Can someone tell me exactly when and why railroads stopped using cabooses?

Question

I sure do miss seeing them and waving to the guys that rode in them! growing up that was one of the fun things to do was wave at them as they went by! it's a real bummer now when the rear of the train goes by I don't much feel like waving at that little box with the flashing red light thats on there! lol

Answer 1

Wait up! Cabooses have disappeared for the most part, but they are still used in some applications. Some local jobs use them for switching platforms, maintenance trains carry one or two, and sometimes they make appearances on manifest trains. Cabooses are an endangered breed, but they're not extinct.

Answer 2

I have to agree with answer above mine. We use a caboose, on one of our locals, when making a shove to the port. It is about a 2 mile shove and goes over high bridges above the river.

Answer 3

Great answers above.  Daniel and Tom said it all....

Not mentioned was the safety factor, or more correctly, the lack of safety.

Cabooses were an injury just waiting to happen, usually the result of heavy handed train-handling and frequently, injuries resulting from derailment.

In a caboose, you are in a 35 or 40 ton box being bounced around at the end of a very long, very heavy whip.  When that whip is cracked, you can't help but notice it.  Caught unaware by a run-in or run-out of slack and you'll immediately get pasted against the bulkhead.  Cabooses and flangers are the only railroad equipment I was ever on equipped with seat belts.  If you didn't use them, well, then we're back to kissing a bulkhead.

One thing I do miss in their absence is, at the end of a run when the conductor would say "good ride," or "thanks for a good ride," etc.  Maybe a matter of pride, but it always felt good to know you had done a good job.

These days, FRED don't say nothin'.................

Answer 4

Probably in an effort to cut costs. Since the commuter train has gone the way of the dinosaur there is no use in having then since they were used mainly for crew quarters. I too am disappointed to see that stupid red light after a train has passed. Those were the days !!!  ;-)

Answer 5

When? Back in the 1980's.

Why?  To cut costs.

Crummies (cabooses) required a fair amount of maintenance to keep them in service.  Most were pretty old and needed frequent work on the toilet and stove, broken windows and other equipment,  and very few new ones were built.  

Also, the RR's decided they did not need 4 crew members to operate a train (engineer, firemen or head-end brakeman, conductor and brakeman) when only 2 could do the job (engineer and brakeman.)  

One of the jobs of the crew riding in the caboose was to watch for dragging equipment, shifted loads or smoking/burning wheel bearings (hot boxes) on the freight cars.  

Technology in form of trackside detectors now do that job - infrared detectors count the number of axles passing by the  detector and an automated voice will radio to the engineer whether any hot boxes were noticed and which axle position had occurred.  As well as any dragging equipment.

I remember taking a steam-powered excursion train about 15 years ago and hearing a hot box detector's synthesized voice call out a hot wheel detected between the 6th and 7th axles - right where the locomotive's oil burning firebox was located.   Of course, the engineer ignored the "defect."

Answer 6

I miss seeing them as well. There are some railroad companies that still have & use them. The railroad co. I work for uses them.

Answer 7

They were only used primarilly on passenger trains as quarters for the crew of the train.

Passenger trains are pretty much defunct now.

The trains we see now or just shipping freight which do not need an extensive crew manning them.

Answer 8

In 1985 the Caboose was taken away. Primarily because they went from a four man crew to a two man (Engineer and Conductor). Both of which now sit in the engine. The red blinking thing is called an E.O.T. (end of train device). Its used mainly to monitor the air in the train for the air brakes. If a train is backing up you will still find a conductor hanging off the end to protect the shove. These of course would be freight trains. There are still cabooses out there they are mainly used in jobs that require long distant reverse moves. Hope this answers your question.

Answer 9

Pretty basic. The caboose provided the train crew with a shelter at the rear of the train and from here they could exit the train for switching or to protect the rear of the train when stopped. They also used windows to inspect the train. The conductor kept records and conducted business from a desk in the caboose. For longer trips the caboose provided minimal living quarters, and was usually personalized with pictures and posters. With the technology provided today, the caboose and the employees who used this area have been outmoded by modern computer systems that let either the engineer perform these tasks from the engine car or an operator at a remote station.

Answer 10

Late 1980s they put a red blinking light on the  rear of the train. Then it has a sensor to the enginer. Also it was a way to cut a job on the train crew.

I do not know where you live but they have some  caboose museums in NJ.

Answer 11

BRILLIANT ANSWERS from Tom-SJ and Daniel.

1970's 1980s because of Technology and cost-cuts !!

Note that if you look around... you can still find a FEW old Southern Pacific and Union Pacific crummies for SALE !!

I bought one, moved it to my brother's ranch in the Sierra's where it is now MY "house" when I go up to visit... completely redone and refurbished.