Why is there no more red caboose on trains anymore?

Answer 1

They use End of Train (EOT) devices which communicates with the Head of Train device. It lets the engineer know that the brakes are working at the rear of the train and also will set the brakes at the rear of the train when the engineer needs to stop in an emergency.
Some small rail yards will still use the caboose in switching operations so that the conductor doesn't have to walk as much or hang on to the last car. The engineer and conductor communicate with radios which allows for only 2 people to switch the cars. In the past there were 5-6 workers on the train and used only hand signals for switching. They would have to position themselves within eyesight of each other. The caboose was a good place for half of them to ride while the other half rode in the engine. There used to be a couple brakemen, a switchman, a conductor, and an engineer. The longer the train, the more brakemen were needed. They would have to jump from car to car to get to the brakes located on each car. For obvious reasons, the brakemen were in high demand (they kept falling off the top of the cars and getting killed).

Answer 2

All of the above are correct, though the answers are incomplete.

Originally, the red caboose (they came in many colors) was basically an "office" for the conductor and habitat for brakemen, at least one of which, the "rear" brakeman (or flagman), would walk out behind the train with torpedoes, lantern or fusees, to protect against following movements. These actions were required even after the developement of "Automatic Block Signals", or ABS.

Amongst other duties, the conductor was responsible for the operation of the train and all crew members (including the engineer and fireman) were subordinate to the conductor. The conductor would carry with him the "waybills" of the cars in the train's consist, which included shipping instructions, commodity, tonnage, and disposition if a "short" (this is a car to be left with either a shipper or consignee before the train reaches its final destination) that may have been in the train's consist.

In addition to being an office and/or transportation for trainmen, the cabooses were equipped with an air gauge that would display brake-pipe pressure at the rear of the train. When the train would stop for any reason, the engineer would either receive a signal to perform an air brake test or the signal that the brakes had released ot the rear of the train and that it was OK to proceed. This was the "Highball" (not a cocktail, but a separate question for inquiring minds).

Having an occupied caboose at the rear of the train also allowed for observation of the equipment while running, far back of where the engine crew could see. The caboose also allowed for a person to make an emergency application of the train's brakes from the rear end, if necessary.

These days, the EOT (end of train monitor, also known as FRED,
uh, hem, "Fouled up [euphamism] Radio Electronic Device") can provide the information that the engineer needed to operate the train and perform the required air brake tests, know when the last car of the train was moving (or stopped) and whether or not the train's "marker" was working.

Initially, these devices had one very serious drawback. They were not "two way" radio devices. These days all of them are. The problem with the earlier devices was that the engineer could not place the rear car into emergency brakeing mode (also called "plugging, the big hole, dynamiting, wiping the clock") to initiate at the rear of the train.

I actually found myself in a situation where I needed to plug the rear end, but could not. I departed Grass Lake, California, downhill with 8500 tons of train. Between the 18th and 19th cars, the air hose "kinked", leaving us with only 18 cars of brakes. We got lucky. The available air brakes, combined with the "dynamic" brakes of the locomotives bought us enough time for the rear of the train to "leak off", and provide enough braking to get the train stopped.

These days, a simple flip of a switch will initiate an emergency application from the rear of the train.

Cabooses also provided a place for MOW (maintaince of way) personnel to ride. They were equipped with stoves, either coal or fuel oil fueled, for warmth and as a handy place to cook something to eat.

The cabooses' demise came as a result of technology, of course, but they were also an injury waiting to happen. Riding in them was exactly like riding at the end of a whip, and many careers (and lives) were lost due to hopping aboard.

At first, most of us engineers were not impressed with the original EOTs and their performance. The technology of today has made them an ally for the most part.

The cabooses have gone the way of the do-do bird and, as it turned out, a relief to have gone from the train's consist.

Answer 3

A FRED/EOT could be attached to the rear of the train to detect the train's air brake pressure and report any problems back to the locomotive. The FRED/EOT also detects movement of the train upon start-up and radios this information to the engineer so that he/she will know that all of the slack is out of the couplings and additional power can now be applied. With the FRED/EOT on the job the conductor moved up to the front of the train with the engineer and year by year, cabooses started to fade away.

Answer 4

almost all trains nowadays are now equipped with an e.o.t.(end of train telemetry device)or f.r.e.d.(description not appropriate at this time), which lets the engineer on the head end of the train see and control whats going on at the rear end, ie, putting the train into emergency(dumping the air) or seeing how much air for brakes is on the rear end, and it also lets you know when the rear end is moving via communication with the radio transmitter used to communicate with head end and rear end, it was put into service some years ago(maybe in the 80's) therefore eliminating the need for the conductor and brakeman to ride the caboose, and eliminating a brakeman job, hence the name f.r.e.d.

Answer 5

The caboose, has become obsolete. Nowadays, trains use a thing called FRED, which is short for Flashing Rear End Device.

Answer 6

You are making me nostalgic! I'm not sure why there are not red cabooses on trains anymore, but there should be. It is probably modern times taking away some of the good things of the past.
The streetcars in downtown San Diego are red. They are really cute. It is so nice that you thought to ask this question.

Answer 7

The railroads use a red light now that triggers the signals. It attaches to the last car. No need for cabooses anymore....technology

Answer 8

Last car has a little box on it that does what a caboose used to do..... Another job lost to a computer.

Answer 9

(1) More cost effective..railroads would love to run trains with only one crewman...in the future you will probaby see trains without any crew on them...yard engines now are ran with remote control at some locations.....(2).. safer...ridding in a caboose was sort of like riding on the end of a pop whip...looks of slack action in train..

Answer 10

Plenty of museums will let you relive the joys of living in the box.
Addenda to great answers above - end of train is a bad place to be if your train is rundown by another coming behind - one of the tasks of the box folk were to tend the rear lights - get out the red kero for the lights son. The various styles allow for observation forward along the length of the train -cupolas, periscopes,bay windows , back verandahs etc - and as one reply points out -they make great homes - pot belly already fitted.
In summation -economics - human resources - computerisation - as well as the neccesity to set them off on their own line in the yard - or trundle them around to pin down the back end - you risk your neck and eardrums if you put them through the hump with crew aboard.