Nostalgic Memories

For more than a century the railroad caboose was a fixture on the end of freight trains. The real purpose of the caboose was to provide a sheltered vantage point from which trainmen could watch the cars ahead, sleep, cook and eat their meals, and do their paperwork. It served as the working headquarters of the freight conductor and his rear brakeman. The typical caboose featured a cupola or bay windows by which to view the train. Seats, a heating and cooking stove, bunks for crew members, lockers, closets and the conductor's desk were also present as were other necessary supplies. The caboose is now a thing of the past - a victim of modern technology. The "little red caboose" has been replaced by an EOT (end of train device), an electronic box which monitors the train from the last car. The railroads say that technology is safer - and cheaper - than cabooses and their crews. Old timers say that nothing can safely replace the eyes and ears of the dedicated men who rode the caboose. There was a railroad that ran though the small town I grew up in. As kids, me and my friends would run to the tracks and wait on the caboose when a train passed through. We would wave at the guy in the cupola who always waved back.. Ah, nostalgic memories.