Day 17:
Had to wait for the train on my way home.
Have you ever noticed trains no longer have a caboose.
caboose: last car on freight train, occupied by conductor, rear brakeman, and crew, in which their meals are taken. (origin:1861)
So what is the function of the caboose?
When American railroads began to haul freight over long distances, they contrived a special car for the train crew, with a cook stove to keep warm and prepare meals.
For more than a century the little red caboose was a distinctive feature of American railroads. Work rules were changed and crews reduced in the 1970s, and cabooses were consigned to museums, playgrounds, and scrap.
Until the 1980s, laws in the United States and Canada required that all freight trains have a caboose and a full crew, for safety. Technology eventually advanced such that the railroads, in an effort to save money and reduce crew members, stated that a caboose was unnecessary, since there were improved bearings and lineside detectors to detect hot boxes, and better designed cars to avoid problems with the load. The railroads also claimed that a caboose was also a dangerous place, as slack run-ins could hurl the crew from their places and even dislodge weighty equipment. With the introduction of FREDs (flashing rear-end device/end-of-train device; often referred to by railroad companies as an EOTD, an acronym for "end of train device"), the caboose was no longer necessary.
So there is the reason why we no longer see a caboose at the end of a train...technology!
Day 18:
Spent the evening texting with my sister
and ended up with no photo. It was snowing out side so thought I'd try to capture a picture of the falling snow, well it was cold and I accidentally snapped this pic. So that's what you are getting: my footprints!
“Some people come into our lives
and quickly go.
Some stay for awhile
and leave footprints
on our hearts.
And we are never, ever the same.”
n