C.P.R. Caboose #6209

A travelling office and home away from home for the train’s crew, the caboose was also called the “van”, the “buggy” and the “crummy.”.

A brightly painted caboose, topped by a little observation cupola, brought up the rear of every freight train. Each caboose was equipped with emergency flares, flags, signal lamps and spare equipment. As a home on wheels, it was also furnished with an ice-box, water tank, table, chairs, benches, mattresses and a pot-bellied cast-iron stove with bake oven and ubiquitous coffee pot.

A typical train crew consisted of five men: the engineer, fireman and head-end brakeman rode in the locomotive and the conductor and rear-end brakeman occupied the caboose. The conductor who was responsible for the operation of the train did much of his paperwork in the caboose while the brakeman regularly inspected the consist from the cupola looking for any signs of developing problems. In the event of an emergency, he would pull a cord alerting the engineer to apply the brakes.

The wooden caboose was built in 1912 by the Canadian Pacific Railway at Angus Shops in Montreal. During the 1990s cabooses were retired from North American railways and replaced with electronic end-of-train units.