Caboose Turning

There is no need to turn the caboose.  The seats are set up inside so they are bi-directional.  If you are doing the 1930's then you are using steam engines, you will have to turn them.  If you just HAVE to turn the caboose, use the same thing you used to turn the engine.

You aren't really thinking about the big picture, since if you turn the caboose at your "main yard" then when the train gets to the other end it will have to turn the caboose again or it will have to run "backwards"  back into the main yard (which eliminates the need to turn it there).

Actually a real reason to do this has nothing to do with the conductor, if your model has working marker lights, you might want to turn it so the marker lights would be on the rear end.  Totally a "model" thing, because on the real caboose the  markers detach and can be set on either end of the caboose.

If this bothers you too much, buy or make a caboose with a centered cupola.  Problem solved. 

From what I've read, the only

From what I've read, the only real reason to turn the caboose would be where the stove is located.

Huh? 

Seems some crews wanted to run with the chimney behind the cupola. I rather doubt they worried much about it in the steam era, since it was insignificant compared to the locomotive, but in the transition era? Makes a good excuse if you WANT to make your crews turn it.

Servicing

The only reason you might need to turn the caboose would be for re-filling water or fuel tanks that only have their filling pipes on one side of the caboose. This is probably a far more modern concept than the 1930s though.

Position of the stove relative the direction of travel wouldn't matter; the tops of the stacks are above the top of the cupola anyway.

Never reverse direction of a caboose

The fall of 1987 Mainstreeter magazine has a article about NP cabooses and in it McGee (hired on the NP in 1936) says you never turn a caboose.  

"You don't ever reverse direction of a caboose.  The crew wouldn't know which way was which and would always go to the wrong end.  The conductor made you get off the end away from the train.  That way the brakeman wouldn't get down and throw a switch under the rear truck of the caboose.

"You put the desk and icebox on the north side.  You had to pack ice.  You didn't want to get the icebox hot."

The light for the conductor's desk was also better on the north side.

Paul

I Guess No Turning

Thanks to all for your responses. The information was very useful.

Looks like “Caboose turning” is off the agenda………..

The marker light issue will need addressing but perhaps just 2 set of lamps with directional switching?

Thanks again

Rob
Cornhill & Atherton
1930s Freelance Steam

Thanks for asking/answering this question

As an Aussie who has never seen Caboose in operation, I always wondered which was the correct way round for a caboose to run, with the short or long end leading, now I know it doesn't matter.

cheers

Great information!

I never really gave it much thought, so my (current era) cabooses regularly get turned whichever way they ended up.  My railroad runs generally north-south, so I wonder how IC and KCS treated their caboose operations?  Possibly SOO as well, though they had at least as much east-west orientation as north-south.

-Fuzzy
DM Rail Group
 

I never really gave it much thought

If prototype pictures show cabooses always facing a certain way on specific trains I'd copy that. Otherwise I'd turn them occasionally to vary the appearance of the trains  and to equalize wear on the wheels if the layout had more left hand or more right hand curves....DaveB

I've never heard of it...

I've seen them going both ways, so turning wouldn't happen. I would think the same would apply to drovers cabooses and to combines on branch service. 

Rob, one thing you can do is specify a caboose for each local job. In the 1930's it wasn't unheard of for a conductor to have "his" caboose. So if the guy was working a local, he would have his caboose on the end of the train. If you do ops, you could start to "assign" operators that are there all the time a caboose. Makes life for the yardmaster a little more exciting.

Assigned Cabooses

The AC&Y railroad did this right up to the end of caboose era. All cabooses were stored on a single track so there was "caboose staging" going on. It mattered where in the string a caboose was placed.

I would turn them!

Didn't turn them on the NYC

When I worked for the NYC back in the 60's.  We never turned a caboose.  As some one suggested, if you have a small railroad you can turn a caboose to make work but that is very un-prototypical.  Real railroads didn't make work.

Dave...

Turning Cabooses

Regarding placement of marker lights:  The prototype had brackets on both ends of the caboose.  Marker lights were removed from one end and put on the other.  So having lights on both ends wouldn't be prototypical except for a few later cabeese that had permanent markers. 

Occasionally, if a combine is being used for a caboose as with a mixed train, it might be turned.  But I've seen them run with both the baggage and passenger compartment forward. 

rs

Turning caboose/markers

Rob, since you are doing a freelance railroad, you could set up your cabeese (Vans, Cabin Cars, Waycars, etc.) like a few lines did and have permanent markers. Check out the good old Nickel Plate caboose which had markers permanently mounted on the cupola sides. Although mostly before 1930, many cabooses had some sort of permanent markers built into them.  

Re: assigned cabs: ... Even into later years, Canadian "Vans" were assigned and the crews would mount some object on the cupola to ID their car in a busy yard .... I hae seen pics of brooms, hockey sticks, etc., sticking up above cupolas so they can be spotted from a distance. 

Skip

retired railroader

Marker Lights

On the prototype, marker lights could either be moved or selectively turned on and off by someone inside the caboose. If you want to model markers without the need to turn your cabooses, you can put a simple two function DCC decoder in the caboose and connect each pair of markers to one of the functions. Of course, if you are going to put DCC in a caboose, you may decide to go with a decoder that has more functions so you can add other features too.

I use a four function decoder inside my passenger cars. I use functions one and two for the markers on the A and B ends of the passenger car respectively.

Marker Lights 1930s style

Thanks again to all for continued input - great to hear from some ex-railroaders !
 

I like the idea of assigning a caboose to an individual conductor. I've yet to think how this will effect my timetable, (shucks - haven't even got a lower deck yet!) but it certainly adds to the 'story'.

I also think the DCC controlled marker lights give the best operational compromise.

Does any one have a recommended 'best' product for working market lights (1930's style)?
I would normally not be so lazy and do some 'due diligence' research before asking - but since the topic is open?

Thanks

Rob
Cornhill & Atherton RR

'best' product for working market lights (1930's style)?

the problem I can see with 1930's markers is they were usually oil lamps and were moved to whichever end was the rear at the time so you'd need plug in markers. I've seen it done with jeweled markers that hang on little wire brackets but it would be harder with lighted markers. For later eras where the lights were mounted on the caboose ends I've used a fleetlighter decoder that has various flashing modes .......DaveB

Caboose turning

My stepdad, who died in '48 was a 22 year conductor on SP. At that time the caboose was assigned to the conductor and he used to take me (age 10) with him while he did paper work or stocked up for a trip. I would sit up in the cupola and watch the yard switchers at West Oakland, CA and the trains out bound or inbound. It was a big thrill for a kid and I have loved trains ever since! John Colley, Sonoma, CA

Caboose Turning

I spent countless hours as a kid riding in the cabs of Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road locomotives and prior to leaving, I never saw a caboose turned. Going down the rails, cabooses with cupolas could be seen with them in either direction. Like others mentioned, all that was done was to move the marker lights.