Early Work Campers Rode the Rails

Many RVers today are work campers using their RVs as living quarters while they work on the road. Work campers represent a wide range of occupations including medical professionals, artists, construction crews, relief workers, campground hosts and many others. However, RVers were not the first workers to take their homes on the road. One of these early work campers captured my attention as a youngster. He was sitting in a rolling red car at the end of a long train. I vividly remember waiving to him as he sat in the caboose dressed in stripped overalls a red bandanna around his neck and a conductor hat. Leaning on the open bay window, one arm cocked over the sill he returned my wave and for a moment I visualized myself as that guy, riding the rails seeing all manner of strange and wonderful things. I also began to wonder what that strange little car looked like inside as my boyhood imagination began to fill in the blanks. As it turns out, the caboose was very much like an RV with accommodations like bunks for sleeping, an oil stove for warmth and cooking, a conductor’s office and any creature comforts the crew wanted to include. No one knows for sure how the “caboose” came by it’s name as they also had many other names like “clown car,” “doghouse” and “hearse” among others. Pictured above is a 1930’s vintage “Bay Window Caboose” because it’s midsection extended out like a bay window. This allowed the crew to better view the sides of the train. The caboose carried the conductor, a brakeman and a flagman. Before automatic air brakes the engineer signaled the caboose with the train whistle and the brakeman would climb out onto the cars and begin cranking the braking wheels. Another brakeman riding in the engine would work his way towards the rear and meet the caboose brakeman in the middle after setting the brakes on all the cars. Once the train stopped the flagman would get out and walk a good distance to the rear of the train and use flags (lanterns at night) to warn other trains they were stopped. As the train proceeded down the tracks crew members would watch the wheels of the train for smoke emanating from friction bearings and other signs of trouble. The caboose served as a home away from home for crew-members who were often away for days or weeks at a time. The end of the line came for the caboose when it was replaced by air brakes and “End of Train” devices referred to by railroad crews as FREDs (Flashing Rear End Device). These devices allow the engineer to monitor and control the longest trains without the help of additional crew members. Trains hold a special fascination for the kid in me. Each time I see one, I imagine being the engineer rolling down the line, one hand on the throttle the other on the whistle. When the train passes and the guard rails ascend back to their century posts, I ease my big diesel pusher across the tracks and smile. Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing