re: Did we ever get a good explanation on why they got rid of cabooses?

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In the early 90's I had an idea to get a caboose and sell sabrett hotdogs out of it.. I contacted my local railroad and they quoted me.. get this.... $2,500 delivered.. and I didn't do it...

You could not touch one for $125,000 today..

I really screwed that deal up for sure..

But.. at that time. My second ex kept me penniless

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John Schneider's wife bought him the caboose that was in Pontchatoula. I think she paid $2k but it does need repairs and restoration.

LINK

Many reasons were given in this thread that contributed to them no longer being needed. When Timken invented the sealed roller bearings incorporated in train axles, they eliminated the need for workers to inspect and add oil to the packing used to lubricate axles on train cars.
This eliminated axles overheating and catching fire. The guys in cabooses looked for overheated axles which caught on fire and burn the older wooden train cars.
Automation to electronically controlled switches eliminated the need for workers to manually throw switches.
Air brakes eliminated workers to manually apply brakes.

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“End of train device.”

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kinky

Damn here I am thinking that the caboose was just the last car on the train, just like a term or nickname. Didn't realize there was an actual caboose if that makes sense. I had to google it.

There was (and probably still is) a local from Lufkin to Shreveport that has a caboose.

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If you look at the regulatory climate for railroads at the time, it was awful. Five man crews were required. Rates were set by the government. Ability to add and drop service frequency or entire routes was also fed regulated. Meanwhile, the states knew the railroads couldn't exactly cut and run, so they set up very high tax rates. Ergo the bankruptcies

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I mean, you’re not wrong. But the average adult man or woman who were beginning to believe that mayonnaise, which had been stored at room temperature for close to 48 hours, was safe for consumption, were responsible for changing the landscape of several American industries.

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I think we're basically saying the same thing.

You had the government, doing their usual vote-buying, telling the American people that we didn't have to take any sh** from the evil railroads, and that the railroads would be forced to keep the fares low and service levels high to all towns.

The stale mayonaise eating folks evidently bought the message because our nation's rail infrastructure was grossly overbuilt in Central and Eastern timezones from about 1910 to 1985.

They knew it was a problem around 1920. It got bad in the depression. Perhaps 1/3 of the nation's trackage was in bankruptcy around 1970. Nationalization as a last resort happened in 1971 and 1976. Deregulation happened in 1981. Things were sort of "normal" around 1985-1990.

This is why you really don't want to trust the government. They take 80 years to solve a problem.

A manned caboose would've wrecked Walter White's plan.