Why are the few cabooses that I see pulling the train instead of riding along on the end?

Question

I have seen trains near the yard, usually short trains, where the caboose is actually the front of the train and the locomotive is on the end.

Answer 1

well, if near a railyard, most likely then, the train was being "pushed" temporarily for switching purposes.  

although a locomotive can go the same speed forwards and backwards, freight co's prefer the engine on the front bcs it also has the horn, headlights/ditchlights, etc.  in normal operations, and out on the long-haul run, the loco probably will be in front.  and the train proby wont even have a caboose at all!

passenger trains, esp commuter rail, will tend to have a cab car on the rear end, which is equipped with an engineer compartment and headlights/horns, but the engine is being controlled remotely, and is actually on the rear "pushing" the train.

Answer 2

you are just seeing local and switching operations where the train has to make multiple backup moves and having a caboose on the forward end makes sense from a safety standpoint.

Of course the power still comes from the locomotive but in a backup move, a crew member can ride the caboose and direct the movement by giving radio signals to the engineer.

In addition the person on a caboose has an emergency brake valve and can stop the movement much faster that way.

So the short answer is A. safety and B. crew convenience

and cabooses are not on the way out, actually some railroads have realized the need for them in local and short distance jobs and have actually started refurbishing old cabooses that were destined to be scrapped.

Cabooses are not used on through freight but work and local business still use them.

Answer 3

The caboose as we know it is quickly becoming nonexistant. This is due to many companies that clean and repair the boxcars at their destinations. My husband is a regional manager for just such a compnay. sometimes the engine is in the rear for pulling in the opposite direction. Sometimes the load that  an engine needs to pull must be done by several engines at once. One boxcar weighs a few tons more than your average automobile. so figure having to pull a line of say 100 cars. If I had to pull that kind of weight I'd need a shove from the back too.

Answer 4

These days, the railroad I work for will use these as "shoving platforms" that can be safely ridden while moving a train in reverse.  The conductor doesn't have to ride on the side of a car (or walk along ahead of it), so the move can go faster and safer.  There are also specialized cars that were built as Shoving Platforms for this purpose - they look like a flatcar with handrails around the sides, and a little "tower" sticking up that has safety lights, a horn, and other gear that will allow a conductor to control a shoving move safely (usually, that conductor is controlling the move via a remote controlled locomotive, but you won't see this outside a rail yard usually).