Short train with caboose in Detroit

You probably saw the NS shuttling cars in through Dearborn Yard.

Yes a yard caboose is still used in these areas.

OMG!  A caboose?  You must have flown through a time warp wormhole....?  Next you

will be telling me the black engine was steam!  Seriously glad the once ubiquitous caboose is still found, if few and far between.

Gentlemen,

   The Union Railroad here in Turtle Creek/Pitcarin still uses a work Caboose almost every day, a part of history around this area I never want to see end, my uncle John Parker was the Superintendent of the Union Rail Road, and I got to play in those work Cabooses as a kid.

Every time I see one of those Cabooses's  I am 10 years old again, and all of my family is still alive.

 

PCRR/Dave 

We have two on the NS in Cincinnati that I know of. Used as shoving platforms.

Bnsf uses plenty of old hacks for shoving platforms in the Seattle and Tacoma areas.
Heck, I'm staring at one south of Tacoma as a write this...

The UP also uses cabeese on there local shuttles in LA, when you got to go you gotta go.

There is a toilet in every diesel unit also.

CN was still using a caboose on locals in the Detroit area back in 2006-2007 when I lived there. 

 

Jeff C

Thanks for all the replies.  Do these locals have more than one brakeman? Now, what is a "shoving platform"?  Thanks Bert L

Many of the BNSF platform cars around here have welded-up doors and windows:

 

 A car resembling a caboose of sorts used in switching as a buffer car. They are normally a small shelter with an extended "porch" and hand rails. 

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  I see them on the line south of Dearborn too.

My new neighbor is a rail fan, he saw a train of a few cabooses, and couldn't wait to tell me about it . He also swears he saw a steamer last month.

 I think that was wishful thinking Or he thinks Greenfield Village connects to the mainlines

  The southern line travels across the north side of Detroit Metro then SW through Bellville. I think its NS. NS ponies and CP locos make up the majority of traffic that I see anyhow.

 

 Which line you saw, would depend on the planes position, but the south line is very close to the airport, and the Dearborn line is actually a mile, or two north of it, and swings NW at Ypsilanti.

 

 The load could be anything. Our industry is pretty diverse.

They may also be equipped with a simple air horn.  They are often used on the opposite end of a cut of cars from the locomotive.  A crew member will ride the platform, and radio to the engineer at the other end when approaching grade crossings or other hazards so that the engineer can sound the horn.