HistoryintheDark I've been fortunate enough to see three cabooses on the main line in my area since I started railfanning and one of them was being used for a special move like you described toward the end of this video. It was coupled up behind a Schnabel car that was carrying a huge generator, so it was being used to make sure the generator was alright. I posted the video I got of it on my channel if you and your audience are interested in seeing it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-urfxz61NtUI.htmlsi=c5C2OPjfLlHiax3a
