At one time, it took 5 people to operate a typical train. In the locomotive, there was an engineer, a fireman, and a brakeman. In the caboose there was another brakeman and a conductor. In the steam days, the fireman's job was quite important as he was the guy who kept the fire going. The engineer operated the locomotive and the horns and no doubt lots of other gizmos. The head end brakeman obviously handled the brakes from the locomotive while the rear end brakeman handled the brakes from the caboose. The conductor in the caboose had all the paperwork for the train and was actually the person in charge of the train.
When diesels arrived, the fireman became a dunsel but was nevertheless kept in place for a long time due to union agreements. The same became true of both brakemen since the engineer could do all the braking for the train.
Eventually, the crew dwindled down to just the engineer and the conductor. It makes sense to have 2 people in the locomotive to support each other so the need for a caboose went away except for trains that had to run backwards for lots of switching moves. That's is the only type of train that still has a caboose today. The replacement for the caboose on regular trains is a "fred" - a flashing rear end device. It is a box of electronics that can monitor the systems on the train. This is one of the reasons for lots of antennas on today's locomotives.
P.S. I don't get to use the word "dunsel" very often.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
So what is a dunsel?
Dunsel is a term used by midshipmen in the 23rd century to describe a part which serves no useful purpose.
Post a Comment