Why don't you ever see trains anymore with a caboose?

Question

When I was younger trains always had a caboose and I haven't seen one on a train in at least ten years or more. I was just wondering what were they for to begin with and why did they stop using them?

Answer 1

A lot of it is corporate greed,

By eliminating a caboose the RR's were able to eliminate a job and save money on labor costs.

Cabooses were not totally safe, the RR's also paid out a lot of money in personal injury claims and cabooses were mostly getting old so maintenance and upkeep were a lot.

The advent of rear of train telemetry devices took some of the job that cabooses did, for instance telling the engineer the air brake pressure at the end of the train and they give the engineer the capability of putting the train into an emergency brake application from the rear of the train. Something we hope does not become necessary but it does.

If a job has to do a lot of backing up, say in work train service or local industry work, a caboose is indespensible for watching traffic and road crossings. On mainline thru freight, we get by without them reasonably well, still, there are times I wish there was one back there.

Cabooses insured an engineer was a lot more careful with his train handling, I dont have figures but there must be a good deal more freight damage without them, I never had a FRED call me on the radio and say HEY! you just spilled my coffee!!

Modern times eh?

$$$$$ rules

Answer 2

The caboose is still in use but only for rare purposes today, like back-up moves on freight trains and on a number of tourist lines/excursion trains. The main purpose of the car was to house the conductor, specifically, and other staff like the brakeman (whose job in later years after the airbrake was invented [and he was no longer needed to brake the train manually] was to keep a watchful eye on the rear end of the train for both derailments as well as guard it from rear-end collisions [before the days of radio]).

Today, at least for the car's main purpose, the caboose has been abolished (in it's place a FRED [Flashing Rear End Device] is now attached to the last car which, among other things, monitors the train's airbrakes electronically to make sure that the air pressure is sufficient [all of this information is sent ahead to the lead locomotive]) with the conductor moving to the cab of the locomotive and the brakeman's position mostly eliminated.

Answer 3

because train companys in there wisdom decided to do away with train guards who used to travel in them to do there job which was to make sure the trains ran on time and safely as according to rules and regulations of the safe working systems they work to

Answer 4

They used to have a brakeman in them, but now the engineer can do it all by himself

Answer 5

the caboose has been eliminated because the condctor of a freight has been moved to the cab and the brakeman job has been eliminated occasionally or rarely you might see a caboose but the rrs have pretty much discontinued using them

Answer 6

i odnt know but they were cute and i miss them too.  there was one for sale here that was converted into a B&B.  nifty idea!  i would liek to buy one!