Caboose

Caboose. Manufactured 1967, Waycross, Georgia - Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. , A Crews Quarters , In the 1840s staff at the Auburn and Syracuse Line Railroad in New York came up with the idea for a caboose. The last car of a freight train, the caboose housed the crew and the conductor's office. The 5 member crew included an engineer, fireman, conductor and 2 brakemen. The conductor, who rode in the caboose with the brakemen, was the boss on the train. Riding up front, the engineer drove the train and the fireman kept it fueled., During the early years of steam power, brakemen manually stopped each car as the train slowed to a stop. By the 1870s, with the invention of automatic air brakes, their duties shifted to include flagging signals to the engineer. With advancements in technology, including computers and radios, today's freight train crew only requires a conductor and engineer. The caboose, once a proud symbol of our national railroad system, is becoming extinct., What's in a Name? , The last car was called a crummy, cage, doghouse, bouncer, way car or a hack. By the 1870 everyone called the rolling headquarters of the train crew a caboose., Caboose Color = Caution , Red was the typical color of a caboose, chosen for safety. Bright and visible, it warmed approaching trains to slow down to avoid collisions. This caboose was originally orange., All Aboard , Inside the caboose pipes running overhead and along the walls gave workers something to grab onto when the ride became rough. Notice the cupola atop this caboose. It was a great lookout spot for the crew to watch for trouble on the tracks.