Plural of 'Caboose'

Would that be a female caboose , or a railraod caboose ?

Ken

Cabooses.

e.g: "The model railroad club owned three cupola cabooses and two bay window cabooses."

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PRR (Pennsylvania Railroad) solved the problem by calling 'em Cabin Cars.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire

In the wonderful of FREDs, does it matter?

Did it ever matter?

But they didn't call the singular form of the word caboose.

Danny TB spake thus:

Oh, come on: as anyone who's watched old cartoons knows, it must rhyme with "meeses" (as in "I hate those meeses to pieces!"), so therefore must be "cabeeses". *Maybe* "cabeese".

Where did the word "caboose" come from anyway? Cab for cab or cabin, but what's the oose? :)

~Brad

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net spake thus:

According to dictionary.com:

[Possibly from obsolete Dutch cabuse, ship's galley, from Middle Low German kabse : perhaps *kab-, cabin; akin to Old French cabane; see cabin + Middle High German hs, house.]

(some missing characters there)

Ain't etymology wonderful?

hus (house)

I'd treat the information presented here with great caution - the author/s of this article seem to think that UK brakevans are directly comparable with US cabooses...

Caboose was a nautical term long before there were railroads - and, like a lot of other nautical words such as Yacht and Skipper is Dutch in origin; it used to refer to a little cabin on deck where the cook prepared meals. It seems to combine the elements 'hus' (house) and 'cab' (cabin).

John

John, I was advising caution about their railroad information, not their etymology! :-)

Indeed - but why not correct the Wikipedia entry yourself, that's what it's all about!

John

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com spake thus:

Because Wikipedia is broken and beyond fixing. (E.g., see my sig.)

And why would they not be? What is a brake van used for? What is a caboose used for?

Froggy,

In Britain, a bake van, as its name implies, was originally used to apply the brakes to a train (not necessarily vacuum or pressure operated). It held a mechanism that was used to "manually" apply the train brakes as many locos did not have train brake controls.

The caboose was more of a rolling office, living quarters for the train crew. Switchmen and the train conductor - rather like a train boss - rode here when not throwing switches, coupling and uncoupling air hoses, etc. when making deliveries. Stoves and bunks were common ancillary equipment to the necessary desk. Cupolas where used to spot problems - hot boxes, hoboes, etc. Many rr companies eventually moved the cupolas from the top to the "bay window" formation seen on more modern design cabooses.

The brake van was accomodation and office for the guard it had desk, stove, 'bay windows' (usually) and means of applying brakes. The guard carried out essentially the same functions as the US conductor. The brake vans did not need bunks due to the short distance workings compared to the USA.

Before air brakes the train brakes were applied by the caboose crew, hence all those roofwalks to reach the brake handles. In general, from a functional viewpoint brake van = caboose.

Keith

I don't think you'll get many takers for your definition brake van = caboose, as a caboose never had the equipment to turn train brakes on and off while a brake van did per your own explanation.

There is no argument that the caboose and brake van both supplied office space and creature comforts for the train crew other than the locomotive crew....

I didn't actually say that a brake van had means of turning train brakes on and off, that was someone else. The brake van had a brake acting on the brake van wheels that could be applied by the guard, same goes for the caboose. With trains that had no continuous brakes, then when more brake effort was needed than could be supplied by the engine and brake van the crew had to apply brakes on the other wagons/cars in the train. In UK proctice this had to be done from trackside with a stationary train, the activity known as stop and pin down brakes. In US practice as I mentioned this activity was done on the move using the roof walks. But same job, same purpose.

Once the air/vacuum brake came into use brake control was transferred to the loco driver and the brake van/caboose crew no longer had to do it. The brake van had a valve and pressure gauge but these were not used to control the train brakes but primarily to check that the brakes were connected through to the engine and working. I would be very surprised if cabooses were not equipped with a similar device.

With the demise of both caboose and brake van the brake test has to be carried out remotely by the end of train device or by a crewmember using the aircock on the last vehicle.

Keith