Does anyone know when it was that meal preparations in the caboose were phased out and train crews switched to taking their meals in restaurants along the lines?

> Does anyone know when it was that meal
> preparations in the caboose were phased out
> and train crews switched to taking their
> meals in restaurants along the lines?

William Knapke (with Freeman Hubbard) in The Railroad Caboose -- Its 100 Year History, Legend and Lore seems to indicate that meals were still being prepared "on board" at the time of the book's copyright (1968). One chapter is devoted to "Caboose Cookery" and the chapter "Efficient But Not Homelike" covers the modern caboose -- indicating that cooking facilities were more likely to be a two-burner propane powered hotplate instead of the coalburning pot-bellied stove. I do note though, that some of the floorplans of the modern caboose interiors shown in the book have the kitchen facilities totally absent.

Heber Valley Railroad has several examples of the cabeese species. Number 3700 is UP's first steel caboose which sat in the SLC yards for some time before coming to Heber. When it arrived, the damage to the interior done by vagrants necessitated a complete re-do of the interior for use on our tourist line. Our KCC caboose (#25?) is more of a transfer caboose (had a stove/desk/lockers and seating. The MoPac caboose was used as the railroad's ticket office for the years before completion of the depot (was gutted after a fire--prior to being the ticket office)--but seeing a 'sister' at Portola indicates not much cookin' going on there. Finally, my favorite is the wooden caboose that came with the 'Movie Train' (ex C&S circa 1911). It arrived with a kitchen cabinet with a dropdown table surface, water tank behind the stove for hot water, drinking water tank, wash water tank, and an icebox under the cupola.

...IMHO more evidence demonstrating the importance of saving railroads and not just locomotives.

doc

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

> Does anyone know when it was that meal
> preparations in the caboose were phased out
> and train crews switched to taking their
> meals in restaurants along the lines?

I believe you'll find that whether or not a crew cooked on the caboose depended on what run they were on. Before Dad retired in 1958 he had been on a run from Centralia to North St Louis that had an overnight layover at N. StL.

The only restaurant that was conveniently close
was a "Greasy Spoon" deal that also had sleeping rooms for the railroaders. I believe the engine crew stayed there but the Trainmen bunked in the caboose and Dad cooked on the caboose for them.
He also bought all the groceries and the crew
split the bill with him.

Dad made great coffee and usually had a pot on the stove even out on the road. To keep slack action or switching from spilling his coffee he rigged a screen door turnbuckle between a screweye in the ceiling and the bail on the pot.
When an impact hit the coffee pot would swing out and then come back to rest on the stove without spilling a drop.
Consolidation of runs and eliminating the overnight stays along with stopping at the
restaurants ended the cooking on the cars.

Jim

rrfanjim@mvn.net