Caboose | Shelter at the rear Use has declined Now seldom seen |
A
nother image captured at the "Heart of the Heartlands Museum Complex", this time featuring a nice example of a bay window caboose. In this design, the crew monitoring the train sits in the middle of the car in a section of wall projecting from the side. This afforded a better view of the side of the train and eliminated the need for additional clearances in tunnels and overpasses, as required by the older cupola style. For those not familiar with caboose history, the cupola was a small windowed projection on the roof providing the crew an elevated perch from which to monitor the train.
“Once a fixture at the end of freight trains, the caboose played a critical role in railroad operations, until technology caught up.” - John Kelly
