The Last Caboose

The caboose has become a museum piece; part of our railroad history.  Why?  Here are the six reasons why the little red caboose is no longer at the back of a train: autos, diesel locomotives, technology, safety, crew size, and money.  All of these played a part in making the caboose obsolete.

First, a little history about the caboose unabashedly gleaned from the web. 

No one really knows when the very first caboose was added to a train, but many think it was in the 1830s.  The first cabooses were boxcars or wooden sheds tied to a flat car where the conductor, brake man and flag man could get out of bad weather.  These “conductor cars” were spartan, uncomfortable and oh, so dangerous.

About the time of the US Civil War, the concept of a railcar designed specifically for the train crew took root and large railroad companies began designing and building their own cabooses.  Companies which built railcars as a business also began to custom build cabooses for railroad companies.

By 1870, there were about 2,400 cabooses in use.  Also by 1870, railroads were about to explode with expansion across the country.

It was said that the first lookout was a hole cut in the roof of the boxcar caboose so a watchman could stand on a barrel and view the train.  What could go wrong with that idea?  The first cupola, or roof-top lookout with a seat, was introduced in the late 1890s and became the standard design for cabooses for the next 30 years.

During the 1920s, railcars were made bigger to hold more cargo.  It became harder for a watchman in the cupola to see over the tall railcars. So, bay windows were introduced (one on each side of a caboose) to see around the railcars.  Bay windows became another standard design for a caboose.

By 1925, there were more than 34,000 cabooses in use.  This was the apex for the railroads because America had fallen in love with the automobile.  Passenger and cargo loads on trains began to slowly decline.

Until World War I, caboose cabins were made mostly of wood (floor, sides, roof).  The sides were either tongue and groove wood slats or wood panels.  The early wooden cabooses could not withstand a rear end collision so metal bracing was added to the sides of the caboose for reinforcement. Shortly after the World War, steel was used for the sides and roof of cabooses (except for a few years during World War II).

By 1950, there were three main styles of cabooses: those with a roof-top cupola, those with bay windows and those called transfer cabooses which had large decks to ferry large equipment and workers.  The 1950s also saw the electronification of cabooses with radios, electric signals, electric lights, electric stoves and such installed.

By the late 1950s, the diesel locomotive had almost replaced the steam engine. Diesels were roomy compared to steam engines, roomy enough for an engineer plus others.  But, federal law mandated a lookout at the back of a train, so the conductor and crew stayed at the back of the train in a caboose.

Despite the public awe of diesel locomotives, railroad business continued to decline, especially passenger business.  By 1960, there were about 18,000 cabooses in use.

During the 1960s, airplanes began to capture more and more of the long distance passenger travel.  Railroad passenger service had almost faded away by the end of the 1960s.

Then, new technology flashed on the scene.

Florida East Coast Railroad introduced a game changer in 1969.  They removed their cabooses and attached a strange box with a flashing light on the last car of every train called an “End-of-Train” device.  It was a remote controlled sensor which told the engineer what was happening at the end of the train.  It was an electronic watchman.  Within 15 years, almost every railroad company did the same thing: dropping off the caboose for a box with a flashing light.

Safety reports had consistently warned that a caboose was a dangerous place for workers, especially when a train took up slack. A caboose could be literally whipped lashed forward when a train started off.  Reported accidents noticeably decreased when a caboose was not used. 

In the 1970s, safety regulations removed many old cabooses from service and added new safety costs to new cabooses.  Labor negotiations began to reduce  the crew of a train from five persons to two persons by the 1980s.  And working hours were reduced so a caboose was no longer needed for sleeping quarters.

In October 1982, the federal mandate for cabooses was removed.  Everyone knew it was coming because the End-of-Train devices were proving that a caboose was not needed.  Plus the cost of a new caboose, with all its special safety features, was $80,000 to $100,000.

The last caboose was made in 1981 by International Car Company, the nation’s premier railroad car builder.

Some states still required a caboose into the 1990s, but by and large, most of the 170+ railroad companies operating in the US had disposed of their cabooses.

Today, the only cabooses in use are transfer cabooses and shoving cabooses at rail yards.  One can still see a little red caboose clacking along at the back of an excursion train as a museum piece.