Posted by Robert Kosusnik on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 3:19AM :
In Reply to: Re: Drive Safe out there posted by Tug Boat Lonnie on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 2:13PM :
We still have a few up here in Alaska. They are only used during the summer though with the gravel trains and company work trains. In the case with the gravel trains, they use a caboose at the end so that when the train comes off the Palmer Spur, the train does not have to back up once on the mainline to pick up either the brakeman or conductor who opened the switch. With company work trains, well that's where the extra hands who work the work train sometimes ride and carry their tools and other things. After a couple of unfortunate derailments a couple winters back involving oil tank trains, there was some talk of putting cabooses on the rear of our oil tank trains, but so far that hasn't come around. Robert