The Caboose: Train Talk Ep. 25

[@ronaldwilson1653]

I remember as a kid we used to live 300 yards or less from a railroad track and the biggest kick that we ever got was standing out there and waving to the man in the Caboose we thought that was just the coolest thing as kids my grandma would say where y'all going I said we're going out there to wave to the man in the Caboose great memories I'll never forget them and I will never forget the man in the Caboose.

[@CoasterFan2105]

What awesome memories. Thanks for sharing!

[@courtneykappel370]

Best documentary on cabooses! And I’m always excited for J-611 footage.

[@StvMcQueen1]

Good documentary, Mike! Enjoyed it. It brought back fond memories of when I was a little kid and would always "wave to the cabooseman." They would never fail to wave back. Always a big thrill for little ones! All the best. Keep up the good work! --Jim

[@mirails]

I maintain my position of the correct plural spelling of caboose, which is cabeese

[@pzavis25]

Your comment needs more likes!

[@PlayingwithPawz]

Dumb

[@TheStig_TG]

Reference to youtube channel "Thebearwishperer"s video on English language?

[@Sodabowski]

"cabin for boose"... 🙄😜🤣

[@Wipet27]

I completely agree

[@luisurbieta8924]

Hi Mike, love this video but even though there's no exact dates for the caboose I truly was intrigued by these railcars from long ago.

[@enriqueal0822]

Great information! I had an opportunity to jump into some of them during my childhood. The train tracks were 4 meters far from our back fence. Such a nice time.

[@jamesbryant5944]

I lived on a street that ended at train tracks as a kid. I always liked watching the trains go by and waving at whoever was in the caboose. I miss those days. I always wondered why trains don't have them anymore.

[@TommyPicklesFan]

And also in The UK, The Caboose is called a Brake Van.

[@russellgxy2905]

True. I think in the UK (and possibly the rest of Europe but I'm not sure), trains were a bit more dependent on Brake Vans to slow a train down. This was technically the role of a caboose as well, but a conductor could get out and set handbrake wheels on the other cars in the train. From what I remember, handbrakes on British freight cars were applied by levers on the sides close to the wheels, so it would've been a bit more dangerous for a conductor to set those while the train was in motion. The phrase "Trains must stop to pin down brakes" comes to my mind as well. In every other respect though, Brake Vans and Cabooses serve the same purpose. I think Brake Vans really became cabooses when they were used on fitted freights with continuous vacuum (and later air) brakes along the train

[@oregonrailfan7046]

Brake van not break van

[@aphotographerfromcaliforni2661]

TommyPickles Fan1992 Thomas and Friends taught me this growing up

[@oregonrailfan7046]

@@aphotographerfromcaliforni2661 no you spelled it wrong break means to break somthing

[@CoasterFan2105]

That's right! Maybe I'll have to talk about brake vans some time in the future!

[@jparedes1972ify]

Nobody: Me when a new train talk comes out: I dont need sleep, I need train talk

[@CoasterFan2105]

^THIS

[@雪者]

XD

[@Handlesarestoopid]

I love cabooses. I rode in one in a local train museum and I fell in love. It's a bit spooky in the cupola

[@CoasterFan2105]

They're really neat little cars. Freight trains are very different without them.

[@JDsHouseofHobbies]

You had me at the WP Bay Window. lol Tis why I model the 70's...a train isn't finished unless it has a caboose!

[@oldenweery7510]

Nice presentation on one of my favorite subjects, Mike! As a model railroader of 65+ years, I've studied the daylights out of locomotives---mostly steam---and "cabeese," as many of us old-timers liked to call them, especially bobbers. Even before you brought up "shoving platforms" and after your discussion of wood or steel construction, I thought of one of the more fascinating tidbits in that regard. On railroad lines with many grades, where helper locos were needed to get trains moving, the simplest way to couple on a helper was on front, "double-heading," but some lines added pushers to the rear. Now, shoving against the rear of an all wood caboose or passenger car was dangerous and was quickly banned, as the weight of the train could crumple an all wood car like cardboard box. So a switching move was required when adding a pusher: they would uncouple it from the last car and pull away, leaving it standing all by its lonesome. Then the helper would come off a siding and back into it to couple up, then pull forward and couple onto the rear of the train. This action was probably seldom modeled, though modelers like such time-wasters. Real railroads didn't like any kind of delay, especially if the brake lines would have to be recharged. And of course, the process had to be reversed at the top of the grade, as well. The simplest solution was to put the wooden carbody on top of a steel underframe, which would eliminate the extra movement: the train would pause, the helper run out and coupled onto the rear coupler, the already charged air system would be coupled onto the helper's pilot hose and "glad hand," the valves opened, and off they'd go. When they reached the top of the grade, the rear brakie would shut the valve and "pull the pin," and the helper would brake out of the way. Some roads would do it "on the fly" if the tracks were flat or nearly so, but if they faced a down-grade, they'd have to stop anyway to turn up retainer valves for braking going down. Helpers could be _fun_ on model railroads, but less so in real life. Of course all of the later information applies to all steel cabooses, but to some of us old-time railroading fans, wood cabeese are much more "railroady!"

[@MPT_Productions]

One of the most interesting and informational videos. Great job, Mike!

[@mariosonicaviationrailroad6703]

YES!!!!! Train Talk is back. Say Mike, I’ve always been wondering if you can do an episode on some things here in Florida.

[@JawTooth]

People say that I get around but Wow, you really do get around!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Too much sometimes!

[@jeffreymonroe4776]

I love the bobber caboose because I'm a fan of logging railroads and I live 3 hours away from the famous California western railroad "the skunk train"

[@kevp9601]

I Love Railway Caboose Train Cars so Much, Mr. Mike Armstrong. Thank You! :-D

[@average_joe8905]

Great Video, Mike! Those bobber cabooses remind many of many steam age European freight cars because of their 2 axle design.

[@CoasterFan2105]

They look similar! Thanks for watching!

[@DC4260Productions]

This video reminded me of a book I read once, when I was about 5 years old. I think the book was about a little, red caboose and two black steam locomotives. I don't remember exactly what type the engines were, but just for the sake of imagination I'll say that one was the PRR S2 and the other was a DM&IR Yellowstone.

[@FishplateFilms]

Nice work as usual MIke! I stayed in an ex BN caboose at the Issac Walton Inn when I visited the US in 2015. They had made the Cupola into a second bed, so I spent two nights in that ...listen to the freights roll by ! It was great ! Cheers Gregg.

[@nathancorcoran5347]

The Caboose is a great peace of railroad equipment.

[@CoasterFan2105]

Yes it is!

[@nathancorcoran5347]

@@CoasterFan2105 great video too.

[@MidwesternRailfan]

Nice video. Where I'm from, North Kansas City has a Burlington Northern cupola caboose on display and another Burlington Northern cupola caboose used in Murray Yard for yard switching and stuff.

[@graphtonix6607]

Can you please talk about the LTEX locomotive scrap yard for the next video???

[@jeffreyrule8143]

Thanks Mike. Very informative caboose history and the different types.

[@jeremyginsberg]

Nice video and really good history on the caboose!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thanks, Jeremy!

[@brookswilson1072]

Nice to see Denver & Rio Grande Western caboose 05635. I helped rebuild her during my 15 years as a volunteer with the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR between Chama, NM, and Antonito, CO. If you want a great ride, ride the C&TS for beautiful scenery and a great lunch in the middle of the railroad's 64 miles of line still existing. This is narrow gauge country! The C&TS is a sister railroad to the Durango & Silverton RR.

[@guillermocruz2440]

Just yesterday I saw a caboose at the end of an autorack train. That's from time to time a sight down here in Mexico

[@CoasterFan2105]

Very cool. I've seen them on the tail end of through freights too, but it is very rare now.

[@NotMattyDYT]

where I live there was a CSX train that would take hoppers to a plant and it had an old Bay Window Chessie System caboose on it

[@molossis]

4:35 I saw one of these on a Lake State Railway train heading into Bristol Yard in Flint Michigan.

[@michaelcase8574]

When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, the B and O freight line ran at the end of our back yard, 200 feet behind the house, when the train passed and if a crew member was on the porch of the caboose, we would yell "chalk" and they would throw out a handful of white or yellow chunks of chalk! Those were the days!

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum (in northwestern Massachusetts) has a caboose that visitors can go into. This one had provision for long-distance travel, although you were really roughing it if you worked in one used for long distances.

[@TommyPicklesFan]

And also, I been inside The Caboose which is outside of The Kennesaw Museum.

[@CoasterFan2105]

Nice!

[@altebo]

thx for a great video - my son & I had a wonderful time learning more about caboose.

[@PrincessAmtrakMinamoto]

You are great your talk.

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thank you!

[@nathancorcoran5347]

Merry Christmas, CoasterFan2105.

[@leonardkerns6602]

As I remember, injuries from slack action where a common and very dangerous occurrence. Remember reading that the crews were saying one could not brace enough to stop very hard jerks as slack action was so severe. Kink of like cracking a whip. At the caboose it could be deadly. And as the trains got longer and longer the problem was greater. Engine cabs were changed, more seats added, crews moved up front, no more slack action injuries.

[@royreynolds108]

This was what I was going to comment about. The time frame was late 60's, early 70's and the changes in state laws requiring full crews.

[@ShenandoahValleyrailfan1218]

I’m happy that you explain the Brakemen because my uncle was a brake men at one time

[@qtrhors1]

Cabooses were used into the mid 90's on the BN. I worked on the Bn/Bnsf from 1978-2010

[@destroyergaming637]

Mike: Uploads trains talk Me Watching: *This is the way*

[@daveyboy_]

CP & CN had some great updated Cabooses up until the 80's. On another note - being a brakeman back in the day was one dangerous job .

[@felixthetrainfan4819]

Hey Mike have you seen the Union Pacific Caboose before!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Yes! That video from the cupola of the caboose on that passenger train was from a Union Pacific caboose!

[@LegoWormNoah101]

Seems like Union Pacific 1848 pulls cabooses all the time!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Seems like it!

[@jimaz6532]

Very nice. Really appreciate the history and great videos of the caboose. I’ve used several on my layout for overnight accommodations at my B&B Depot excursion business similar to the one at the Caboose Motel in PA. Again, thanks for sharing. 🚂

[@DancingNotes83]

At the Northern Nevada railway museum in Ely, NV, tourists can book rides in a caboose as I did this past summer.

[@andresolafsantoscruz296]

Train talk Is a interesting series of the trains, Thanks Mike

[@InkyRaven666]

(Not Kaitlynn) Great video, I love those old trains. Another reason for no caboose is sealed roller bearings on the trucks (wheels) on all rail cars. A brakeman on a caboose used to look for hot smoky bearings while looking forward at the train. In the rail yards workers used to manually oil bearings. There was a cover on the wheels that was lifted and checked for lubricant's. Also imagine walking along the top of a moving train and jumping from car to car tying hand brakes in freezing weather, rain, night and other dangers.

[@stevenrobinson1379]

Love the KCC AND THE VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE CABOOSE! THEY ARE STILL IN USE! MOSTLY FOR TRAIN RIDES!

[@robc.5745]

Thanks Mike ,Very informative, I always wondered.

[@CoasterFan2105]

You're very welcome. Thank you for watching!

[@NERRP2017]

My railroad in Trainz Driver 2 uses a BNSF, cp, and b&o and nyc cabooses on the end of some freight trains and old south Australian railways guard vans as logging caboooses and we use them on some trains but not all and on locals, short haul passenger trains and road transfers and Photo charter runs

[@GK2o]

fun fact: a hotel in Pennsylvania uses the caboose for when it came to the good old days when conductors slept in the caboose. it’s called The Red Caboose Motel

[@warriorstar2517]

My favorite caboose is most likely the drover. One from the Maine Narrow Gauge Railway was the first caboose I ever rode in.

[@Ferrocarril_Chicago]

When I was little, I remember seeing the South Shore Freight use cabeese all the time on the rear of their trains. All the other mainline trains I'd see with just FRED's but the South Shore I'd see with a caboose all the time. Now for the past nearly 7-10 years or so they no longer use cabeese.

[@CoasterFan2105]

South Shore and Alaska RR both used cabooses pretty late. I think even 15 years ago, cabooses were still pretty regular on the ARR.

[@robertlay9368]

I remember when t a little kid my parents and my sis would often go to Red Bluff to see some friends. In the yard there was always 2 GP9s and a cupola caboose for the Red Bluff local. I always wondered what happened to that caboose until I was about 18 when I found out it had been donated to a museum. Although the railroader I talked to didn't know which one.

[@Ferrocarril_Chicago]

@@CoasterFan2105 I see like once in a blue moon people today are lucky enough to see a caboose on the rear of a mainline freight. I've even seen such a couple of times within the past couple of years. I'm quite curious, what's that all about? Unless it's being deadheaded, what's the purpose of a caboose on a mainline freight if there's going to be a FRED anyway!

[@HeyPal75]

Great video! Also, there is a Fedelcode Model 5 siren on the water tower at 8:09!

[@tedlebo]

The WP caboose at the 3:50 to 3:58 mark has a pulley and belt arrangement on one axle. What is the purpose of that/what does it drive?

[@LiminalTub]

4:15 I love how Pullman PCC 1146 is just behind the caboose.

[@stevenrobinson1379]

The Nevada Northern caboose is also still in use! I lived there for years in Ely ,Nevada!

[@gjr427]

Thanks for the information, enjoyed the lesson.

[@virginiarailfannoah5415]

Interesting. I really like seeing that catch at 0:37

[@trapdriver7006]

Excellent video I enjoyed watching it.There is a great book the title is The Railroad Caboose by William F.Knapke and Freeman Hubbard,William was a boomer railroader who worked on railroads all over the USA as a brakeman and conductor.Other names for a caboose:hack,brainbox,palace on wheels,cab, crummy,and in Canada conductors van .👍😀😀🇬🇧

[@FamilyGuyandWonderGarbo8448]

Yes I love the steam train so much Merry Christmas Mike

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thank you! Merry Christmas!

[@FamilyGuyandWonderGarbo8448]

CoasterFan2105 your welcome Mike and you Too

[@LanesTrains]

Awesome video Mike!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thanks, Lane!

[@WoodsBeatle]

I remember seeing a red caboose on the abandoned santa monica air line tracks next to bergamot station when I was a kid circa 2004. I don't believe it was a southern pacific caboose. Unfortunately, the lone caboose was removed soon after.

[@SunnySinclair1979]

Something special about a caboose

[@TommyPicklesFan]

Hey, This reminds me of A Song!

[@SONICX1027]

Why do I feel whenever you talk about Cabooses, it reminds me of Michael J. Caboose from Red Vs. Blue

[@agcoolbro4293]

to me, trains are like music of peace to me!

[@michaelwoods8603]

Sadly caboose like the people in them have disappeared. A few short lines may still use them but not much. They are mostly show pieces on town squares. The people are just retired or gone.

[@Highballer-500X]

Ah yes more Train Talk I love it

[@MachineHeadDissent]

Anyway you can get video of the insides of all of these cabooses???...

[@CoasterFan2105]

There were a few clips from inside, but I'll try to get more for future videos.

[@MachineHeadDissent]

CoasterFan2105 Thanks!!!...🤙😎🤘

[@royreynolds108]

The last group of cabooses on the KCS were stainless steel, bay window style.

[@lcs3491]

Can you make a video about how Railyards and switching works?

[@sherrcon]

your videos are always so good...thanks...

[@johncho8766]

I don't think Canadian trains started to go cabooseless until the mid to late eighties and the last mainline freight trains had them into '93.

[@alcopower5710]

Outstanding video

[@gsgXXX12]

Very interesting video . Greetings from a Railway fan from Greece.

[@molossis]

what was the longest time a caboose was on a train?

[@gemcofoamer]

A yard in Van nuys has a caboose that a local uses

[@drewthetrainlover5652]

Are you ever gonna do a part 2 on passenger cars?

[@CoasterFan2105]

I'm hoping very soon. The first week in January will either be that or the 500K special.

[@buttole]

10:22 shout out to woody and the crew :Y

[@jcip1]

Very well done...thanks

[@willberestartingthischanne9984]

Awesome Video Mike

[@brandtfj]

I had heard that cabooses could not handle the draft pull or compression from the longer heavier trains,,

[@kingtut8381]

GREAT TUTORIAL, THANX

[@larailfan1714]

Merry Christmas!🎄

[@jamesluthercantrell5581]

Where is the very first caboose that was ever built at and how many caboose are still in servers and how many are made out of metal and how many are made out of wood

[@imanjayoda]

Thank you for infromation about caboose train

[@trainfan32]

I have no idea why, but a logging company north of me has a ATSF caboose

[@ElephantMousexyz]

From what I see. The bobber caboose was dangerous. Were other cabooses dangerous too? Someone said on the website Quora that they were never safe.

[@GarrettsTrains95]

cabooses can also be spotted in use on schnabel trains

[@royreynolds108]

Most of the time those cabooses are owned by the same company as the Schnabel car as an office for their crew. Also other trains requiring more crew members. Loram sometimes has a caboose with the grinding train.

[@russellgxy2905]

So cabooses still in freight service have all basically become Transfer Cabooses?

[@iowarailfanner1013]

What about part 2 of your last train talk

[@petersmith4455]

hi great video. pity we do not have them in england, they look really great !

[@natejackson8213]

Nice.

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thanks, Nate!

[@727.chasse]

Great video about these little antiques! Very explanatory!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ROTE]

Awesome video!

[@CoasterFan2105]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[@senor_ghost0]

When can we ask questions for your next q&a video

[@jamielacourse7578]

We're the older cabooses repurposed as snow plows?

[@adventuresofamtrakcascades301]

My favorite caboose is wide vision.

[@MiguelRivera-vv4fc]

So back in the old day they were using the cabooze for everything well I need to keep any old school today you know me I like old stuff old school trains old school cars old school steam engine old school diesel engine train

[@kennyt1674]

Awesome video mike can I ask you a question?

[@CoasterFan2105]

Sure!

[@royreynolds108]

Looks like you just did.

[@kennyt1674]

@@royreynolds108 It's a quick question