Caboose "Sighting"

[RobertInOntario]

There is a CNR line immediately next to where I work, and as I was returning to the office today from lunch, I thought I saw a caboose on a freight train!

Thinking I was hallucinating, I drove round to the CN line and, sure enough, there was a caboose on the end of what was probably a maintenance train, which was parked on the line.

It was a great sight to see a caboose once again! Is this common practice, to use cabooses on some maintenance trains?

Thanks, Rob

 

[MasonJar]

CP leaves one at Bedell Junction (south of Ottawa on the Toronto-Montreal mainline) presumably for use serving the branch (basically a long siding) that runs into Kemptville. I have never seen it on a train though...

Andrew

 

[RobertInOntario]

Thanks, Andrew. It's great that there are still a few around, even though they're rare. Rob

 

[60103]

Robert: out here on the west end of Toronto CN uses a caboose on some of the local pickup freights. The ones I see usually have the windows covered with plywood. I think it's just for carrying extra crew.
At the beginning of the year, CN had 48 cabooses and CP had 87.

 

[railwaybob]

Many MoW trains will have a caboose tacked on to the end. However, it is very rare to see a caboose on the end of a regular freight. You might still see them at the end of a freight on a short line or where the crew needs a place to eat their lunch and to stay out of the cold. All of the long freights have the FRED or EOT perched on the top of the coupler of the last freight car. If you're looking for an EOT for your rec room, CN has a bunch of them for sale starting at $350.
http://www.cn.ca/about/surplus_assets/surplus_equipment/othermaterial/en_othermaterials.shtml

Most of the CP MoW cabooses are painted white, although the one that you see at Bedell is still painted yellow. That caboose alternates between Bedell and the east freight yard (former welded rail plant yard) in Smiths Falls. We'd like to get that one at the Smiths Falls Railway Museum.

Bob M.

 

[lapuce033]

I saw one too...

Yes I did see one also last fall in Montreal, in the east end oil refineries, it was at the end of a long tank train. I was very surprised. I miss seeing them, it was great to see one in operation again.

Terry

 

[Squidbait]

There are no cabeese in Canada! Those are VANS!

Robert. was it a transfer van (no cupola) or a Pte. St. Charles van?

Sometimes they are still used for long backing moves through towns, so that they can use the air whistle on the van for grade crossings.

 

[RobertInOntario]

There are no cabeese in Canada! Those are VANS!

Robert. was it a transfer van (no cupola) or a Pte. St. Charles van?

Sometimes they are still used for long backing moves through towns, so that they can use the air whistle on the van for grade crossings.

It had the cupola and looked very much like a typical caboose that you'd see in operation during the 1980s (probably was from then). It was great to see! Rob

 

[60103]

I was in Whitby today and saw a CPR work train with what I think was a white painted van. I was driving so I didn't get as good a look at it as I'd like.