February 1953 page 5

There just aren't as many of them. On
the South Carolina Division there are
seven cabooses which swing behind
freight trains between Spartanburg
and Greenwood and on the Anderson
Branch. These "cabs" (as they are more
frequently called) serve as offices on
wheels for the conductor and double
as sleeping and living quarters for the
train crew.

[image: Conductor Campbell and Bob Ouzts]
PAPERWORK is done on the move by Conductor
Campbell and his rear-end brakeman, Bob Ouzts.

The conductor's domain
The cab is really the conductor's car,
just as the locomotive is the domain of
the engineer. All of the train's paper
work is handled in the caboose by the
conductor and his trainman. Such
things as the switch list, the hweel re-
port, the train book, and other records
are basically rear-end work.

But that's not all the cab is good for.
From their strategic position on the
rear, caboose riders can see the entire
train. The cupola on the top enables
them to keep a close watch on the doz-
ens of box cars, tank cars, hoppers, gon-
dolas, and flats that usually make up a
train. Hotboxes can be spotted quickly
from this vantage point.

On the trunk-line railroads cabooses
serve as living quarters for train crews
that often spend several days away
from home base. Therefore, such things
as bunks, sanitary facilities, and cook-
ing stoves are usually installed on these
double-purpose cars. Every caboose has
a table and lamp where the conductor
does his paperwork while the train is
under way between stops. Electric
power for the cab is generated by a
windmill mounted on top.

Cabs cost money too

Although there is not much to them
but a body and wheels, cab do not
come cheap. The average cost to build
a good steel caboose is now about $8,500

[image: Brakeman Ouzts reading in bed]
COMFORTS of home, caboose style, include beds
like this one being tested by Brakeman Ouzts.