Did the UK have cabooses?

[PudseyBearHST]

Did the UK have cabooses or is that an American thing?

 

[Morayshire]

UK term is brake vans. Lots of design variety too.

 

[norbitonflyer]

UK term is brake vans. Lots of design variety too.

Rerading around the subject, there appears to be a different emphasis on their purpose. A UK "brake van" as its name implies, is there to provide a handbrake on an unfitted goods train - one with no continuous brakes on the wagons that can be operated by the driver and will operate automatically if the train divides. The train guard ("conductor" in US-speak) rides in the van so that he can operate the handbrake - hence its alternative name of guard's van. They were usually fitted with verandahs and side duckets to allow the guard to observe the train and signals, and some basic necessities like a stove.

This is a typical example

As I understand it, a caboose is purely the conductor's accomodation - there is no special braking function. Does that mean US freight trains always had continuous brakes?

 

[hexagon789]

Does that mean US freight trains always had continuous brakes?

In early years they had brakesmen who rode on the roofs/ends of cars and whose job was to screw down the cars' handbrakes when signalled to do so. I believe they also performed some shunting functions, at least in some cases.

 

[Iskra]

I guess the closest thing to a caboose would be the Freightliner grey/orange container/guards compartment

 

[Harpo]

The main reason for a brake van ( or other vehicle with controllable brakes such as a loco) on the rear is when there are no operable brakes at the very rear of the train. There can be some unbraked vehicles in a consist without needing a brake van.

The role of the UK brake van wasn’t just about braking a divided unfitted portion in an emergency, it was also to apply braking on falling grades to keep a train stretched out and avoid buffer shocks.

As an aside, driving was different too as the driver would first use the engine brake to gently gather the train together, before using the train brake to brake the fitted vehicles.

 

[Dunfanaghy Roa]

Joseph Beattie of the LSWR referred to brake vans as cabooses, but it is believed that the term relates to the roof mounted lookout. Obviously this was when our loading gauge seemed generous!
Pat

 

[norbitonflyer]

Apparently the term "caboose" originated as kabhuis, a old Dutch term for a cabin (cab house?) on a ship's deck used for preparing food etc protected from the elements. The modern Dutch term for a ship's galley is kombuis. Early railroad cabooses were simply shack-like structures mounted on flatcars, very much like the naval equivalent, and for a similar purpose.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Oct 2025 ==

I guess the closest thing to a caboose would be the Freightliner grey/orange container/guards compartment

Picture here

Container Train Gaurd Caboose (brake Van)

26th May 2008 This was how i first saw it out the Back of the NRM in the South Yrd I know that there was only a few made of these before the experiment was stopped due to rough riding 1 is at the NYMR see link below...

theghoststationhunters.smugmug.com

 

[PudseyBearHST]

Many thanks for the replies

 

[edwin_m]

Some trains with continuous brakes still carried brake vans. For freight this was due to union agreements or sometimes for trains carrying dangerous goods or trains that needed to be propelled back with someone in the van checking the line was clear. But as far as I know none of these happen today.

Traditional locomotive-hauled passenger trains in the UK also always had a brake section, either a separate van or more usually a coach with part of it set aside for the guard and luggage. These also included a hand brake, because the continuous brake can't be relied on when trains are parked and other coaches in the UK had no manual brake. Continental and I believe US practice was and is to provide a handbrake in each coach, worked by a handle hidden in a cabinet.

 

[Harlequinuk]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/99220921@N03/15019838227/
Freight with Brake Van - Chris Davies, 2014 on Flickr

 

[ThirteenArches]

Apparently the term "caboose" originated as kabhuis, a old Dutch term for a cabin (cab house?) on a ship's deck

Blinding light once it's explained. But how did a Dutch marine term get applied to American railroads, using technology of British origin, almost 200 years after the Dutch colony around New York came under British rule?

 

[Dunfanaghy Roa]

Blinding light once it's explained. But how did a Dutch marine term get applied to American railroads, using technology of British origin, almost 200 years after the Dutch colony around New York came under British rule?

In a nation so largely composed of immigrants from every-which where it doesn't seem so surprising. For example, Teddy Roosevelt was born into a Dutch speaking household in 1858, 200 years after his ancestor settled in New Amsterdam.
Pat

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Blinding light once it's explained. But how did a Dutch marine term get applied to American railroads, using technology of British origin, almost 200 years after the Dutch colony around New York came under British rule?

Because caboose was used by sailors in the English-speaking world.

Caboose (ship's galley) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A caboose (also camboose, coboose, cubboos derived from the Middle Dutch kombuis) is a small ship's kitchen, or galley, located on an open deck.

At one time a small kitchen was called a caboose if aboard a merchantman (or in Canada, on a timber raft[1]), but a galley aboard a warship.[2] The term was sometimes also applied to the cast-iron stove used for cooking on deck[2][3] or in galleys during the early 19th century, as well as an outdoor oven or fireplace.[4]

William Falconer's 1780 A Universal Dictionary of the Marine describes a caboose thus: "a sort of box or house to cover the chimney of some merchant-ships. It somewhat resembles a sentry-box, and generally stands against the barricade on the fore part of the quarter-deck". Sometimes the caboose was portable. Prior to the introduction of the caboose the furnaces for cooking were, aboard three-deckers, placed on the middle deck, and aboard two-decked ships in the forecastle.

 

[edwin_m]

Railroad cabooses tended to have a raised section of roof with windows for the conductor to see forward and back. Perhaps this explains why they took their name from deckhouses.

 

[Rescars]

Because caboose was used by sailors in the English-speaking world.

Caboose (ship's galley) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As an aside, catering vehicles in the UK normally had a "kitchen", not a "galley" - and certainly never a "caboose".

 

[delt1c]

Simple answer is NO

 

[Taunton]

As I understand it, a caboose is purely the conductor's accommodation - there is no special braking function. Does that mean US freight trains always had continuous brakes?

The USA caboose had a great deal internally, starting with an air brake valve, a pressure gauge, and a handwheel for when parked. It also had accommodation for multiple crew members, certainly the rear-end brakeman, whose position, along with the head-end brakeman who rode on the locomotive, outlasted Westinghouse brakes by the best part of 100 years, but they also acted as conductor's assistants. There were commonly upholstered seats and quite a catering fitout, with sink and store cupboards, and a desk to work on train order forms. Train orders were picked up when running ('on the fly') by hoop (like UK single line tokens) by both loco crew and conductor. The conductor rode in the raised part, called the Cupola, with a view ahead. On the most minor of branches, even the few passengers in mixed trains rode in there.