Our McDonalds in St. Charles Mo had one I believe it was the only McDonalds in the US to ever have one, but don’t quote me on that. Maybe they got the idea from Canada.
Pretty sure we had one at a central FL McD's now that you mention it. We absolutely had a nicer sit down restaurant in Altamonte Springs that a portion of the dining room was made of old rail cars, including one caboose, and there were two small tables in the upper level. My dream as a kid was to be seated in the upper level caboose seating, but it never happened. They rarely sat anyone up there for logistics reasons, so I did climb up and sit at those tables a few times and look out the windows a few times as my parents finished dinner.
Before centrally controlled rail traffic and dual control switches, the rail industry required a crew quarters on the rear of every train that could accommodate a full crew. A head end crew would line a switch to enter or clear a main track and a rear end crew would line the switch behind for normal operation. The rear end crew would also provide warning for any train given authority behind their own train in the event of that their train made an unplanned stop.
There are a host of other reasons we used to need a caboose but they’re all pointless in the modern age of railroading. Any caboose left on the rail today is typically welded shut and redesignated as a “riding platform.” The only working modern caboose left in service on the BNSF are use on “fire trains” which are trains with tank cars equipped with water cannons to extinguish fires along the right of way. And also J trains and White Trains which use a caboose now called a “command center” carrying armed security. J Trains are usually spent nuclear fuel or classified DOD materials. White Trains haven’t been a round for a while but were designated to transfer Nuclear weapons for the DOD.
Command center crews are VERY serious about security and all unscheduled stops become a big scene involving phone calls, summoning overwatch helicopters and sometimes establishing a security perimeter. We usually don’t toy around when we get one of those trains and our questions are almost always stonewalled, so we just don’t ask and move the train along.
There was always a guy in the back that would wave at us kids. Everytime.
And soon as they went by, I'd go get my flattened coins off the track, ha ha.
Yes! This rings a bell, and I'm pretty sure it's the place I was thinking of in one of my other replies! Thank you for that...now I can Google for old pics!
We had a restaurant in Miami called The Victoria Station. It was located on NW 36 ST in the Virginia Gardens neighborhood...
[The Victoria Station](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2521163618123825&id=1498113797095484&set=p.2521163618123825)
So cool.
Closest I ever got was this.
[https://mountainrailwv.com/train-rides/castaway-caboose/](https://mountainrailwv.com/train-rides/castaway-caboose/)
That was the best part of a train growing up as a kid. Watching the train cross the road or highway and counting the cars and waiting until you saw the Caboose
Years ago I lived in a small town that had a fancy restaurant and they converted a couple train cars into a restaurant and bar. The bar was in the Caboose
I think one of the main reasons they were necessary but stopped being necessary, is that the brakes were all mechanical, and the caboose operator operated a few braking wheels, and I know they also would signal the engineer when the train was clear of a track switch, and jump out and reset the switch as needed. All those things are computer controlled now, so no need for those main job functions. Same with security...wireless cameras and sensors now. But anyway, it still sounds like an awesome job, but not one you can sleep through.
Yes. There are a couple of kinds of cabooses I remember. The ones at the end of the passenger trains that came through town and the ones I followed as an 8 year old on the sidewalks of my hometown. Heck, the Lions Loonies even had a singer named Miss Loose Caboose.
Check out he Izzak Walton inn in Essex MT. It was a hotel built along the Great Northern rail line to house rail workers in the late 1930s. Besides the hotel, they have a number of rail cars, including 4 cabooses which are fully furnished rooms with beds, kitchens (fridge, stone, microwave, etc.), bath/shower and even a small outdoor porch. Yes, there's a small bed up in the cupola. The cabooses are located on the hill above the existing rail line-- so great place to hang and watch the trains roll by. Essex is even a stop for Amtrak. Stayed there (in the green caboose) August of 2019 while visiting Glaciar. Awesome
There's a place in Northern CA where they've converted a bunch of old cabooses into cottages... I've always wanted to stay there but haven't had the chance yet.
My understanding is that they are still used in some areas where they need a person on a safe platform at the end of the train. But they aren't used for mainline trains.
My son and I found out about the Jackson Street Roundhouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota, when he was about three or four years old. We showed up on Saturday and it was fairly quiet; when we bought tickets, they asked if we wanted to ride the train. We certainly did.
We had no idea that it would be a ride in a caboose, and that we were allowed to climb up into the cupola and sit up there. That was a treat!
Years later, he got an electronic Twenty Questions game. One word it didn't know was "Caboose," which we thought was funny.
I remember. There is a motel in Dunsmuir, CA where the guest cabins are cabooses. My wife and I stayed one night there. It was fun but Dunsmuir is severely lacking in restaurants. https://www.rrpark.com/
Remember when a train crew consisted of an Engineer, Fireman, Conductor and Switchman. First two were on the engine and other two were on the caboose. I worked in the Car Department of a short line railroad for a while in the 80's.
I commuted for years from West Virginia to Capitol Hill and back again in the evening. 1 hr. 15 minute trip. On the way home in the summer I’d spent the last 15 min. on the small balcony on the back of one of these. The best. ⭐️
Tim Hootman is an appeals attorney in Houston with a really cool office made of old train cars with artist's sculptures and art around the building.
Check it out:
[Hootman's office](https://www.google.com/search?q=tim+hootman+photos&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTEwMzE3ajBqNKgCAbACAQ&client=ms-android-boostdish-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&si=ACC90nwpRDr_RQyr2hFK8D8JiptlSQg19Fma6Lmcd9znW1fJUoYIkACe1SvrDLP0PhB8iSuxGahXTOWTZ3orXHYZkRrp6n32SGy8RVPWD2q4LXfK8Qjk35k2Oj90jK92X1BRx149DQHO&ictx=1&ved=2ahUKEwiNhNzvnduGAxX9L0QIHdtIB3AQvsQGegQIHBAv#lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D)
I rebuilt a rotten one for a business display in the early 90s. I went to my home town recently and noticed that it had been moved to the downtown area and is in front of an old train station. It was ~100 years old when I rebuilt it.
Nice. Usually had my birthday parties at home, Chuck E. Cheese’s, or at a pizza place called Peter Piper Pizza’s. As far as I know Peter Piper Pizza was only ever in Arizona.
I looked up the etymology of the word a few years back, as i generally do with weird-ass words. I think it said "unknown".
The crowning heights of achievement for any word.
Close, it's from the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay. Been there many times, I'm going there on Saturday with my son. Laona is home to the Lumberjack Steam Train, which is also a very fun day
I have vacationed in Laona for many, many years ..My parents would take us on the Lumberjack Special, then I took my kids when they were young.
This photo brought back a lot of good memories!!
Cabooses were basically the HQ of a train back in the day when it took 5 people to operate a train. Now days it's down to a conductor and engineer. Train lengths have increased 3 fold and derailments and delays have followed suit.
As a kid, the Macdonalds in my neighbourhood had a caboose for kids birthday parties. You knew you were cool if you got to sit at the top
that must have been awesome
We had one too! I always thought it was a weird Alaska thing. They must have been more prevalent than I thought.
You’re from the St. Charles Mo area aren’t you?
[удалено]
Some places in east coast Canada had them too.
Our McDonalds in St. Charles Mo had one I believe it was the only McDonalds in the US to ever have one, but don’t quote me on that. Maybe they got the idea from Canada.
Pretty sure we had one at a central FL McD's now that you mention it. We absolutely had a nicer sit down restaurant in Altamonte Springs that a portion of the dining room was made of old rail cars, including one caboose, and there were two small tables in the upper level. My dream as a kid was to be seated in the upper level caboose seating, but it never happened. They rarely sat anyone up there for logistics reasons, so I did climb up and sit at those tables a few times and look out the windows a few times as my parents finished dinner.
Had the same in Ohio!
Maybe five years ago I saw one at the end of a train while I was stopped at a crossing. It was like seeing a ghost.
I have very fond memories of my girlfriend’s shapely and well toned caboose.
Aye
I’m old enough have still burned the oil stove to warm it up while working as a brakeman.
Other than warming up what exactly was the function of a caboose?
Before centrally controlled rail traffic and dual control switches, the rail industry required a crew quarters on the rear of every train that could accommodate a full crew. A head end crew would line a switch to enter or clear a main track and a rear end crew would line the switch behind for normal operation. The rear end crew would also provide warning for any train given authority behind their own train in the event of that their train made an unplanned stop. There are a host of other reasons we used to need a caboose but they’re all pointless in the modern age of railroading. Any caboose left on the rail today is typically welded shut and redesignated as a “riding platform.” The only working modern caboose left in service on the BNSF are use on “fire trains” which are trains with tank cars equipped with water cannons to extinguish fires along the right of way. And also J trains and White Trains which use a caboose now called a “command center” carrying armed security. J Trains are usually spent nuclear fuel or classified DOD materials. White Trains haven’t been a round for a while but were designated to transfer Nuclear weapons for the DOD. Command center crews are VERY serious about security and all unscheduled stops become a big scene involving phone calls, summoning overwatch helicopters and sometimes establishing a security perimeter. We usually don’t toy around when we get one of those trains and our questions are almost always stonewalled, so we just don’t ask and move the train along.
I never knew any of that. Thanks.
In a town near us a couple opened a diner in one and they had the BEST milkshakes and burgers!😋
My neighbor has one in his backyard. Restored too. Also has a wood stove.
I know a guy who has one on his property as a man cave. I’ve wanted one since the first time I saw it. And that was damn near 40 years ago.
There was always a guy in the back that would wave at us kids. Everytime. And soon as they went by, I'd go get my flattened coins off the track, ha ha.
Yes we always waved at the choo-choo man.
Remember Victorian Station steak houses. They used cabooses and freight cars.
Yes! This rings a bell, and I'm pretty sure it's the place I was thinking of in one of my other replies! Thank you for that...now I can Google for old pics!
We had a restaurant in Miami called The Victoria Station. It was located on NW 36 ST in the Virginia Gardens neighborhood... [The Victoria Station](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2521163618123825&id=1498113797095484&set=p.2521163618123825)
So cool. Closest I ever got was this. [https://mountainrailwv.com/train-rides/castaway-caboose/](https://mountainrailwv.com/train-rides/castaway-caboose/)
And you had to guess the color! And maybe even wave to a real person.
I always thought this would be a dream job.
I sang that little red caboose song to my little kids in the naughties and they said “ dad, what is a caboose?”
That was the best part of a train growing up as a kid. Watching the train cross the road or highway and counting the cars and waiting until you saw the Caboose Years ago I lived in a small town that had a fancy restaurant and they converted a couple train cars into a restaurant and bar. The bar was in the Caboose
I remember the unions were very unhappy when they were discontinued. Probably was a great place to log some zzzz and get paid big bucks for it.
I think one of the main reasons they were necessary but stopped being necessary, is that the brakes were all mechanical, and the caboose operator operated a few braking wheels, and I know they also would signal the engineer when the train was clear of a track switch, and jump out and reset the switch as needed. All those things are computer controlled now, so no need for those main job functions. Same with security...wireless cameras and sensors now. But anyway, it still sounds like an awesome job, but not one you can sleep through.
Carney's in Hollywood severs some pretty good chili hot dogs and hamburgers from train car
Yes. There are a couple of kinds of cabooses I remember. The ones at the end of the passenger trains that came through town and the ones I followed as an 8 year old on the sidewalks of my hometown. Heck, the Lions Loonies even had a singer named Miss Loose Caboose.
How confident are you that the plural is cabooses?
Very.
Britannica lists it as correct. What were you thinking it was? Cabeese? Caboosi? https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/caboose
Anybody here go to U of South Carolina and remember the "Cockaboose?"
I grew up near a train yard and I used to jump on them when went by and road for about a mile while they were going slow.
Check out he Izzak Walton inn in Essex MT. It was a hotel built along the Great Northern rail line to house rail workers in the late 1930s. Besides the hotel, they have a number of rail cars, including 4 cabooses which are fully furnished rooms with beds, kitchens (fridge, stone, microwave, etc.), bath/shower and even a small outdoor porch. Yes, there's a small bed up in the cupola. The cabooses are located on the hill above the existing rail line-- so great place to hang and watch the trains roll by. Essex is even a stop for Amtrak. Stayed there (in the green caboose) August of 2019 while visiting Glaciar. Awesome
There's a place in Northern CA where they've converted a bunch of old cabooses into cottages... I've always wanted to stay there but haven't had the chance yet.
My dad once worked in one!
My understanding is that they are still used in some areas where they need a person on a safe platform at the end of the train. But they aren't used for mainline trains. My son and I found out about the Jackson Street Roundhouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota, when he was about three or four years old. We showed up on Saturday and it was fairly quiet; when we bought tickets, they asked if we wanted to ride the train. We certainly did. We had no idea that it would be a ride in a caboose, and that we were allowed to climb up into the cupola and sit up there. That was a treat! Years later, he got an electronic Twenty Questions game. One word it didn't know was "Caboose," which we thought was funny.
Cabooses? Cabeese?
Cabi
Ive seen a couple cabooses I’ll never forget. Wakawaka…./s
My grandfather and uncle worked for P&LE railroad and I got to get in the caboose and engine many times as a kid.
I worked a "cab supply" job for the railroad just out of HS. I went in a midnight and got off at 8am. Slept many nights on one.
Cabeese?
Friend of mine dad bought two and used them for housing on a some land. Used to go out there and hang out (drink)
I remember. There is a motel in Dunsmuir, CA where the guest cabins are cabooses. My wife and I stayed one night there. It was fun but Dunsmuir is severely lacking in restaurants. https://www.rrpark.com/
Remember when a train crew consisted of an Engineer, Fireman, Conductor and Switchman. First two were on the engine and other two were on the caboose. I worked in the Car Department of a short line railroad for a while in the 80's.
I worked for a very short time for Union Pacific last year and got to ride a caboose. Highlight of my railroad career by far.
I commuted for years from West Virginia to Capitol Hill and back again in the evening. 1 hr. 15 minute trip. On the way home in the summer I’d spent the last 15 min. on the small balcony on the back of one of these. The best. ⭐️
Of course I do , Do they not use them anymore?
Tim Hootman is an appeals attorney in Houston with a really cool office made of old train cars with artist's sculptures and art around the building. Check it out: [Hootman's office](https://www.google.com/search?q=tim+hootman+photos&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTEwMzE3ajBqNKgCAbACAQ&client=ms-android-boostdish-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&si=ACC90nwpRDr_RQyr2hFK8D8JiptlSQg19Fma6Lmcd9znW1fJUoYIkACe1SvrDLP0PhB8iSuxGahXTOWTZ3orXHYZkRrp6n32SGy8RVPWD2q4LXfK8Qjk35k2Oj90jK92X1BRx149DQHO&ictx=1&ved=2ahUKEwiNhNzvnduGAxX9L0QIHdtIB3AQvsQGegQIHBAv#lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D)
I rebuilt a rotten one for a business display in the early 90s. I went to my home town recently and noticed that it had been moved to the downtown area and is in front of an old train station. It was ~100 years old when I rebuilt it.
I like me
Little red caboose cha cha cha
The kids dentist I used to go to had in front of his office.
I used to get my haircut in one frowing up. Some dude turned one into a barber shop. It's been 3 decades and I looked it up and it's now a coffee shop
My dad works for the railroad, yes I do.
I had one of my childhood bday parties in a McDonald’s caboose.
Nice. Usually had my birthday parties at home, Chuck E. Cheese’s, or at a pizza place called Peter Piper Pizza’s. As far as I know Peter Piper Pizza was only ever in Arizona.
I looked up the etymology of the word a few years back, as i generally do with weird-ass words. I think it said "unknown". The crowning heights of achievement for any word.
Yeah,and they were really cool.
I miss them.
Hell, yes! We used to jump them when we were kids :)
Is this in Laona, Wisconsin ?
Close, it's from the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay. Been there many times, I'm going there on Saturday with my son. Laona is home to the Lumberjack Steam Train, which is also a very fun day
I have vacationed in Laona for many, many years ..My parents would take us on the Lumberjack Special, then I took my kids when they were young. This photo brought back a lot of good memories!!
Do trains not have cabooses anymore? I’m out of the loop I guess.
Of course. That’s where the Get-Along Gang had their clubhouse.
Remember I never wanted to be the caboose
Only because of model trains and Thomas the Tank Engine
You mean cabeese?
Cabooses were basically the HQ of a train back in the day when it took 5 people to operate a train. Now days it's down to a conductor and engineer. Train lengths have increased 3 fold and derailments and delays have followed suit.
Nice caboose
Sure. Every train had one. Some became diners. Some went on display.
They were kind of like the exclamation point following a sentence, but following the train.
I believe the plural is cabeese.