When did freight trains stop using cabooses??? All the freight trains that go by in our town haven't had them

[a kennedy]

for a long time…..engines are cabooses now. Weird. Just wondering if that’s how it is everywhere else??

[Jim__]

1. Generally not used any more - answer from AI.

Short answer: No — modern freight trains almost never use cabooses. They disappeared from regular service in the 1980s and survive today only in a few special situations.

Why cabooses disappeared
By the mid‑to‑late 1980s, North American railroads phased out cabooses after federal rules requiring them were relaxed in 1982. Once that mandate ended, railroads rapidly removed them from service because new technology made their core functions unnecessary.

The caboose’s traditional jobs included:

Monitoring the train for problems such as shifted loads, uncoupled cars, or overheating bearings (“hotboxes”).

Providing a workspace and shelter for the conductor and brakemen on long runs.

Serving as the rear‑end protection in non‑signaled territory.

Two major technological changes eliminated these needs:

Roller bearings replaced older plain bearings, drastically reducing hotbox failures.

End‑of‑train devices (ETDs) — small electronic units attached to the last car — took over the caboose’s monitoring role. They measure brake pressure at the rear and radio it to the locomotive, and two‑way versions can even trigger emergency braking from the back of the train.

These devices were far cheaper: operating a caboose cost about 92 cents per mile in 1980, making removal a major cost savings.

When cabooses are still used
Although they’re gone from mainline freight service, cabooses haven’t vanished entirely. Today they appear in a few niche roles:

Maintenance‑of‑way trains (track work crews)

Hazardous materials trains where extra monitoring is required

Industrial switching where crews need a safe platform during long reverse moves

Heritage and tourist railroads, where they’re preserved for historical experience

In these cases, the caboose functions more as a platform or workspace than as the rolling office it once was.

[magicarpet]

2. Bye-bye to the caboose on trains,... see why....

Why Don’t Trains Have Cabooses Anymore? Find Out The Reason Here.
by Nazar Ratovskyi

Most American trains do not have cabooses anymore because of the invention of the End of Train Device (EOT), which performs the same tasks as crews assigned on cabooses except for the detection of hot axles. Many companies were reducing crews because of the EOT and, therefore, made cabooses unnecessary.

old red canadian caboose stationary on tracks

Have you ever wondered what happened to the bright red caboose on the rear of mainline trains? When we see trains passing by, we always wait for the caboose to appear, which signals the end of the train.

Sadly, you rarely see cabooses, so why don’t trains have cabooses anymore?

Although you won’t find any cabooses on mainline trains anymore, they are still being used , firstly during yard switching situations.

Secondly, when a train needs to go backward for an extended period of time, and the engineer needs somebody to stay at the rear of the train to monitor the situation of the freight cars.

However, even on these occasions, many companies now prefer to use a second engine for this task.

Much more at link below,..

https://scienceinsights.org/when-did-trains-stop-using-cabooses-and-why/

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Been Decades I Believe

The technology evolved to a point that the work of the people using the caboose were superfluous.
Sort of like how integrated pneumatic brakes made the brakeman job obsolete (at least to a large degree). My grandpa was a brakeman on the Rock Island.

[DEbluedude]

4. They were replaced by Fred in the 80's.

Fuckin' rear end device.

[Cairycat]

5. When I was a child

we often had to wait for trains. I loved waving at the fellow in the caboose.

[Emile]

6. Sometime in the 1980's.

I used to work with a freight train crew three days a week.