I’m glad I grew up in the 60’s and got to see cabooses on the end of the trains and watching them go by when the crew was on the back and would wave. Great memories.
when I was a child in the early 1960s, I always wanted what they looked like inside, so one night while the crew was busy placing coal hoppers ahead, I climbed up in the caboose and it was warm and cozy but did not dare stay long...
I always enjoyed the caboose crew waving to me as a kid. Once cabooses were gone, I felt like trains were like a dogs without tails.... 'just didn't seem right
Thank you for sharing this video. My dad worked for The Milwaukee Road, and I remember when they began sidelining all of their cabooses - plus everything else upon the deadline.
Not entirely, The Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres &Toltec are relics from the past still in tourist operations carrying passengers through the magnificent Colorado and New Mexico mountains.
@@AbelG8781 how is it dumb? if anything it would be safer to have an extra pair of eyes watching the train considering how insanely long freight trains have become
@@railfan475productions3 you proved my point. Trains have become longer, better to have DPU than put more personnel at risk in the event of a derailment. Sacrifice a crew or a locomotive? And that's what wayside detectors are for. Modernization rules!
And now starting in 2025 the Class I monopolies are going to really push for nothing more than an engineer on trains, because of course, the investors who are the real ones running companies now don't think operating ratios are low enough yet.
It's ridiculous that they think that will work. You need to have someone besides the engineer, because what if someone gets incapacitated or has a medical emergency? An extra set of eyes and ears can make all the difference.
yea i saw a YT vid of a robot ore train in the australian outback... nobody on it... like a ghost train moving down the tracks... it really felt CREEPY watching that thing throttle up barreling down the tracks knowing that there's no one on it... just plain creepy
@@JCBro-yg8vd It's hubris and greed, plain and simple. The last plan I saw a year or so ago would still have "conductors", but they'd be in vehicles and drive to needed locations where a second person was needed. Somehow driving half an hour to get from one location to another is somehow more efficient than just being already there.
@@classicxl I have this dystopian vision of the future where engineers won't even operate trains anymore. They'll report to some centralized control center and sit at a workstation similar to a dispatcher's station, and they'll operate multiple trains remotely. I hope such a thing never happens.
Those who work with the Railroad. We thank them for doing their role and jobs on a Caboose. We hate to see the current state of America’s finest transportation. ❤️
Back when the railroads got a new crew consist per a PEB to eliminate brakeman on through freight trains, so went the caboose, now starting next year they can now eliminate brakeman on locals and road switchers
on the chicago and northwestern, crew consist agreement went into effect sept 26, 1973... by the time i hired on (sept,1993) they had well already gotten rid of the brakemen on road assignments, except on one assignment... everything else was condr only
Just another way for fat cat corporations to pad the pocket book at the cost of safety. Remember, their rule book and clip bord knows more than all our years of experience 🤬
No, it isn't. American Class I railroads definitely have issues, but a lack of cabooses isn't one. The caboose wasn't just retired in the US, it was removed internationally. Advances in braking, radio, and signalling just meant they became redundant.
the official "contractual" beginning of the end started with the 1982 national agreement... article X... "elimination of the caboose"... right after, arbitration board 419 was created to deal with any disputes concerning trains without cabooses... arbitration board 419 is the reason why the carriers have to supply bottled water and crew paks... it's also responsible for locos having "comfortable seats" and refrigerators
Imagine a time when the network news spent this much time on something so insignificant…yet got all the details correct. Correct job titles, equipment names. Now they can’t pronounce their own names correctly. Oddly I worked not only in the media…but also I have worked for three different railroads. Lol
"You don't have any men on the back of that train to see if anything is going wrong." YES! Women, I am only quoting what the man said. EXTRA EYES! Very important!
I was counting engines, train cars, and waiting for the caboose as a kid in '88. They dried up quickly around then.
I’m glad I grew up in the 60’s and got to see cabooses on the end of the trains and watching them go by when the crew was on the back and would wave. Great memories.
when I was a child in the early 1960s, I always wanted what they looked like inside, so one night while the crew was busy placing coal hoppers ahead, I climbed up in the caboose and it was warm and cozy but did not dare stay long...
I always enjoyed the caboose crew waving to me as a kid. Once cabooses were gone, I felt like trains were like a dogs without tails.... 'just didn't seem right
It was so sad to see them go! Thanks for posting this!!
Thank you for sharing this video. My dad worked for The Milwaukee Road, and I remember when they began sidelining all of their cabooses - plus everything else upon the deadline.
the glamour has gone from todays railroads...
Not entirely, The Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres &Toltec are relics from the past still in tourist operations carrying passengers through the magnificent Colorado and New Mexico mountains.
Should bring them back. look at how many wrecks have happened since they quit using them.
Don't think cabooses would prevent that, they'd just mean crew members would be in harm's way.
LMAO Dumbest crap I've heard all year 😂
@@AbelG8781 how is it dumb? if anything it would be safer to have an extra pair of eyes watching the train considering how insanely long freight trains have become
@@railfan475productions3 you proved my point. Trains have become longer, better to have DPU than put more personnel at risk in the event of a derailment. Sacrifice a crew or a locomotive? And that's what wayside detectors are for. Modernization rules!
@@railfan475productions3 Exactly!
I Remember The Bay Window Cabooses On The Southern And L&N (Later Seaboard System) Around Gadsden/Attalla, AL In The 1970s And 1980s.
They would make great tiny homes !
Many people have done just that with them
And now starting in 2025 the Class I monopolies are going to really push for nothing more than an engineer on trains, because of course, the investors who are the real ones running companies now don't think operating ratios are low enough yet.
It's ridiculous that they think that will work. You need to have someone besides the engineer, because what if someone gets incapacitated or has a medical emergency? An extra set of eyes and ears can make all the difference.
Before you know it trains like trucks will not have any driver/engineer if the big companies have any say
yea i saw a YT vid of a robot ore train in the australian outback...
nobody on it... like a ghost train moving down the tracks...
it really felt CREEPY watching that thing throttle up barreling down the tracks knowing that there's no one on it... just plain creepy
@@JCBro-yg8vd It's hubris and greed, plain and simple. The last plan I saw a year or so ago would still have "conductors", but they'd be in vehicles and drive to needed locations where a second person was needed. Somehow driving half an hour to get from one location to another is somehow more efficient than just being already there.
@@classicxl I have this dystopian vision of the future where engineers won't even operate trains anymore. They'll report to some centralized control center and sit at a workstation similar to a dispatcher's station, and they'll operate multiple trains remotely. I hope such a thing never happens.
Those who work with the Railroad.
We thank them for doing their role and jobs on a Caboose. We hate to see the current state of America’s finest transportation. ❤️
The Caboose was my favorite car on trains.
Back when the railroads got a new crew consist per a PEB to eliminate brakeman on through freight trains, so went the caboose, now starting next year they can now eliminate brakeman on locals and road switchers
on the chicago and northwestern, crew consist agreement went into effect sept 26, 1973...
by the time i hired on (sept,1993) they had well already gotten rid of the brakemen on road assignments, except on one assignment... everything else was condr only
The local union Pacific line here in Colorado springs still uses a caboose it's a rio grande railroad caboose
Just another way for fat cat corporations to pad the pocket book at the cost of safety. Remember, their rule book and clip bord knows more than all our years of experience 🤬
No, it isn't. American Class I railroads definitely have issues, but a lack of cabooses isn't one. The caboose wasn't just retired in the US, it was removed internationally. Advances in braking, radio, and signalling just meant they became redundant.
Hmm shows brake presser eh ... then a bunch of runaways happend in the 90's
And to think class one railroads are pushing for bare minimum crews while making trains double in length.
the official "contractual" beginning of the end started with the 1982 national agreement...
article X... "elimination of the caboose"...
right after, arbitration board 419 was created to deal with any disputes concerning trains without cabooses...
arbitration board 419 is the reason why the carriers have to supply bottled water and crew paks... it's also responsible for locos having "comfortable seats" and refrigerators
Imagine a time when the network news spent this much time on something so insignificant…yet got all the details correct. Correct job titles, equipment names.
Now they can’t pronounce their own names correctly.
Oddly I worked not only in the media…but also I have worked for three different railroads. Lol
"You don't have any men on the back of that train to see if anything is going wrong."
YES! Women, I am only quoting what the man said.
EXTRA EYES! Very important!
Labor costs money. Crew goes from five (engineer, fireman, headend brakeman, rearend brakeman, and conductor) to two .(engineer and conductor)
Damn whoever invented the Freddy became rich😮
Shame I wasn’t alive to see then
Now railroads are trying to get rid of conductors altogether
Brokaw reporting on the death of the Brake Caboose. After that day all cars have the FRED beacon attached to the end.
That’s progress for you it goes in reverse map forward.
I mean it does suck but the EOT they have now is very useful too cause it does go all the way to the back tho
Until they discovered that you can balance trains out by putting engines there
The caboose went because they had a new crew consist eliminating road brakeman.